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America in the Middle East

Clinton to Israel: There is no escaping Palestine


By Stan Goodenough
March 03, 2009

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday told the Jewish people in Israel they have no choice but to lose their historical homeland to the Arabs.

There is, she said, no escaping the two state-solution.

Clinton, on her first visit to Israel since being appointed by President Barack Obama, spent the day holding talks with the country's outgoing and incoming leadership.

While her mission was diplomatically touted as a "familiarization tour" whose purpose was to introduce herself to regional leaders and listen to their ideas rather than bombard them with her own, the former first lady left no doubt that she has come here to get things going and expects Israel to tow the line.

"The road ahead, we acknowledge, is a difficult one, but there is no time to waste," she said.

"The United States will be vigorously engaged in the pursuit of a two-state solution every step of the way."

Twenty-four hours earlier, those United States - under its new administration with its "new" approach to Middle East peace making - had laid out 900 million dollars to get its program up and running.

Along with Arab and other world leaders, Clinton spent the day Monday at Sharm e-Sheikh pledging 5.5 billion financial aid to the Arabs who have dedicated their lives to establishing a state on Jewish lands at Israel's expense.

Addressing the news corps, Clinton said: "We are committed to a two-state solution. I feel passionate about this ... it's not just part of my portfolio."

"The assistance we are offering is integral to our broader goals of a comprehensive peace and a two state solution."

And again: "By providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza, we also aim to foster conditions in which a Palestinian state can be fully realised."

The left-wing Israeli daily Ha'aretz called Clinton's Tuesday afternoon meeting with Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu, the most important of her engagements with the Israeli side.

After that meeting "Bibi," who believes the two-state-solution is no solution at all, but rather a threat to Israel, said diplomatically that he and Clinton had found "common ground"

But for Clinton there is no common ground, and no getting away from, the creation of Palestine in Samaria, Judea and Gaza.

"It is our assessment that eventually, the inevitability of working towards a two-state solution is inescapable," she said.

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