Clinton meets Israeli, Palestinian leaders

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-04 21:48

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) shakes hands with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton upon her arrival for their meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah March 4, 2009. Clinton held talks on Wednesday with Palestinian leaders concerned over whether Israel's next government will commit to a US-backed peace process leading to a Palestinian state. [Agencies]

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian leaders were urging US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday to push Israel to freeze construction in West Bank settlements and open blockaded Gaza Strip borders.

Clinton arrived in the West Bank under heavy security Wednesday, meeting first with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and then with President Mahmoud Abbas.

She repeated that the US was committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state and she praised Fayyad's plan for rebuilding Gaza. Fayyad's government outlined the plan Monday at an international donors' conference for the territory, which was heavily damaged in a recent Israeli military offensive.

Donors raised $5.2 billion for Gaza and Fayyad's government, with the US pledging $900 million.

Palestinian leaders are watching closely for signs of change in US policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinians were disappointed with the previous US administration's failure to take Israel to task for accelerated settlement construction in 2008, when the two sides were holding US-backed peace talks.

The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza, areas Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Settlement expansion in the Palestinian-claimed areas undercuts Abbas' standing at home and makes it increasingly difficult to establish an independent Palestinian state.

Ordinary Palestinians in Ramallah seemed largely indifferent to the Clinton visit. Many Palestinians believe the US has a strong pro-Israel bias and can't be a fair broker in the Mideast conflict.

"America is always for Israel," said Ayman al-Umari, 32, manager of a shop selling household appliances. "If Clinton wants to come, we'll welcome her. If (President) Obama wants to come, we'll welcome him, but it doesn't help."

Clinton met briefly with young Palestinians studying English, and announced a US initiative to help poorer Palestinian students attend four-year Palestinian universities and give grants to other Palestinians to attend US schools.

"For a Palestinian state to be prosperous, accountable to its people and be able to live up to its obligations in the international community, it has to have more people who can do the job in the 21st century," she said.

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