Cairo - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday again tried to calm Arab fears of a US reversal on its policy on Israeli construction in the West Bank. "Our policy on settlement has not changed," Clinton told reporters after meeting Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in Cairo. "We do not accept the legitimacy of settlement activity.
"Ending all settlement activity - current and future - would be preferable," she said.
The top US diplomat met earlier with her Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Abul Gheit, and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who is leading Egyptian efforts to broker a reconciliation deal between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas.
The message on settlements was Clinton's latest attempt to allay Arab concerns that US President Barack Obama's administration was retreating from its calls for a freeze on Israeli construction in the West Bank.
"Perhaps those of use who work for (US President Barack Obama) and communicate about this issue should have made very clear that there was no change in our position, that we were absolutely committed to the end of settlement activity," Clinton told al-Jazeera on Tuesday.
In Morocco the day before, Clinton also said the US position against settlements had not changed. She also said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stance on settlements still "falls far short of what we would characterize as our position."
US Assistant Secretary of State PJ Crowley, speaking to reporters on Clinton's plane Tuesday night, elaborated on that message.
"What we are trying to do ... is to try to just figure out what is the best way forward. How can we help move the parties towards the start of negotiations," he said.
Arab diplomats and politicians reacted with alarm to Clinton's statements to reporters after meeting with Netanyahu in Israel on Saturday. In those remarks, she appeared to back the Israeli position that a freeze on construction in the West Bank should not preclude new peace talks.
She hailed as "unprecedented" Netanyahu's offer to suspend construction in West Bank settlements save those in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967, and for 3,000 housing units already in progress elsewhere.
In Cairo on Wednesday, Clinton described that offer as "not what we would prefer, because we would like to see everything ended forever."
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has said the Palestinians had no interest in holding negotiations for the sake of negotiations, just to "provide a cover behind which Israel will further entrench its occupation, and continue to create 'facts on the ground.'"
Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah, the leaders of two crucial US allies in the region and the two Arab countries that have signed peace deals with Israel, have backed the Palestinian position.
They warned of "catastrophic consequences on the region's stability and security resulting from the failure to seize the current opportunity for making peace."
They also emphasized the need for "an immediate cessation of Israeli unilateral actions, particularly the building of settlements and jeopardizing the identity of Jerusalem and holy places."
