West Bank settlements in Palestine continue to be constructed by the Israeli regime in violation of international law.
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01:51 Mecca time, 22:51 GMT
US 'softens' on Israeli settlements
In their talks earlier Abbas rejected Clinton's request to resume negotiations
The US has called for the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians as soon as possible and without preconditions, an apparent climb down on earlier demands for Israel to halt settlement building.
The settlement issue should be considered as part of peace negotiations, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said at a news conference in Jerusalem late on Saturday.
"There has never been a precondition. It's always been an issue within the negotiations," Clinton said, adding that Israel had made "unprecedented" concessions on settlement building.
Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, who spoke alongside Clinton, said Palestinian demands for a full Israeli settlement freeze were being used to prevent the renewal of peace talks.
"It is actually being used as a pretext ... as an obstacle that prevents the re-establishment of negotiations," he said.
The administration of Barack Obama, the US president, had previously demanded that Israel halt all settlement building before negotiations could resume, a move that was applauded by the Palestinians but which brought the US and Israel to loggerheads.
The settlements are considered illegal under international law.
'US climb down'
Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera's Jerusalem correspondent, said: "The Americans would never admit to backtracking, but if we watch the way that the language has changed and the way the emphasis has changed, it's quite clear there has been a slide in the American position.
"Now, we hear Hillary Clinton urging an immediate resumption of talks - 'get back on the path', she said, really not wanting to look at conditions.
In their early months in office, Obama and Clinton called for a complete halt to settlement activity.
But after bringing Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Netanyahu together at the United Nations in New York in September, Obama called only for "restraint" on settlements, not a "freeze".
"We really watched Hillary Clinton fall into line with Israel," Rowland said of Saturday's press conference.
The move is unlikely to be accepted by the Palestinians.
"What the Palestinians are frustrated about is what seems to be the Obama administration's wish to start from a clean slate," Nour Odeh, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Ramallah, said.
"The 1967 borders seems to be up for negotations, and that is something no Palestinian leader can accept."
Palestinian rejection
Abbas earlier rejected Clinton's request to resume negotiations when they met in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said Abbas rejected the US request because the recent deal reached between George Mitchell, the US Middle East envoy, and Israel "does not include a complete freeze of settlement activities".
"The real problem is that Israel is not ready to discuss these issues and America is still unable to convince the Israelis to come back to
Erakat said that Israel had refused to halt construction of some 3,000 houses currently being built in the West Bank or any construction in annexed east Jerusalem.
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Abbas, said the move reflected America's inability to persuade Israel to freeze settlement building, but that Clinton had told the Palestinians that the US still considered the settlements illegal.
"The US position concerning these settlements - as we heard from Clinton in the UAE - was clear, that they consider all settlement activities illegal and this is an official US position which we heard many times before," he told Al Jazeera.
"The real problem is that Israel is not ready to discuss these issues and America is still unable to convince the Israelis to come back to the 'Road Map'," he said, referring to a plan for steps to be taken by Israel and the Palestinians, first outlined in 2002.
"Even the previous American administration [under George Bush] in Annapolis agreed that settlement activity should be frozen."
Mark Regev, Netanyahu's spokesman, had no comment when asked what gestures Israel might be willing to make to help Abbas.
He reiterated Israel's position that it is ready to relaunch talks without preconditions.
Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians broke down late last year and have remained stalled, despite the renewed push by the US.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
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