November 4th, 2009 by Zack

As Secretary Clinton concludes her Middle East trip, Laura Rozen reports that Clinton met with Egyptian leaders in and won seeming support for their new strategy of focusing on getting to final status talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.  Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman sums up her trip saying, “the Secretary, by investing time with her Arab and Israeli counterparts and leaders, moved us forward…They [the Egyptian leadership] have moved a lot closer to our position about wanting to focus on the end game than you might have heard from Arab foreign ministers or leaders or week ago. I think this shows the power of personal diplomacy, the power of [Clinton’s] investing in these things.”

Speaking after her talks with President Mubarak, the NY Times reports that she “repeated on Wednesday that while the Obama administration rejects the legitimacy of Israeli settlement expansion, it nonetheless believes that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations should precede a permanent freeze on such construction.”  Daniel Levy argues that Clinton’s step back from a settlement freeze leaves the President’s peace plan in limbo and then goes on to evaluate the true role of settlements in the peace process. 

Posted in Diplomacy, Egypt, Israel, Mideast Peace Plan, Palestine, Reform, US foreign policy |