Clinton’s delicate Mid-East tour

BBC NEWS

02 March 2009

By Kim Ghattas
BBC News, Washington

Hillary Clinton arrived in Egypt on Sunday evening for her first foray, as US secretary of state, into the complex politics of the Middle East.

While the main reason for her trip is to attend an aid conference for the reconstruction of Gaza in Sharm el- Sheikh, she will also meet Arab leaders on the sidelines of that meeting.

Mrs Clinton will then travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories to meet leaders from both sides and also students, during an event similar to the kind she held throughout her maiden trip to Asia.

America’s top diplomat is no stranger to the region and she will find some of the same actors on stage.

As first lady during Bill Clinton’s presidency, she came out early in support of a Palestinian state and, in some way, she will be picking up where her husband left off in 2000 when he failed to nail down a peace deal.

In 1999 an ill-timed embrace with Soha, wife of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, backfired at home as she campaigned to become a New York senator.

Billions pledged to rebuild Gaza

BBC NEWS

02 March 2009

International donors have pledged almost $4.5bn (£3.2bn) in aid to the Palestinians, chiefly to rebuild Gaza after Israel’s recent offensive.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington would donate $900m, and vigorously seek to advance peace.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told a summit in Egypt cash was “insufficient” without a political solution.

Israel, which has been fighting Gaza militants, refuses to allow building materials into Gaza for reconstruction.

As well as the $900m promised by the US, Saudi Arabia pledged $1bn (£703m) for Gaza.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit says the total of $4.48m from about 70 countries was “beyond of our expectations”.

The Palestinian Authority had requested only $2.8bn (£2bn).

Mrs Clinton told the conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh: “Our response to today’s crisis in Gaza cannot be separated from our broader efforts to achieve a comprehensive peace.”

Clinton Not Optimistic About Iran-U.S. Thaw

NEW YORK  TIMES

02 March 2009

By MARK LANDLER

JERUSALEM — Expressing doubts about one of the Obama administration’s key diplomatic initiatives, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told an Arab foreign minister on Monday she did not expect Iran to respond positively to an American offer of direct negotiations.

The comments, made by Mrs. Clinton in a meeting with the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan, stole some of the attention at a conference devoted to the reconstruction of Gaza.

“We’re under no illusions; our eyes are wide open,” Mrs. Clinton said, according to a senior State Department official.

This is not the first time Mrs. Clinton has privately expressed pessimism about Tehran’s receptivity to the United States. American officials say a negative Iranian reaction could be useful because it would put Tehran on the defensive in its international dealings.

But Mrs. Clinton’s reference to it in talks with an Arab state was noteworthy because it offered an international audience an early glimpse into the calculations of the Obama administration.