Clinton makes personal bid to resume Mideast talks

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. hopes of reviving Mideast peace talks appeared shaky Saturday after a senior Palestinian aide said the Palestinians are unlikely to resume negotiations if Israel does not halt Jewish settlement building.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and aides in the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi on Saturday before flying to Israel, where she is expected to meet senior Israeli officials in a push to restart peace negotiations.

An aide to Abbas, Saeb Erekat, said in a phone interview with The Associated Press that Clinton had asked Abbas to allow Israel's government to complete building 3,000 units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and to allow the government to construct public buildings and continue construction in east Jerusalem — a territory Palestinians hope will be their future capital.

Clinton's request would be a major change for the U.S. administration, which previously had demanded Israel halt all settlement building before negotiations could resume.

"This is a non-starter," Erekat said. "And that's why it's unlikely to restart negotiations."

U.S. officials did not speak to reporters after the Abu Dhabi meeting.

Palestinians see Jewish settlement building as one of the biggest threats to their ability to form a viable state in the territories of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

Over the course of the summer, President Barack Obama had hoped for a fast track to renewed peace negotiations. But Clinton reported to him on Oct. 22 that neither side had taken sufficient steps toward resuming the dialogue.

Clinton arrived in Abu Dhabi early Saturday after a three-day visit to Pakistan.

Obama held a joint meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas in New York in September, hoping it would persuade them to return to negotiations that had broken off more than a year ago. In her report to the president in October, Clinton indicated that the Palestinians had strengthened security efforts and reforms of government institutions, but needed to do more to stop those who carry out or encourage attacks on Israel.

She has indicated that Israelis have eased Palestinians' freedom of movement and expressed a willingness to curtail the building of settlements in the Palestinian areas. The Obama administration, however, had been demanding an end to all new settlement construction, which the Israelis have refused.