Washington – Hilliary Still Waiting for a Call-Back from Netanyahu
- March 18, 2010 - ג' ניסן תש"ע
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Washington – The diplomatic rift between the United States and Israel appeared to widen Thursday over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to call Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with an explanation of Israel’s east Jerusalem building plan, U.S. sources say.
Last Friday, Clinton phoned Netanyahu to strongly criticize Israel’s announcement of new Jewish housing in east Jerusalem during Vice President Joe Biden’s trip to the region to promote indirect talks between Palestinians and Israelis.
Clinton requested answers from him on how Israel was planning to proceed. The State Department expected a response days ago and even announced that Netanyahu would call before Clinton left Washington at noon Wednesday for a previously scheduled trip to Russia.
However, in a sign of the fractured ties between the two governments, senior administration officials traveling on the overnight flight to Moscow with Clinton told NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell that Netanyahu did not call.
Biden phoned Netanyahu Wednesday urging him to make the call, but apparently he did not persuade the Israeli premier, NBC said. Pending resolution of the latest flap, there will not be indirect talks between Israel and Palestinians led by Special Representative George Mitchell.
“As we’ve said, before we move ahead with further meetings, we would expect a call from Prime Minister Netanyahu. And what he tells us will inform what we do next,” a senior official on Clinton’s plane told NBC.
NBC’s Mitchell reported that Netanyahu’s refusal to explain effectively means that the Moscow meeting of the so-called “quartet” of interested parties in the Mideast peace talks — the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the U.N. — will not be able to lay out their next steps.
Netanyahu is scheduled to arrive in the United States next week for the annual meeting of AIPAC, the American pro-Israel lobbying group. He is expected to see Clinton during the trip.
News Source: MSNBCSimilar Posts On Jewkey
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