'Israel, Bush administration had no agreement over settlements'

Jun. 6, 2009
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared late Friday that she was unaware of any agreement between her country's previous administration and Israel concerning the expansion of settlements in the West Bank. "I do not recall any agreement between Israel and George Bush's… previous government, according to which Israel will be authorized to extend the construction of settlements in the West Bank," Clinton said at a news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu at the State Department.

"There is no memory of any informal and oral agreements. If they did occur, which of course people say they did, they did not become part of the official position of the United States government.

"And there are contrary documents that suggest that they were not to be viewed as in any way contradicting the obligations that Israel undertook pursuant to the road map." she added. "And those obligations are very clear."

On Thursday President Barack Obama clarified his administration's policy towards the settlements in his address to the Muslim world in Cairo, stating that "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements… it is time for these settlements to stop."

Soon after Obama's speech, a senior administration official told The Jerusalem Post that Washington feels "an arrangement that works" can be hammered out with Israel on the settlement issue.

"There's a professional, constructive dialogue on this issue," the official said. "We have differences, but believe we can find an arrangement that works."

Herb Keinon contributed to this report.
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