Hillary arrives in Israel to discuss Iran’s nuclear program, peace process

By Daniel Clark Jul 16th, 2012 ( 1 Comment )

Tel Aviv: United States (U.S) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Israel, after almost years, for top-level talks with Israeli officials expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear program and the stalled peace process, AFP reported on Sunday.

According to reports, Clinton arrived on a flight from Egypt shortly after 11:30 pm (2030 GMT) for her first visit to the Jewish state in nearly two years.

The Secretary of State was accompanied by U.S. Middle East envoy David Hale and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, who represents Washington at the talks between world powers and Iran.

The whirlwind 24-hour visit comes at the tail end of an eight-nation tour spanning Europe, Asia and the Middle East. It will see Clinton holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

A senior State Department official travelling with the delegation said that Hillary will also meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Earlier this month, she held talks in Paris with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Talks with the Israelis were expected to take the form of a “strategic conversation” in the wake of the huge political upheaval sweeping the region and what it means for both the United States and Israel, a senior State Department official said.

They were also likely to focus on efforts to regenerate peace negotiations.

“Obviously, every day that goes by where there is not a peace agreement is a day that leaves us unsatisfied,” he told reporters.

“We believe that this is the sort of challenge … that you have to keep working at in the face of challenges and setbacks.

“The fact that we have been unable to do so is a testament to the difficulty of the challenge. But the fact that we’re still at it is a testament to just how important the issue is to us, and to her personally.”

The last time she visited Jerusalem was in mid-September 2010 in a bid to help the parties resolve a dispute over Jewish settlement building which threatened to overturn a fresh round of direct Israel-Palestinian peace talks launched by US President Barack Obama just two weeks earlier.

The dispute over settlements proved to be the undoing of the fledgling negotiations. Talks have now been stalled for nearly two years.