Thursday, October 22, 2009

Clinton to Obama: We've made scant progress on Mideast peace

(Haaretz).The United States has made little progress in its efforts to renew stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reported to President Barack Obama on Thursday.

Clinton met with Obama on Thursday to submit an interim report on the status of U.S. peacemaking efforts. Obama's envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, also participated in the meeting.

An administration official said that during the meeting, Clinton advised the president that challenges remain before the negotiations could resume.

The official said the Palestinians have strengthened their security efforts, while the Israelis have expressed a willingness to curtail settlement activity. But the official said both sides need to do more for the process to move forward.