Clinton for new Mid-East talks

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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged the Israelis and Palestinians to restart talks "as soon as possible", reports BBC.
She was speaking after meeting Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, in a new US drive to restart the region's peace process.
Palestinians said Israel must freeze settlement building in the occupied territories before talks can resume.
But Mr Netanyahu said this was a "pretext and an obstacle" to prevent the renewal of negotiations.
At Saturday night's news conference with America's top diplomat, the Israeli premier called for the talks to restart "immediately".
He said the Palestinians had never before put forward a precondition for peace talks linked to the settlements issue.
Mrs Clinton agreed, adding: "What the prime minister [Netanyahu] has offered in specifics on restraints on a policy of settlements... is unprecedented in the context of prior to negotiations." "I want to see both sides begin as soon as possible in negotiations," she said.
Earlier in day, Mrs Clinton met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Abu Dhabi.
Those talks were described as "frank and difficult" by chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat.
Mr Abbas told journalists later: "Israel should honour its obligations especially with regards to the total halt on the settlements," AFP news agency reported.
When Mr Netanyahu took office seven months ago, the Obama administration called on Israel to halt all settlement building.
But following Israeli objections, Washington said the most important thing was to get the negotiations going again.
The BBC's Paul Wood in Jerusalem says that on the issue of settlements, quite simply the Obama administration blinked first.