US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton challenged the Israelis and Palestinians to forge ahead in the stalled peace process, acknowledging that she is frustrated by the breakdown in direct negotiations.
The United States and the rest of the world cannot impose a solution to the conflict, and the Israelis and the Palestinians are the only parties who can create sustainable peace, Clinton said in a speech Friday evening, dpa reported.
"There is no alternative other than reaching mutual agreement," Clinton said after holding two days of separate talks with top Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Clinton has been trying to revive the recent short-lived peace negotiations that ended abruptly when an Israeli moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank expired September 26. Clinton restated US opposition to new construction, calling it "corrosive" to peace efforts and a two-state solution to the conflict, and undermining of Israel's future.
"The position of the United States on settlements has not changed and will not change," she said. "We do not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity."
Clinton urged the Israelis and Palestinians to address the key differences in reaching an agreement, including final borders, the status of Jerusalem, and the status of Palestinian refugees. She acknowledged the difficult problems in bridging differences, but said an agreement is essential to future stability in the Middle East.
"The differences between the two sides are real and they are persistent," Clinton said, adding that the "parties themselves have to want" peace in order to make it happen.