SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that the Obama administration is committed to achieving “a comprehensive peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and we will pursue it on many fronts.”
Her statement, made at an international conference being held to raise funds to ease suffering in the Gaza Strip, suggests the Obama administration is interested in seeking diplomatic opportunities beyond the stalemated Israeli-Palestinian track, such as a possible peace agreement between Israel and Syria.
Indirect talks between the longtime antagonists have been held in recent months with the assistance of Turkey, which Clinton will visit later this week. The Bush administration largely cut off relations with Syria, but a senior U.S. diplomat last week held exploratory talks with the Syrian ambassador at the State Department.
Clinton, as expected, announced $300 million in humanitarian relief for Gaza, which is controlled by the militant group Hamas, and $600 million in aid for the Palestinian Authority, which is run by Fatah, a rival Palestinian faction. She cast the funding as an effort to help all Palestinians, not to divide them, although there are strict limits on the funds to prevent any from reaching Hamas. The funds must be approved by Congress.
“A child growing up in Gaza without shelter, health care or an education has the same right to go to school, see a doctor and live with a roof over her head as a child growing up in your country or mine,” Clinton said. For that to be achieved, she told the Palestinians, “it is time to break the cycle of rejection and resistance, to cut the strings pulled by those who exploit the suffering of innocent Palestinians.”
