The chapter begins with Hillary explaining briefly the history of the Palestinian flag, its symbolism, and her impression upon finding it flying beside the Israeli flag at the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when she arrived for a close, tight, tiny meeting in September 2010. Only Mahmoud Abbas, Hillary, George Mitchell, and Netanyahu himself were secluded in Bibi’s personal study. An impatient press was gathered outside. Things were tense. A construction freeze was about to expire.
The photo below was taken early in her tenure at State when she attended a conference on humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Obama administration entered this arena to a three-day-old cease-fire and a Gaza reduced to rubble and in dire need of humanitarian aid. Reading it now, we might feel as if we have come full circle and need another of these donor conferences for the region.
Hillary Clinton’s Remarks at Gaza Conference
March 3, 2009 by still4hill
All of us recognize that human progress depends on the human spirit. That 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. That a mother and father in the West Bank struggling to fulfill their dreams for their children have the same right as parents anywhere else in the world to a good job, a decent home, and the tools to achieve greater prosperity and peace.
On that first official visit to the Middle East she met with both the outgoing Israeli government and the incoming one. Hillary’s first phone call as secretary of state to a foreign leader was to Ehud Olmert.
Hillary Clinton With Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
March 4, 2009 by still4hill
Hillary Clinton with Tzipi Livni
March 4, 2009 by still4hill
There is a long time friendship between the Clinton and Peres families. At this meeting he gave her a bouquet composed of every flower that grows in Israel.
Hillary Clinton with Shimon Peres
March 4, 2009 by still4hill
Her Israeli counterpart, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton astoundingly rarely. Far more frequently she met with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Hillary Clinton with Israeli FM Avigdor Lieberman
June 17, 2009 by still4hill
She visited an English language teaching program in Ramallah. Amideast is a major source of Middle Eastern students to U.S. universities. They manage government scholarships for Saudi students and also Fulbright scholarships.
Hillary Clinton at an Amideast Event
March 6, 2009 by still4hill
The issue at this point was the controversial Goldstone Report. All of the links below contain policy comments about it.
Secretary Clinton & Ambassador Rice: Remarks After Meeting on the Adoption of a UNSC Resolution to Combat Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict
September 30, 2009 by still4hill
The Secretary’s Week in Review
October 24, 2009 by still4hill
Secretary Clinton: Interviews Galore!
October 31, 2009 by still4hill
Press Briefing on the Plane to Cairo
November 4, 2009 by still4hill
Secretary Clinton Remarks with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Gheit
November 4, 2009 by still4hill
Secretary Clinton: Two Interviews
November 4, 2009 by still4hill
Video & Text: Middle East Quartet Statement, Press Briefing, & Secretary Clinton’s Remarks
March 19, 2010 by still4hill
The announcement, right before AIPAC and while Joe Biden was visiting Israel of 1,600 new settlement units to be constructed was considered a major insult to the U.S. Obama was furious, and it was Hillary’s job to communicate that to Netanyahu. Bibi denied responsibility but did not cancel the construction.
Video & Text: Secretary Clinton at 2010 AIPAC Conference
March 22, 2010 by still4hill
Last fall, I stood next to Prime Minister Netanyahu in Jerusalem and praised his government’s decision to place a moratorium on new residential construction in the West Bank. And then I praised it again in Cairo and in Marrakesh and in many places far from Jerusalem to make clear that this was a first step, but it was an important first step. And yes, I underscored the longstanding American policy that does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlements. As Israel’s friend, it is our responsibility to give credit when it is due and to tell the truth when it is needed….
New construction in East Jerusalem or the West Bank undermines that mutual trust and endangers the proximity talks that are the first step toward the full negotiations that both sides say want and need. And it exposes daylight between Israel and the United States that others in the region hope to exploit. It undermines America’s unique ability to play a role – an essential role – in the peace process. Our credibility in this process depends in part on our willingness to praise both sides when they are courageous, and when we don’t agree, to say so, and say so unequivocally.
Video & Text: Secretary Clinton’s Remarks At the American Jewish Committee Annual Gala Dinner
April 29, 2010 by still4hill
In 2011 Goldstone retracted part of the report. The damage had already been done. The Palestinians were planning to put a statehood vote before the Security Council.
Hillary points out that the Obama administration policy, indeed, U.S. policy, is and has been a two-state solution as stated in Obama’s Cairo speech. This was not a new policy and had remained a U.S. goal from the Clinton administration through the George W. Bush administration But a vote in the Security Council was not the intended route. There were supposed to be negotiated compromises.
She recalled their visit, before the speech, to the Sultan Hassan Mosque and the peace and calm she sensed there in the middle of a presidential visit and major policy rollout.
Secretary Clinton in Cairo
June 4, 2009 by still4hill
Ten days after the Cairo speech, Netanyahu endorsed the two-state solution in a speech at Bar-Ilan University.
For Netanyahu, the major sticking point from the start was the condition of a freeze on construction of settlements. He announced a 10-month freeze on October 31. Hillary called the move “unprecedented” and felt a good deal of kickback for the word which she continues to stand by. Abbas, for his part, agreed to delay the statehood vote at the U.N.
Secretary Clinton’s Remarks With Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
November 1, 2009 by still4hill
Hillary got along especially well with Ehud Barak and speaks fondly of him as endlessly optimistic and a voice for peace. He evidently also had her on speed dial and would ring her up and say, “Hillary, let’s strategize.” They met officially on a frequent basis and were quite a pair!
When, in May 2010, there was an Israeli attack on a Turkish flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists bound for Gaza resulting in the death of nine Turkish citizens, Barak called Hillary while she was marching in the Memorial Day parade.
Video: Bill & Hillary Clinton in the Memorial Day Parade in Chappaqua, NY
May 31, 2010 by still4hill
Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu warned that this could mean war between Turkey and Israel, called it Turkey’s 9/11, and was at the State Department the next morning. He was very emotional. Hillary contacted Netanyahu who wanted to patch things up but would not apologize. During her tenure, he never did apologize, but called Erdogan in March 2013 when Obama was in Jerusalem with an apology. According to Hillary the patching up is still in progress.
Secretary Clinton: Photos of the Day
June 1, 2010 by still4hill
Peace talks began in early September in Washington D.C.
Hillary Clinton Day One Mid-East Peace Talks
September 1, 2010 by still4hill
Photos: Hillary Opens Mid-East Peace Talks
September 2, 2010 by still4hill
Video: Secretary Clinton Relaunches Mid-East Peace Talks
September 2, 2010 by still4hill
… by being here today, you each have taken an important step toward freeing your peoples from the shackles of a history we cannot change, and moving toward a future of peace and dignity that only you can create.
The upshot was that the parties agreed to meet in Sharm el Sheikh in two weeks. Hillary commented that her work as secretary of state frequently brought her to lovely resorts. She never had the opportunity to enjoy any of them for all the work that needed to be done.
Where Hillary Clinton is going
September 10, 2010 by still4hill
From Sharm el Sheikh: Slideshow and Briefing by George Mitchell
September 14, 2010 by still4hill
Secretary Clinton’s Press Briefing En Route Sharm El Sheikh
September 14, 2010 by still4hill
Hillary in Jerusalem
September 15, 2010 by still4hill
Video: Secretary Clinton’s Remarks With Israeli President Shimon Peres Before their Meeting
September 15, 2010 by still4hill
Hillary Clinton in Ramallah and Amman
September 16, 2010 by still4hill
Video: Secretary Clinton’s Remarks With Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
September 16, 2010 by still4hill
Secretary Clinton’s Remarks With Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh
September 16, 2010 by still4hill
Later that month she met with Abbas and Ehud Barak on the sidelines at UNGA. No statements. One photo. No real progress. President Obama pressed for an extension of the freeze. Abbas was essentially saying “choose between peace and settlements.” Hillary spoke with Ehud Barak but Bibi refused to budge. Abbas was ready to go ahead with a statehood vote in the Security Council while Hillary kept telling him the only path to peace was via negotiations. In a phone call with Bibi, Hillary encountered intransigence.
Then, In November a door opened a crack, and Hillary flew to New York to breeze through it.
Hillary Clinton’s Mid-East Charm Offensive: Remarks Before Her Meeting With Netanyahu
November 11, 2010 by still4hill
Hillary, Bibi in the New York Marathon: Joint Statement at the Finish Line
November 11, 2010 by still4hill
Hillary, Bibi, and the NYC Marathon Take Two: Some Reviews
November 13, 2010 by still4hill
Eventually there was a proposal to halt construction for 90 days in exchange for a $3 billion security package and a promise to veto any resolutions at the U.N. that would undercut negotiations. No one liked this solution including Hillary. She told Tony Blair that she felt it was a sacrifice worth making. It began to disintegrate almost at birth and was dust by November.
Hillary took a strong stand at the Saban Forum in December.
Video: Secretary Clinton’s Remarks at the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy Seventh Annual Forum
December 11, 2010 by still4hill
The United States and the international community cannot impose a solution. Sometimes I think both parties seem to think we can. We cannot. And even if we could, we would not, because it is only a negotiated agreement between the parties that will be sustainable. The parties themselves have to want it. The people of the region must decide to move beyond a past that cannot change and embrace a future they can shape together.
President Obama went to the State Department to reiterate the U.S. position regarding the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps. Bibi ignored the swaps part of that and Abbas could not guarantee that a new push for statehood would not happen at the U.N.
George Mitchell resigned.
Hillary says the tiny private meeting in September 2010 at Bibi’s residence when he raised the Palestinian flag to welcome Abbas to his home might have been the last time Abbas and Netanyahu spoke. It might have been.
Gaza: Netanyahu and Abbas had secret meeting before ceasefire
If Bibi is going to threaten to fire his chief negotiator, Tsipi Livni, for talking with Abbas and has to conceal this possible meeting, chances for negotiation look bleak.
Hillary ends quoting Yitzhak Rabin. “The coldest peace is better than the warmest war.”
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Hillary Clinton’s ‘Hard Choices’ Retrospective: Introduction
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