[Al Arabiya Latest] Israel savored a victory on Sunday after U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton hailed his "unprecedented" position on settlements and back tracked from a previous call for a complete freeze to settlement construction before possible peace talks with the Palestinians."There is no question that the United States are our staunchest friends and that Israel's firm stance on its positions pays off," Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told public radio on Sunday in a satisfied tone echoed by other officials.
The Israelis had reason to be satisfied. In a joint press conference held, unusually, before talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed for negotiations to be restarted as soon as possible, despite the Palestinian insistence -- which Washington backed only a few months ago -- that Israel must first put a stop to all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.
"What the prime minister has offered in specifics of a restraint on the policy of settlements... is unprecedented," Clinton said at Saturday's press conference, adding that "there has never been a pre-condition, it's always been an issue within negotiations."