Clinton: Mideast Talks Should Resume Without Preconditions
By VOA News 01 November 2009 excerpt


[U.S. Secretary of State Clinton]she called on Israelis and the Palestinians to resume peace negotiations immediately and without preconditions.

The secretary of state said Israel has offered "unprecedented" limits on Jewish settlement expansion in response to Palestinian concerns about resuming peace talks. And both Clinton and Mr. Netanyahu said that Palestinians had never in the past demanded a settlement freeze as a condition for talks.

A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, responded to Clinton's comments late on Saturday and said there will be no change in the Palestinian position.