Middle East and Europe Trip: Palenstine

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talks with Palestinian students at the English Access Microscholarship program in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Read her remarks afterward here or view the video here. Love the "Women's history" written on the board behind Hill...

The Secretary is welcomed by the Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah. They sat down together to engage in talks.

Then she arrived for a meeting with the Palestinian President. View video here. She chats President Mahmoud Abbas, before a beautiful mosaic of the Dome of the Rock, as she arrives in the 'Muqata,' also called the Palestinian Authority headquarters. The hold a joint press conference in the 'Muqata.' She again stressed the U.S. will do everything possible to make peace in the region and that both she and special envoy George Mitchell will engage both the Israelis and the Palestinians to move the peace process forward.

In recent days, Israel has issued orders for the demolition of dozens of Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem. Israel says the homes were built illegally. Palestinians argue they cannot receive proper building permits from Israeli authorities, and this is simply Israel's means of asserting control over the disputed city. Clinton openly disapproved of Israel's plans to demolish homes, calling it a violation of its international obligations under the 'road map' to peace and 'unhelpful' to all Middle East peace efforts. She said she would take up the issue with the incoming Israeli government, which is expected to take office in the coming weeks. This is the first indication that the Obama administration is willing to confront Israel's new leaders over their cooperation in the peace process.

She also offered strong support for Abbas and pushed hard to restart peace talks with Israel. During the joint press conference she said that the Palestinian Authority is the "only legitimate government of the Palestinian people." Abbas has worked for a year trying to create peace talks with Israel but has failed. As a result, he has lost support of his people and it is widely seen that Hamas is emerging stronger from the recent attacks.

There has been much criticism over whether or not there can actually BE a two state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflicts. I, of course, feel like Hillary is making bold strides toward the beginning of this process to say the LEAST. I don't think it can happen overnight or just by one visit to the region, that's just not possible. But I do believe so far, Secretary Clinton has really stepped out and been very upfront and bold in her remarks about making peace here. I think this varies much from the previous administration. But again, I cannot say that I am not biased...

Just wondering if there are any supporters of Hill out there that think this conflict is a never ending battle that has roots that are way too deep. Anyone believe that she should not try to create peace here? Anyone... Anyone... ?

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Middle East and Erope Trip: The Gaza Conference

Workers begin the day preparing the Maritime Conference Center for the one-day international Conference in Support of the Palestinian Economy for the Reconstruction of Gaza by setting up the flags from 70 countries participating and organizing the room.

Secretary Clinton flew to Tel Aviv from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh this morning, where she attended an international donors conference that pledged a total of nearly $4.5 billion in aid to help the Palestinian economy and rebuild the Gaza Strip. Watch a clip of Secretary Clinton entering the chamber here.

At the start of the conference Secretary Clinton talks with US Middle East Peace Envoy George Mitchell and hugs European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana.

She also shakes hands with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faysaland speaks with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store prior to the start of the International Conference.

Hillary Clinton also shook hands and exchanged a few words today with her Syrian counterpart, Walid Mouallem.Which seems to be getting much attention in the media. With the strict protocols at summits, these encounters rarely happen by chance, and are more frequently designed to send subtle but powerful messages. The handshake was seen as a sign that Washington was prepared to mend fences with Syria, whose leader Bashir al-Assad was treated as a pariah by the Bush Administration. Afterwards Mouallem said that the meeting "was short but very pleasant," and that he was "happy it happened".

At the donors' conference, Clinton took a hard line against the Islamist Hamas group and said $900 million in U.S. aid for the Palestinians was part of a broader bid for Arab-Israeli peace. And she reiterated that the present crisis cannot be separated from the wider peace process. Watch a clip of her speaking here.

Underlining the new Obama Administration's position, she was adamant that no money would go to Hamas, saying it must recognize Israel, renounce violence and sign on to past Israeli and Palestinian agreements if it wanted to come out of isolation. She added saying the United States would "vigorously pursue a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

This above photo shows the great press coverage that the conference has been getting. The Press Filing Center during the conference has been jam packed with journalists from all over the world who are huddled around television screens in three different rooms each with its own dedicated language feed piping in English, French and Arabic translations. Read more of what Dipnote wrote about the perspective of the press here.

After the Gaza conference Hillary met with Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and posed for photos with U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Later in the afternoon, after all of the bilateral meetings and working sessions were completed, the Secretary hosted a press conference in front of hundreds of journalists. Below is the video of this meeting from the State Department:

On Tuesday she has planned talks with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank. And on Wednesday Clinton will have a chance to assess first-hand chances for reviving peace negotiations. But with Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu still trying to put together a new government following Israel's February 10 parliamentary election, no major steps toward peace are expected during Clinton's two days of talks.

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