The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, yesterday called on Israel to freeze settlement activity, saying a "time-out" could help end a peacemaking crisis with the Palestinians. Her televised comments to Israeli high school students were the strongest statements she has yet made about the settlement expansion policy of the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Israel should refrain from unilateral acts including what Palestinians perceive as the provocative expansion of settlements, land confiscation, home demolitions, and confiscation of IDs," Ms Albright said. "We believe that a time-out from these kinds of unilateral actions will create a climate in which. . .an accelerated approach can succeed in achieving a final Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement."
There was no immediate Israeli reaction but the Palestine Liberation Organisation's chief peace negotiator swiftly welcomed her call.
"I think this is necessary to put the peace process back on track," Mr Saeb Erekat said, referring to "cessation of unilateral steps, especially settlement activity and confiscation of lands'.
Ms Albright also called on both Israel and the PLO to renew and reinforce their commitments to the Oslo process, the interim peace deals that have been strained to breaking point.
She was speaking on the second day of a mission to solve a Middle East peacemaking crisis that began when Mr Netanyahu broke ground in March for a new Jewish settlement in Arab East Jerusalem. The crisis deepened with the deaths of 20 Israelis in two suicide bombings in Jerusalem since the end of July.
Mr Netanyahu has said Israel will not transfer more West Bank land to the Palestinians, as scheduled under the interim peace deals forged in Oslo in 1993, until the PLO cracks down on "terrorism".
In the speech, Ms Albright repeated her call for the Palestinian Authority to mount a continuous crackdown against Islamic militant groups behind the suicide attacks. "For their part, the Palestinians must also be clear about their intentions; the language of jihad (holy struggle) must cease," she said.
Ms Albright addressed the students after meeting separately with the Palestinian president, Mr Yasser Arafat, and Mr Netanyahu. She said after the talks there was still "a long way to go".
Later, the widow of murdered Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin and Mr Arafat signed a symbolic commitment to peace, honouring Mr Rabin's legacy.
"The train of peace right now is deeply stuck but the day will come when we hear the train roll," Mrs Leah Rabin said, reaffirming with Mr Arafat the Oslo interim peace accords he and her husband sealed with a handshake on the White House lawn four years ago.
"Our message to everybody and everywhere that we, the Palestinians and the Israelis, are insisting on pushing forward and protecting the peace of the brave," Mr Arafat said at the ceremony in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Asked if she thought Mr Netanyahu wanted peace, Mrs Rabin told army radio: "Allow me to express doubt. He does everything against it."