Clinton: Peace up to Israel, Palestinians

After Obama says his administration overestimated its ability to persuade Israelis, Palestinians to resume peace talks, secretary of state stresses US 'going to continue to do everything in its power to create environment in which that is possible'

Yitzhak Benhorin

"So we are going to continue to do everything we can to create an environment in which that is possible. We have urged both the Israelis and the Palestinians to get back to the negotiating table and to start hashing out the very difficult but, we believe, solvable problems that stand in the way of security for the state of Israel and a state for the Palestinians."

Earlier Thursday, US President Barack Obama said his administration overestimated its ability to persuade the Israelis and Palestinians to resume meaningful peace talks.

He said both parties have been unwilling to make the bold gestures needed to move the process forward. If the US had anticipated that earlier, the American leader said, he might not have raised his expectations so high.

Everyone affected

Clinton also discussed the Iranian issue, telling reporters "this is not happening in a vacuum, this whole effort that we're engaged in regarding influencing and restraining the Iranians' nuclear program.

"The prospects of the instability that would potentially ensue from Iran pursuing and achieving a nuclear breakout capacity or even a nuclear weapons program would be so intensely destabilizing, there is not a country in the world that is in the neighborhood, the region, relying on the oil market, that would not be directly affected," she said.