smooth move comrade hussein





JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Pointing an accusing finger at the United
States, the Palestinians on Sunday said Washington's backing for
Israeli refusal to halt Jewish settlement expansion had killed any
hope of reviving peace negotiations soon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, buoyed by new-found support
from the Obama administration, urged the Palestinians to "get a grip"
and drop their settlement freeze precondition for restarting talks
suspended since December.

On a one-day Middle East visit on Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton endorsed Israel's view that settlement expansion in the
occupied West Bank should not be a bar to resuming negotiations --
contradicting the Palestinian position.

Netanyahu has proposed limiting building for now to some 3,000 settler
homes already approved by Israel in the West Bank. He does not regard
building in occupied East Jerusalem, annexed in defiance of
international opposition, as settlement.

U.S. President Barack Obama himself, after persuading Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas in September to meet Netanyahu in New York,
called only for "restraint" in settlement, not the "freeze" he had
previously proposed.

Stung by Obama's about-face and Clinton's remarks, the Palestinians
voiced their frustration