BICOM

Foreign Secretary William Hague yesterday called on the United States to renew efforts to bring Israeli and Palestinian leaders together for bilateral negotiations.

Hague was in Washington yesterday where he hosted a dinner at the British Embassy in honour of outgoing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. According to the Telegraph, prior the event Hague said “There is a really strong need for fresh momentum from the United States, at the beginning of a second-term administration, after the Israeli elections, and with a two-state solution in danger of slipping away on the ground in the Middle East.”

Commenting on suggestions that Clinton’s successor John Kerry is keen to oversee a new United States diplomatic effort to bring about talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Hague said “This is a subject I’ve discussed very often in the past with John Kerry, and I believe he has a very good understanding of this subject and an appreciation of the need for the United States to act in this area, and the timescales involved – if we don’t act, it will become impossible to bring about a two-state solution.”

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama yesterday telephoned Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to congratulate him “on his party’s success in winning a plurality of Knesset seats in Israel’s recent election,” according to a White House statement. Obama also “indicated that the United States looks forward to working with the next [Israeli] government,” and “reiterated his commitment to the deep and enduring bonds between the United States and Israel.”