US Secretary of State Clinton calls Middle East leaders

Date: 23 / 01 / 2009 Time: 12:29
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Signaling the Obama administration’s intention to act decisively to achieve peace in the Middle East, the new US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton called Palestinian Israeli and Jordanian leaders on Thursday.

In conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Clinton addressed the situation in Gaza and "the security of the state of Israel," according to officials.

Clinton also spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian King Abdullah II to discuss the future of the peace process.

The former senator from New York also called Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, assuring him that Washington intends to move swiftly to push forward the peace negotiations in the Middle East.

The Secretary of State also spoke with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, in which they agreed on the need to reopen the crossings to the Gaza Strip as soon as possible in order to allow humanitarian aid into the territory.

The spokesman of the Foreign Ministry in Paris said that the Israeli authorities had prevented a number of diplomats and shipments of aid from reaching Gaza, and called on Israel to ease its closure of the Strip.

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