Don’t Press Palestinians, Albright Tells Israel

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Thursday called on Israel to refrain from actions the Palestinians find provocative and urged a “timeout” on settlement activity.

In an unusually pointed and specific speech, Albright listed some of the steps the United States wants Israel to take to revive the stalled peace negotiations and drew an immediate objection from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman, who said that settlement expansion could not be stopped.

These are not new U.S. positions, both American and Israeli officials said Thursday night, and they have been expressed to Netanyahu in private. “What is new, and surprising, is that she made them public,” a senior Israeli official said.

“It now puts pressure on us to answer. It puts the ball in the Israeli court.”