Israel recently announced new housing plans for east Jerusalem, the part of the city Palestinians want for a future capital, drawing unusually sharp criticism from the Obama administration. Clinton renewed that disapproval on Monday, telling a pro-Israel audience that provocative Israeli land policies in areas claimed by the Palestinians are not in Israel's long-term interests and undermine U.S. credibility as a mediator.
The spread of Jewish homes on land claimed by the Palestinians threatens the Obama administration's first attempts at shuttle diplomacy intended to establish an independent Palestinian state, Clinton said in her speech, and makes it hard for the United States to be an honest broker.
"Jerusalem is not a settlement. It's our capital," Netanyahu said to a prolonged standing ovation. The neighborhoods Israel has built in east Jerusalem are an "inextricable" part of the city, the Israeli leader said, and will remain part of Israel under any peace agreement.
Clinton got loud approval when she talked tough on Iran -- an issue on which there is more agreement between Israel and the United States. Both countries believe that Iran wants nuclear weapons, that it could be able to develop them soon and that such weapons would pose a grave threat. The secretary said the Obama administration would not accept a nuclear armed Iran and is working on sanctions "that will bite" as a deterrent. In his speech, Netanyahu said that should Iran obtain nuclear weapons, "Our world would never be the same."
