Palestinians seek clear US stance on statehood Ramallah

She pledged the United States would maintain an active role in trying to solve the conflict,but her comments came as diplomats at the United Nations said Washington had blocked a

European initiative to relaunch peace talks.

Diplomats said Britain,France and Germany had planned to propose the outlines of a final peace agreement during a session of the diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East scheduled

for Friday in Berlin,but the meeting was put off at Washington’s behest.

In Ramallah,a spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called on Washington to clarify its position.

“We are calling for a clear American position on Palestinian statehood within the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital and a firm position on Israeli settlement,” Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement today.

The Palestinian leadership has set itself a September 2011 deadline to be ready for sovereignty,in the hope of pressuring Israel and the international community to recognise a Palestinian state on the territory that Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been on hold since late 2010 over the issue of Jewish settlement in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

But the Palestinians have said they will seek United

Nations recognition for a unilateral declaration of statehood if the talks do not resume.

Abu Rudeina said in today’s statement that Clinton’s remarks were evidence that Washington was “beginning to comprehend the gravity of the situation in the Middle East.”

“It is time for the US administration to move,before September and before the region takes a turn the consequences of which will be serious for everyone,” he added.