US: Israel faces difficult choices

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has told America's pro-Israel lobby that the building of Israeli settlements in the occupied East Jerusalem and West Bank is preventing peace with the Palestinians. She made those remarks at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) in Washington DC on Monday, following diplomatic tensions between Washington and Israel. "New construction in East Jerusalem or the West Bank undermines mutual trust and endangers the proximity talks that are the first step toward the full negotiations that both sides want and need," Clinton said.