Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived yesterday for a two-day visit in Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), after participating yesterday in a conference for rehabilitating Gaza, which took place in Egypt.
Today, she is expected to meet, among others, with President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipora Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and, finally, the Prime Minister-Designate Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mrs. Clinton will clarify the positions of the new administration on three main issues: negotiations with the Palestinians, Iran and Syria.
During the course of the visit, Mrs. Clinton will stay at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, where two floors have been sealed off with 130 rooms that will serve her and her entourage. This will be the third time that she is staying at a suite in the hotel. On the previous occasions, she stayed there with her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
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Mrs. Clinton started her Middle East visit at the Gaza rehabilitation conference, held at Sharm el-Sheik with the participation of kings, presidents, prime ministers and 45 foreign ministers from around the world.
The sponsors hope to raise more than $10 billion for the immediate rehabilitation of Gaza and for developing economic projects in the West Bank. The largest donation of $1 billion is expected to arrive from the palace of the Saudi king. The six oil emirates in the Persian Gulf have committed to donate $1.25 billion collectively. Mrs. Clinton announced a $900 million contribution from the U.S., and the European Union announced a donation of $554 million, in addition to tens of millions that have already been transferred to Gaza.
Spokespersons of Mrs. Clinton and the European Union would not answer The Bulletin’s questions about why they contributed funds to the Gaza regime, which is under the total control of a terrorist organization that openly applies all financial donations to build its terrorist prowess.
David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com