Clinton: Settlement freeze should be extended

Israel and the Palestinians need to resolve a dispute over the expiry of an Israeli moratorium on West Bank settlement construction that threatens to scupper their nascent direct peace talks, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday.

Speaking as she flew to Egypt for a second round of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Clinton said the two sides would get "down to business" and she repeated the US view that Israel should extend its moratorium on new settlement construction in the West Bank. (Reuters)