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In Mideast, Clinton turns up the caution - -

By Mark Landler

In Mideast, Clinton Turns Up the Caution
Published: March 7, 2009

ANKARA, Turkey — On the road with Hillary Rodham Clinton, two distinct secretaries of state are emerging: the loose, unscripted politician who roamed Asia’s neighborhoods and schools, and the tightly controlled diplomat who marched through the Middle East.

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Pool photo by Osman Orsal

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the taping of a Turkish talk show on Saturday in Ankara, the capital.

From Egypt to Israel and the West Bank, Mrs. Clinton dropped the penchant for plain-spoken analysis she had shown in Asia for a more formal style based on time-tested diplomatic formulations.

When Mrs. Clinton was asked in Ramallah how she felt about Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a cause of strife with Palestinians, she said the United States would raise “the issue” with the next Israeli government. Asked about it again in Brussels, she recited the official American position that settlements were “unhelpful.”

In Israel, Mrs. Clinton did not publicly broach settlements at all. And she only gingerly raised the issue of border crossings to Gaza, which Israel has mostly kept closed, drawing criticism from European leaders and human rights groups.

She wrapped up her weeklong trip on Saturday, here in Turkey’s sprawling capital, by announcing that President Obama plans to visit Turkey in the next month or so. She declined to say whether Mr. Obama would make Turkey the site of a much-anticipated speech to the Islamic world, but another administration official later said he would not give the speech in Turkey.

Some of Mrs. Clinton’s earlier caution is a reflection of the treacherous landscape in the Middle East, where a misplaced phrase can ruffle feathers among constituencies back home and where the grinding business of negotiation takes precedence over more personal encounters. The potential for missteps was even greater this time, with the Israelis in the throes of putting together a new government.

Asia was not without its land mines — North Korea’s ailing dictator, for one — but Mrs. Clinton sidestepped one of the biggest by playing down human rights concerns in her talks with China. And the general emphasis of that trip was much more geared toward climate change and public diplomacy.

Some Middle East analysts said the Obama administration had calculated that immediately pushing Israel would make



    
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