Friday, November 30, 2012

The Obama administration is scrambling to salvage hopes for Mideast peace talks after the United Nations overwhelmingly voted to recognize a Palestinian state over vehement U.S. and Israeli objections.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is meeting senior Israeli and Palestinian officials Friday to try to plot a path forward.

Clinton is seeing Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. She is also talking to Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, a key mediator.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says only "face-to-face" Israeli-Palestinian negotiations can lead to progress on a two-state solution.

He rejected talk of cutting U.S. aid to the Palestinians after they garnered overwhelming global support to join the U.N. as a nonmember observer state.