Clinton rolls out foreign policy approach in trip

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Six weeks into the job, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is starting to roll out the Obama administration's approach to the most prickly foreign policy challenges from Arab-Israeli peace to Russia.

In her second foreign trip which ended early on Sunday, Clinton dipped into Middle East peacemaking and promised to work for a "comprehensive" Arab-Israeli peace.

She tried to charm European institutions in Brussels and literally hit the "reset" button in strained U.S.-Russia ties during a dinner with Moscow's foreign minister in Geneva, and then went to Turkey.

Clinton also took first steps to deal directly with traditional enemies, "testing the waters," she said, of a campaign promise of President Barack Obama to engage rather than isolate protagonists as the Bush administration had done.

In Israel, Clinton announced two U.S. envoys would be in Syria this weekend to explore better ties and as part of a U.S. bid to get a more comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace.

While at NATO headquarters in Brussels, she made the new administration's first public overtures toward Iran by inviting Tehran to a conference on Afghanistan, possibly at the end of this month.

But in Israel, where hawkish prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to form a government, Clinton faced a tougher challenge in trying to push for Palestinian statehood, which Netanyahu opposes.

She was criticized by Palestinians for not being tough on Israel over Jewish settlement expansion and the razing of homes in Arab East Jerusalem. She dodged questions on this issue in Israel and saved her comments until a news conference in the West Bank, calling Israeli moves "unhelpful."

At an aid conference for Gaza in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, she continued the Bush administration's harsh language over Hamas, saying not one dime of a U.S. aid pledge of $900 million would go to the militant group that runs Gaza.

Clinton's rhetoric on Hamas was so similar to that of her predecessor Condoleezza Rice that the Palestinian newspaper al Quds ran a story with the headline "Condoleezza Clinton."

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

As she did during her first trip as top U.S. diplomat to Asia last month, Clinton's schedule was packed with back-to-back meetings with presidents and ministers but she also sought out nontraditional diplomacy.

Clinton said the motivation for her work as top U.S. diplomat, was to help children reach their "God-given potential" and she made room in her schedule for youth events.

In the West Bank she gave an interview to a Palestinian youth television station and was asked what she would have done if her daughter Chelsea had been "unfortunate enough" to have been born under Israeli occupation.

"I would love her ... I would never lose hope. I would never give up of the dream of a Palestinian state, no matter what happens," she said.