US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on Israel to make "difficult but necessary choices" if it wants a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

美国国务卿希拉里·克林顿呼吁，以色列要与达成巴勒斯坦和平协议，就必须做出某些“困难而又必要的选择”。

Mrs Clinton warned that the status quo（现状） was "unsustainable" in a speech to a pro-Israel lobby group（游说团体） .

Her comments come amid a dispute between the US and Israel over plans for 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out（排除，取消） halting settlement construction in the city.

The Palestinian Authority is furious（狂怒的，激烈的） at Israel's insistence¹ on building on occupied territory. It sees it as a serious stumbling block（绊脚石，障碍） to the resumption of talks, which have been stalled for more than a year.

Nearly 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are held to be illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

In her speech to a convention（大会，协定） in Washington of the influential² Aipac (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), Mrs Clinton underscored（强调） the Obama administration's "rock solid" commitment to Israel.

"Guaranteeing Israel's security is more than a policy position for me. It is a personal commitment that will never waver（踌躇，摆动） ," she said.

But, she added, it is Washington's "responsibility to give credit when it is due and to tell the truth when it is needed".

New construction in East Jerusalem or the West Bank "undermines mutual³ trust" and "exposes daylight between Israel and the United States that others in the region hope to exploit" she said.

Mrs Clinton has demanded Mr Netanyahu move to restore confidence in the peace process, including extending the suspension of new building in the West Bank to include East Jerusalem.

In a telephone call on Friday, the Israeli prime minister proposed a series of "trust-building measures" that represented "a real effort" to aid US peace efforts.

Although details have not yet been made public, Israeli officials say these include an agreement to discuss all outstanding（未解决的） issues in the indirect "proximity⁴ talks" being mediated⁵（调停，调解） by US special envoy⁶ George Mitchell.