Israeli Settlement Growth Must Stop, Clinton Says.

The Obama administration reiterated emphatically on Wednesday that it viewed a complete freeze of construction in settlements on the West Bank as a critical step toward a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians. Speaking of President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, ''He wants to see a stop to settlements -- not some settlements, not outposts, not 'natural growth' exceptions.'' Talking to reporters after a meeting with the Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, she said: ''That is our position. That is what we have communicated very clearly.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]