STEPHANOPOULOS: So is there any room for compromise on the settlement issue?
CLINTON: Well, I don't think we want to pre-judge the effort. I think that, if you look back, certainly from my perspective, every Israeli leader that I have personally known and others who I have looked at through an historical lens has come to the same conclusion...
STEPHANOPOULOS: But [Netahyahu's] team says now that, if you continue to push this, it's going to bring down his government.
CLINTON: ...Now, remember, the Israelis made a commitment in the road map in the prior administration.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But they say that includes an understanding for natural growth inside the settlements.
CLINTON: Well, that was an understanding that was entered into, so far as we are told, orally. That was never made a part of the official record of the negotiations as it was passed on to our administration. No one in the Bush administration said to anyone that we can find in our administration...
STEPHANOPOULOS: Not Elliot Abrams? He wrote about that.
CLINTON: Nobody in a position of authority at the time that the Obama administration came into office said anything about it. And, in fact, there's also a record that President Bush contradicted even that oral agreement.
But the fact is that the road map, which was agreed to officially, adopted by the Israeli government, said something very clear about settlements.
So I think that what the president is doing is saying, Look, everybody should comply with the obligations you've already committed to. And for the Palestinians, let's not forget: They must end incitement against Israel. They must demonstrate an ability to provide security.
Hope she doesn't slip on the melting ice.
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