US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on her first foray into Middle East diplomacy, declared the Obama administration committed to pushing intensively to find a way for Israelis and Palestinians to exist peacefully in separate states.

She used an international donors conference to issue a blunt call yesterday for urgent action to forge a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace.

"We cannot afford more setbacks or delays - or regrets about what might have been, had different decisions been made," she said in apparent reference to the failure of previous peace initiatives, including those pushed vigorously by her husband's administration.