Hillary Clinton indicated yesterday that she will put diplomacy back at the heart of a “smart power” strategy for the Middle East.

“We cannot give up on peace,” the Secretary of State-designate said as she offered the first real declaration of intent from Barack Obama’s incoming Administration that it will tackle the crisis in Gaza head-on.

She added that diplomatic engagement would include increased contact with former pariah nations such as Iran and Syria in an effort to broker a lasting settlement for the region.

Mrs Clinton stopped short of setting out specific measures when appearing on Capitol Hill for confirmation hearings yesterday.

She acknowledged, though, that many past presidents, including her husband, had tried and failed to solve seemingly “intractable” problems in the Middle East. “The President-elect and I understand and are deeply sympathetic to Israel’s desire to defend itself under the current conditions, and to be free of shelling by Hamas rockets. However, we have also been reminded of the tragic humanitarian costs of conflict in the Middle East, and pained by the suffering of Palestinian and Israeli civilians,” she said.

“This must only increase our determination to seek a just and lasting peace agreement that brings real security to Israel, normal and positive relations with its neighbours and independence, economic progress and security to the Palestinians in their own state.”

Asked if she would be willing to engage directly with the Islamic extremists controlling Gaza, Mrs Clinton replied: “You cannot negotiate with Hamas until it renounces violence, recognises Israel and agrees to abide by past agreements. That is an absolute. That is my position and the President-elect’s position.”

The “smart power” strategy should go beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and address other issues, including Iran’s nuclear programme and the “irresponsible behaviour” of other countries in region such as Syria.

Although insisting “we are not taking any option off the table at all”, Mrs Clinton said the Obama Administration would follow “a new, perhaps different approach” to prevent the “unacceptable” prospect of Iran becoming a fully-fledged nuclear power.

Mrs Clinton also promised to strengthen overseas bonds that have been strained under President Bush. “Today’s security threats cannot be addressed in isolation,” she said. “Smart power requires reaching out to both friends and adversaries, to bolster old alliances and to forge new ones.”

Mrs Clinton underlined her commitment to women’s issues at yesterday’s hearings as she attacked the trafficking of young women for prostitution. “We have sex slavery; we have wage slavery. And it is primarily a slavery of girls and women,” she said.

She also condemned the way the rights of women were being abused in Muslim countries such as Afghanistan. “It is heartbreaking . . . that young girls are attacked on their way to school by Taleban sympathisers and members who do not want young women to be educated. It’s not complicated. They want to maintain an attitude that keeps women unhealthy, unfed, uneducated. This is not culture. This is not custom. This is criminal.”

Soft sell

— Smart power means a combination of “hard” power – the power to coerce, by military or other means – and “soft” power – the power to convince and persuade through trade, diplomacy, aid and the spread of values

— The phrase “smart power” is a recent addition to the diplomatic phrasebook. It was coined after the invasion of Iraq and was presented as a liberal alternative to the neoconservatism of the Bush Administration and its leading disciples such as Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney

— According to Joseph Nye, a leading exponent of smart power, America must “learn to cooperate, and to listen” if it is to become a “welcomed world leader”. Nye defines smart power as the power to persuade other countries to do what the US wants

— Advocates of smart power invoke the creation of the UN, Nato, global free trade and the Marshall Plan as examples of the US in a central but not solo role

Times Recommends

• Tehran cannot live up to its rhetoric
• The new unicycle that will ‘change the world’
• We cannot wish away Iran’s bomb