Did Israel And Bush Admin Have “Understanding” On Settlements? Even Bushies Say No.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/diplomacy/did-israel-and-bush-admin-have-understanding-on-settlements-bushies-say-no/

Did Israel And Bush Admin Have “Understanding” On Settlements? Even Bushies Say No.



With the Obama administration slowly wheeling into action to confront the Israel-Arab conflict, a key assertion made by some on the right is that the Bush administration and Israel reached an “understanding” by which Israel could proceed with certain types of settlement expansion.

The only problem with this assertion is that even Bush administration officials say it’s false.

This claim is important because it undercuts the Obama administration’s current approach to the region, which is partly to demand of Israel that settlements cease in all forms. It allows people on the right, as well as some senior Israeli officials, to complicate current diplomacy by portraying this as an abandonment of previous United States promises to Israel.

This assertion was made most recently by Elliott Abrams, who handled Mideast affairs at the National Security Council throughout the Bush years. “For reasons that remain unclear, the Obama administration has decided to abandon the understandings about settlements reached by the previous administration with the Israeli government,” Abrams wrote the other day in an Op ed piece that’s being heavily debated in diplomatic circles.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently rebutted this general claim, saying that the Bush administration and Israel reached “no informal or oral enforceable agreements” about settlements. So who’s right? Well, former Bush administration officials seem to side with Hillary.

In an April 24, 2008 article in the Washington Post, Bush White House spokesperson Gordon Johndroe flatly denied any agreement. “There is no understanding,” he said.

In that same article, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, too, denied any such understanding. “I never agreed to it,” he said.

Daniel Kurtzer, the U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2001-2005, has also denied any such arrangement, claiming that “there was no such understanding.”

This claim of an “understanding” between the Bush administration officials and Israel over settlements will likely continue to bedevil this process as it unfolds. So it’s worth keeping in mind that multiple Bush officials say it never happened.

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Take that, Elliott Abrams!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=278809

I'm cross-posting this in I/P. :thumbsup:

:thumbsup: on this bit of news.

To Obama's credit, he has spoken openly about the need to stop the settlements, rather the wink and nod given by BushCorp.

But it's interesting if Dubya didn't agree to support an ally's crimes against humanity. Wow, did even he draw the line somewhere? Or did he just not want to have to bail Israel out when it steals more Palestinian property?