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'Obama repeating 1975 mistakes' 16/03/2010 04:17
Jerusalem Post ^ | 3-16-10 | GIL HOFFMAN

Posted on 03/16/2010 4:03:58 AM PDT by SJackson

Ex-Rabin adviser says US government's stance recalls US-Israel Sinai crisis

The American leadership is mistakenly “painting Israel into a corner,” as it did during a 1975 confrontation between the two countries, Yehuda Avner, who was an adviser to then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin at the time of the crisis, said Monday.

Ambassador to the US Michael Oren was quoted as telling Israeli consuls general on a conference call Saturday night that the current crisis with the US was the worst since the 1975 confrontation between then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Rabin over an American demand for a partial withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula.

Avner said he did not have enough inside information about the current crisis to compare the two. But he compared the language of Kissinger 35 years ago to that of current US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who he said spoke in a manner that was more emotional than diplomatic.

“The US must never create a situation in which Israel sees itself as being abandoned, because it encourages belligerence on the other side and inflexibility on the Israeli side,” Avner said. “If the US wishes to advance a peace process, it must never paint Israel into a corner as it did by calling Ramat Shlomo a settlement. What’s needed now on all sides is constructive ambiguity.”

Avner, who worked under four Israeli prime ministers, recalled the details of the 1975 crisis, which he recounts in his new book The Prime Ministers.

He said the March 1975 incident erupted when Kissinger demanded that Israel give up the Jidda and Mitla passes in the Sinai, and Rabin refused. Because of his refusal, Kissinger left a meeting with Rabin in anger and accused Israel of “shattering the cause of peace.”

At the height of the confrontation between the two men, Kissinger told Rabin: “You will be responsible for the destruction of the third Jewish commonwealth,” and Rabin replied, “You will be judged not by American history but by Jewish history.” Avner said he hoped the current crisis would be resolved as successfully.

Then American president Gerald Ford wrote Rabin a fiercely worded letter that Avner said was among “the most brutal” Israel had received from the US.

“I wish to express my profound disappointment of Israel’s attitude over the course of the negotiations,” Ford wrote. “You know the importance I have attached to the US efforts to reach an agreement. Kissinger’s mission, encouraged by your government, expresses vital US interests in the region. Failure of the negotiations will have a far-reaching impact on the region and our relation. I have therefore instructed that a reassessment be made of US policy in the region, including our relations with Israel with the aim of reassuring that our overall American interests are protected.”

Within six months, Kissinger succeeded in brokering an interim accord between Rabin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat whereby Israel agreed to pull back its forces out of the Jidda and Mitla passes but retained the heights above them while American forces were stationed in the passes.

Avner said that since that compromise was reached, no Israeli has been killed on the Israel-Egypt border.


TOPICS: Editorial; Israel; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: israel; plugsbiden; ramatshlomo; waronterror

1 posted on 03/16/2010 4:03:58 AM PDT by SJackson
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

2 posted on 03/16/2010 4:10:10 AM PDT by SJackson (Barack Obama went to Harvard and became an educated fool. Rep. Bobby Rush)
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To: SJackson

Israel has allies among the American people and Bibi knows it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmV1ffKP0ms

Share with others, please.

Even Hollyweird Liberals support Israel.


3 posted on 03/16/2010 4:20:57 AM PDT by ExTexasRedhead (Clean the RAT/RINO Sewer in 2010 and 2012)
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To: SJackson

Ford wasn’t smart enough to write a letter, must have had handlers do it, he was barely a notch or 2 above T. Kennedy.


4 posted on 03/16/2010 4:26:23 AM PDT by Waco (Kalifonia don't need no stenkin oil and no stenkin revenue.)
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To: ExTexasRedhead

I hope Bibi doesn’t cave to Pres. Carter, I mean Obama.


5 posted on 03/16/2010 4:32:30 AM PDT by Reagan69 (The only thing SHOVEL-READY since BO's stimulus has been MICHAEL JACKSON (tammy bruce))
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To: SJackson

No “mistake”....Obama is undermining Israel intentionally.


6 posted on 03/16/2010 4:58:59 AM PDT by G Larry (DNC is comprised of REGRESSIVES!)
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To: SJackson
'Obama repeating 1975 mistakes'

Actually, he has made a good deal more than 1975 mistakes... a LOT more. He is a mistake himself.

7 posted on 03/16/2010 5:06:41 AM PDT by C210N (A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take everything you have)
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To: SJackson
Within six months, Kissinger succeeded in brokering an interim accord between Rabin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat whereby Israel agreed to pull back its forces out of the Jidda and Mitla passes but retained the heights above them while American forces were stationed in the passes.

Is anybody still stationed there?

8 posted on 03/16/2010 5:32:03 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (Grovelnator Schwarzenkaiser, fashionable fascism one charade at a time.)
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To: C210N
'Obama repeating 1975 mistakes'

WRONG. OBAMA IS REPEATING OCT 1917 MISTAKES!

9 posted on 03/16/2010 5:54:45 AM PDT by DCBryan1 (FORGET the lawyers...first kill the "journalists".)
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To: SJackson
I told you so!
10 posted on 03/16/2010 5:55:18 AM PDT by B.O. Plenty (Give war a chance...)
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To: SJackson
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2472020/posts

Right Here on FR, There is a small group of Prayer Warriors who Pray Daily for Israel.

If you would like to be on the Ping List,
Please let me know!

This is in accordance with Psalm 122:6

"Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem"

11 posted on 03/16/2010 9:57:37 AM PDT by left that other site (Your Mi'KMaq Paddy Whacky Bass Playing Biker Buddy)
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