Bush Erases the Clinton Parameters

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs ^ | 15 April 2004 | Dore Gold

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JERUSALEM ISSUE BRIEF

Vol. 3, No. 21     15 April 2004

Bush Erases the Clinton Parameters

Dore Gold

• President Bush's April 14, 2004, letter to Prime Minister Sharon represents a significant shift in U.S. policy, as compared to the Clinton Parameters advanced by the former president after the failed Camp David Summit of July 2000 and in subsequent months.

• In his plan, Clinton provided conditional approval of settlement blocs, but insisted that there needed to be "territorial swaps" of land from pre-1967 Israel in exchange for any West Bank land Israel would retain. Bush does not insist on any land swaps involving Israeli territory.

• Clinton spoke of Palestinian refugees finding homes in other states including Israel, while Bush states that Palestinian refugees should be settled in a future Palestinian state "rather than Israel."

• The Clinton Parameters dropped the idea of defensible borders and replaced them with "security guarantees" including a proposed "international presence" in the Jordan Valley. In contrast, Bush refers to "defensible borders" in the context of preserving and strengthening "Israel's capability to deter and defend itself, by itself."

• According to the Clinton Parameters, Israel's security needs "need not and should not come at the expense of Palestinian sovereignty or interfere with Palestinian territorial integrity." In contrast, Bush allows for Israel to continue to control airspace, territorial waters, and land passages in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank "pending agreements or other arrangements."

• During the Clinton era, the signing of a peace treaty was supposed to produce security for Israelis. Under Bush, security must be achieved first, as a prerequisite for peace. Given the threats Israel still faces from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Yasser Arafat's own Fatah Tanzim, the approach taken in the Bush letter represents a significant improvement for Israel and for the prospects of a lasting peace.

President George W. Bush's April 14, 2004, letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon represents a significant shift in U.S. policy toward the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

[TopQuark]

A concise, to-the-point analysis. Follow the link for the rest.

[TopQuark]

Bush Erases the Clinton Parameters

[plain talk]

Good read. As usual, Clinton's plan was BS feel-good stuff. Bush's plan has a more realistic sound to it. Probably neither plan nor any plan is workable.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

[farfromhome]

The Clinton plan to me seems more like a "holding pattern". With Bush's plan, the Palestinians would be given what they claim they want -- their own country. This will either satisfy the majority of the Palestinians, and there will be peace, or the Palestinians will continue to attack Israel even after they were given what they claimed they wanted. Bush's plan is the only way to find out which of these paths the Palestinians will choose.

[Spok]

And the wonderful Palestinians who danced in the streets on 9-11 have said that they're angry at us and we should be afraid. We should tell them to go pound sand, but it's Israeli sand...

[Sybeck1]

The ball is in the Palestinian's court now.

[CyberAnt]

"Bush's plan is the only way to find out which of these paths the Palestinians will choose"

I think you hit the nail on the head!

[TASMANIANRED]

There already is a Palestenian state , it is called Jordan.

[SupplySider]

"Bush's plan is the only way to find out which of these paths the Palestinians will choose"

If the "Palestinians" were smart, they would call off the mass murder program and strike a compromise, get their own state, then build their own little North Korea. Fortunately they are ruled by passion, not intellect.