Posted on 06/25/2009 8:25:56 PM PDT by Cinnamon Girl
A key Bush administration official is disputing the Obama administration's contention that there were no understandings between President George W. Bush and then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the issue of continued West Bank settlement construction.
In an op-ed piece which appeared in Thursday's editions of The Wall Street Journal, Elliott Abrams, who served under Bush in the National Security Council and who held a series of discussions with the Israeli leadership, said that Bush and Sharon did strike a deal which constituted U.S. acquiescence to continued construction in Israeli settlement blocs that Jerusalem intended to keep under any final status accord.
Abrams said the Bush administration agreed to Israel's request to allow for natural growth construction in exchange for Sharon's explicit support for Palestinian statehood as well as his pledge not to establish new settlements or to expropriate additional land in the West Bank toward that end.
"On settlements we also agreed on principles that would permit some continuing growth," Abrams wrote in The Wall Street Journal. "Mr. Sharon stated these clearly in a major policy speech in December 2003."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dismissed reports that the Bush administration had an understanding under which Israel could keep expanding settlements on the West Bank.
Dov Weisglass, Sharon's former chief of staff, wrote in an op-ed piece published earlier this month in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily that the Bush administration had secretly agreed to expanding Jewish settlements on the West Bank within their existing boundaries.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
Obama sure seems to be willing to meddle in Israeli politics, but supporting Freedom seeking Iranians is none of his business...
Thank you, CG
His lying is wearing thin.
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv and grew up in Jerusalem. He spent his high school years in the US, where his father, historian Benzion Netanyahu, was doing research. Returning to Israel in 1967, Mr. Netanyahu enlisted in the IDF and served in an elite commando unit, Sayeret Matkal. He took part in a number of military operations, including the rescue of hostages in a high-jacked Sabena airplane in 1972. In the same year, he was cited for outstanding operational leadership by the late Major General Motta Gur. Discharged from the IDF in 1972, Mr. Netanyahu participated in the Yom Kippur War and reached the rank of captain.
Mr. Netanyahu received a B.Sc. degree in architecture and a M.Sc. in business management from MIT. He also studied political science at MIT and Harvard University.
Between 1976 and 1982 Mr. Netanyahu worked in the private sector, first with the Boston Consulting Group, an international business consultancy, and then in a senior management position at Rim Industries Ltd.
In 1979 and 1984 Mr. Netanyahu initiated two international conferences that emphasized the need to fight terrorist organizations and regimes that provide them support. US Secretary of State George Schultz wrote that Mr. Netanyahu’s social activism and books had a decisive influence in shaping American policy on international terrorism.
In 1982 Mr. Netanyahu assumed the position of deputy chief of mission at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC. In 1984 he was appointed Israel’s ambassador to the UN, a position in which he served for four years. During this time he became renowned as a tireless champion of Israel’s cause in the international arena. As such, he led the effort for declassification of the United Nations archive on crimes committed by Nazi Germany.
Returning to Israel in 1988, Mr. Netanyahu was elected to the Knesset on the Likud party list and was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. During the Gulf War he served as Israel’s principal representative in the international arena. In 1991, he was a senior member of the Israeli delegation to the Madrid peace conference and as such, participated in the first strategic cooperation program between Israel and the US.
In 1993 Mr. Netanyahu was elected Likud party chairman and served as head of opposition until his election to Prime Minister of Israel in 1996.
During his term as Prime Minister, Mr. Netanyahu implemented policy that combined fighting terror with advancement of the peace process. Its cornerstone was the conclusion of well-measured agreements with the Palestinians that insisted on reciprocity. During his three year term the number of terror attacks drastically decreased.
In the economic realm, Mr. Netanyahu led the liberalization of foreign currency regulations, accelerated privatization of government-owned companies and reduced budget deficit. During his term in office, the scope of foreign investment in Israeli high-tech industry reached billions of dollars per year.
After the completion of his term as Prime Minister, Mr. Netanyahu served as a business consultant to Israeli high-tech companies and was a popular speaker on the global lecture circuit.
In 2002 Mr. Netanyahu returned to politics, first as Minister of Foreign Affairs and then, in the course of 2003, as Minister of Finance. He initiated policies that encouraged growth by reducing the public sector and strengthened the private sector. They included the reduction of government expenses, tax cuts, transition from welfare to work, breakup of monopolies, resumption of privatization and introduction of pension reform. These steps, praised by the US administration, credit rating companies and the IMF, put an end to economic decline, lowered unemployment and spurred growth. An Israeli economy that was shrinking by about 1% each year starting in 2001 grew by 4.2% in 2004.
Mr. Netanyahu has written a number of books that appeared in Hebrew and English, with some also translated into Russian, French, Arabic, Japanese and other languages:
Self-portrait of a Hero: The Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu (1963-1976) – editor, together with brother Ido Netanyahu (1978)
International Terrorism: Challenge and Response – editor (1979)
Terrorism: How the West Can Win – editor (1987)
A Durable Peace : Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (1992)
Fighting Terrorism: How Democracies Can Defeat Domestic and International Terrorism (1996)
Mr. Netanyahu is married to Sara, a psychologist, and is a father of three. The Netanyahu family lives in Jerusalem
And Obama? Let’s quote Hillary. ‘He wrote a book and made speech’.
Wasn’t his brother killed in the raid on Entebbe in Uganda?
Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu (Hebrew: יונתן "יוני" נתניהו) (March 13, 1946 – July 4, 1976) was a member of the Israel Defense Forces elite Sayeret Matkal unit. His younger brother Benjamin Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel, and previously held that office from 1996-99.
Yoni was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service (Hebrew: עיטור המופת) for his conduct in the Yom Kippur War. He was killed in action during Operation Entebbe at Entebbe airport, by Ugandan soldiers, when the Israeli military rescued hostages after an aircraft hijacking. He was the leader of the assault, and the only Israeli military fatality of the raid.
Yes. Yoni Netanyahu was the commander of, and only casualty in, the Entebbe Raid. He planned it and executed it.
Good genes.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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No, he's simply telling the truth. People can conclude Hillary is a liar on their own.
Bibi should treat 0bungle the same way the Norks and Iranians do. With zero deference
Bibi has two MIT degrees and was working on a third when he had to go back to Israel. What real world degrees does 0bungle have? Law? He is a lawyer who rarely practiced
0bungle is nothing compared to Bibi.
Bibi is forced to humor this punk only because he is President
A comparison of the lives of Bibi and Obama done in pictures here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2270358/posts
Calling Hillary, or any Democrat for that matter,a liar Is like calling “black” black or water wet.It is so true that it no longer has an impact.
Of course Hillary is a liar? When has she ever told the truth?
But, as the election of 2008 showed, there are those that love them.
One of them helped put 500 workers out of work in Tampa, Florida. I wonder how many of them that lived in her district voted for her. I would say all of them but I could be wrong.
You have to admit, it’s a pretty gutsy move to contradict her in public like that.
Hillary lied? Who would have thought it?
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