People who plan to change the future often take a practice run at the past. In 2008 Barack Obama campaigned on a platform of change. As it turned out, “change” for the charismatic candidate didn’t only mean altering what was to happen, but also what happened before.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal this week, Elliott Abrams, formerly in charge of Middle East affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, provides an illustration. On June 17,
President Obama’s Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, stated that there were no agreements between the U.S. and Israel concerning Israeli settlements in the disputed territories.
“[I]n looking at the history of the Bush administration, there were no informal or oral enforceable agreements,” Mrs. Clinton remarked. “That has been verified by the official record of the administration and by the personnel in the positions of responsibility.”
No so, writes Mr. Abrams, a Middle East specialist, who was one of the American negotiators in 2003. “Not only were there agreements, but the Prime Minister of Israel relied on them in undertaking a wrenching political reorientation — the dissolution of his government, the removal of every single Israeli citizen, settlement and military position in Gaza, and the removal of four small settlements in the West Bank.”
Read Full Article »
