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HORSES - PHOTOS: TIM FLACH
Sunday 7 June 2009
Israel Matzav: Clinton's climbdown
Clinton's climbdown
Buried deep in a Times of London column on the Middle East (co-authored by one Uzi Mahnaimi), comes word of an attempt to get Hillary Clinton down from the tree she scampered up called a 'settlement freeze.' Obama demanded that Israel halt the construction of settlements on Palestinian land, but he avoided repeating Clinton’s stronger language that this be without exception - “not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions”, she said - which has left him little room for diplomacy.
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Israel Matzav: Israel's pilotless helicopter
Israel's pilotless helicopter
An Israeli firm called Steadicopter has developed an unmanned helicopter called the Black Eagle 50 (pictured). Israel Matzav: Israel's pilotless helicopterIsraeli firm Steadicopter has unveiled its Black Eagle 50 mini rotary unmanned air vehicle. The design is 2.3m (7.5ft) long and has a rotor diameter of 2m, with a maximum take-off weight of 35kg (77lb), including a 3kg payload.
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DoubleTapper: Happy Anniversary
Happy Anniversary
تنسيق-الكليات-لعام سكس نيك كس
The Israeli surprise attack against the Iraqi Osirak nuclear reactor took place on this day in 1981.
The mission was a complete success; operationally, and politically on both domestic and international fronts.
In a "surgical strike" deep within hostile territory, a squadron of heavily fueled, and heavily armed F-16As, with a group of F-15As providing air cover and fighter support, eliminated the reactor site, and returned to friendly territory without having to refuel.
The Osirak reactor complex was put out of commission, and the Iraqi nuclear program set back considerably. It has been suggested that the Israeli attack on the reactor prevented Iraq from using radioactive weaponry during the Iran-Iraq war, and Operation Desert Storm (the first Gulf war).
The Osirak facility remained in its damaged state until the Gulf War, when a prolonged series of US air strikes finally destroyed the site completely.
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DoubleTapper: Happy Anniversary
Israel Matzav: Saudi King Abdullah ordered Obama to impose 'solution'#links#links
Saudi King Abdullah ordered Obama to impose 'solution'
The Saudi daily al-Hayat reported on Sunday that Saudi King Abdullah Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Saudi King Abdullah ordered Obama to impose 'solution'
Israel Matzav: Expert: Iran wants to attack Europe, is laughing at Obama
Expert: Iran wants to attack Europe, is laughing at Obama
An Israeli expert on Iran, Ze’ev Maghen, says that Iran doesn't wish to commit suicide, and doesn't believe it has to in order to destroy Israel (God forbid). He also believes that Iran wishes to use Israel as a beachhead to attack Europe. He says that the Persian media is laughing at Obama. Israel Matzav: Expert: Iran wants to attack Europe, is laughing at ObamaThe Iranian leadership certainly does seek Israel’s destruction, but they“care if Israel destroys Tehran. They don’t mind martyrdom, but why do that if everything is going so well?” he said.
...
“Iran’s goal is not merely to attack Tel Aviv. Their goal is much grander. They want to eradicate Israel as a state, but that’s only a first step.” Eliminating Israel would remove what the Iranians see as a “western outpost” and create a “beachhead into Europe,” he said.Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Carter 'fears' Lebanese election results won't be 'accepted'
Carter 'fears' Lebanese election results won't be 'accepted'
Former American President Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Center is supervising Lebanese elections being held on Sunday, 'fears' that the election results will not be 'accepted.' What's left unsaid is that fear only applies should Hezbullah and its allies win. Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Carter 'fears' Lebanese election results won't be 'accepted'
Israel Matzav: Mitchell to put 'final borders' immediately on the table?
Mitchell to put 'final borders' immediately on the table?
Haaretz reports that due to the dispute between Israel and the Obama administration over the 'settlement freeze,' the President and his special envoy George Mitchell (pictured) may attempt to put a resolution of Israel's 'final borders' on the table immediately. If that were to happen, it would be clear where Israel is 'permitted' to build and where it is not 'permitted' to build. Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Mitchell to put 'final borders' immediately on the table?
Israel Matzav: Helping Obama down from the tree
Helping Obama down from the tree
The Washington Post attempts to help President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton down from the tree up which they scampered. A good compromise is achievable. Mr. Netanyahu should publicly acknowledge that the peace process will lead to Palestinian statehood, and should adopt a series of measures curtailing settlements. He should quickly dismantle those deemed illegal, end all government subsidies, prohibit the territorial expansion of all settlements, stop new construction in those outside Israel's West Bank fence and agree to a monitoring mechanism that will prevent cheating. Mr. Obama can reasonably accept that as a freeze, while not requiring that not a single brick be laid in any of the more than 120 West Bank communities. Then he can turn to the equally important task of pressing Palestinian leaders and Arab states for measures that match Israel's actions.
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Israel Matzav: Helping Obama down from the tree
Israel Matzav: IAEA: Iran has enough centrifuges for two nuclear weapons per year
IAEA: Iran has enough centrifuges for two nuclear weapons per year
In a report issued on Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that the Iranian government has enough centrifuges to produce two nuclear weapons per year. The report, one of a series made quarterly to the agency’s board, described how the pace of enrichment and the installation of new centrifuges is accelerating at an enormous underground bunker in the desert at Natanz. It said that nearly 4,920 centrifuges were currently enriching uranium, and that 2,300 more were ready to go. That represents an increase of 30 percent in the total number of installed centrifuges since a February report.
Campaigning for re-election next week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed that he will never bend to demands from the West or the United Nations that Iran halt its uranium enrichment. His political opponents have largely agreed, but have urged a more cooperative attitude.Read All at :
Israel Matzav: IAEA: Iran has enough centrifuges for two nuclear weapons per year
Israel Matzav: Gaza's Ponzi scheme
Gaza's Ponzi scheme
Sunday's Al-Guardian (called the Observer) reports on the schemes and machinations that had led to the loss of $100-500 million invested by Gazans in smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. Israel Matzav: Gaza's Ponzi schemeThe tunnels are not supposed to exist at all. As the war in Gaza ground to a close in January, Israel insisted on a ceasefire condition that the subterranean network be closed.
Yet there are now scores of them - more than ever before - snaking ever closer to each other. On the Egyptian side, bribes and an unwillingness to close off Gaza keep open the tunnels and smuggling routes. Analysts say that Israel knows this full well, but finds their existence convenient because they take pressure off the argument for reopening the Gaza crossings.Read All at :
Israel Matzav: More on Obama in Cairo
More on Obama in Cairo
Middle East Strategy at Harvard has a number of academics' comments on President Obama's Cairo speech this past Thursday. I thought this one by Josef Joffe was quite good: Israel Matzav: More on Obama in CairoTherapists make no judgments on truth and falsehood; for them, the process is the purpose. But a process that does not correctly unearth the roots of conflict will invariably run afoul of the realities. Islamist terror will not go away because Obama softly, softly establishes a kind of moral equivalence between the Holocaust and what Palestinians call the Nakba, their loss and flight in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.
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Israel Matzav: Obama's self-induced amnesia on Arafat
Obama's self-induced amnesia on Arafat
Remember Obama's meeting with journalists from the Middle East in Cairo right after his speech on Thursday? Well, it's already yielded some interesting stories. Here's another one. Q Are the Arabs who are now the allies of the United States of America, are they ready to be real partners? Because in the past, some of them were not partners, real partners, especially --
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Israel Matzav: Obama's self-induced amnesia on Arafat
Israel Matzav: 'We'll have to accept a two-state solution'?
'We'll have to accept a two-state solution'?
Israel Radio reported on Saturday that Israeli government officials have concluded that Israel has no choice but to accept a 'two-state solution.' A day after US President Barack Obama called on Israel and the Palestinians to "redouble efforts" towards a two-state solution, officials in Jerusalem assessed that Israel will eventually have no other option but to accept the establishment of a Palestinian state, Israel Radio reported on Saturday.
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Israel Matzav: 'We'll have to accept a two-state solution'?
Israel Matzav: The diplomacy of wishful thinking
The diplomacy of wishful thinking
Mona Charen has a great article in Friday's edition of the National Review Online: Israel Matzav: The diplomacy of wishful thinkingPresident Obama presumably wants Israel to uproot the 300,000 Jewish settlers who live in the West Bank to make way for a Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. This is the “solution” to the Palestinian question that has been endorsed, formally and informally, by the last three presidents and most of the foreign ministries in the world. It has even been endorsed by many Israelis, including former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, who offered 95 percent of the West Bank and all of Gaza to Yasser Arafat.
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DoubleTapper: Israel's Counter Terror Units and Training
Israel's Counter Terror Units and Training
تنسيق-الكليات-لعام سكس نيك كس
There are several Anti or Counter Terror units operating in Israel.
Some are part of the IDF (active and reserve) others are under the command of the Israeli Police (auxiliary and regular).
The primary goals of Israeli counterterrorism strategy are to prevent terrorists from influencing the national agenda, save Israeli lives, and preserve the psychological resilience of the civilian population.
Israel has learned over the years that terrorism is a stubborn phenomenon and that, in contrast to conventional warfare, decisive victory over terrorism is rare. When countermeasures block one avenue of attack, terrorists often improvise some new means of inflicting damage. After a series of aircraft hijackings in the 1960s forced Israel to improve aviation security, terrorists began to target Israeli embassies overseas. When security at embassies was strengthened, terrorists responded by attacking markets, buses, and pedestrians in Israeli cities.6 Accordingly, counterterrorism strategies must continually adapt to—and preferably anticipate—changing terrorist tactics.
Israeli counterterrorism strategy comprises five main elements:
1. Intelligence collection and analysis
2. Military and paramilitary operations to disrupt terrorist infrastructure
3. Commercial aviation security
4. Defense against chemical and biological attacks
5. Efforts to strengthen the psychological endurance of the civilian population
Israeli counterterrorism operations are designed to disrupt the “terrorist infrastructure” by attacking bomb factories and safe houses, gathering intelligence, and arresting or killing key terrorist leaders and bombmakers. Several organizations and units are involved in such operations.
A major focus of Israeli counterterrorism operations is to prevent terrorists from staging attacks. Because suicide bombers do not fit a standard profile, they are difficult to identify and intercept in advance. Accordingly, Israel has sought to prevent suicide operations by disrupting them at the organizational, training, and planning stages, before the shahid (“martyr”) is on his way to the target. IDF operations to eliminate the “terrorist infrastructure” are directed against the activists who recruit and train the suicide bombers, manufacture the explosive belts, gather operational intelligence, drive the wanna be myrter to the target, and otherwise provide logistical and moral support. Because terror organizations continually recruit new operatives and require a large network of supporters, aggressive counterterrorism campaigns can weaken the morale of the terrorists, hamper enlistment efforts, and deter collaborators. Military operations against terrorism also reassure the Israeli public that the initiative in the war against terror is on the side of the Israeli people.
Another Israeli tactic involves the assassination of terrorist leaders and bombmakers by undercover units of the IDF and other Israeli Security organizations. In addition to interdicting imminent attacks, targeted killings undermine the terrorist groups’ stability and morale, increase tensions and rivalries among would-be successors, and force the terrorists to devote resources to hiding and protecting their leaders. Targeted assassination also puts terrorist kingpins under severe psychological stress and lowers the overall efficacy of the terror groups by discouraging underlings from seeking promotion.
The IDF has also created a system for Community Counter Terror teams to act as the first line of defense for seam line communities. Because Israel is only about 290 miles (470 km.) in length and 85 miles (135 km.) in width at its widest point, there are many of these seam line communities. The ATU's (Community Anti Terror Units) operate as IDF reservists that are on call 24/7.
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DoubleTapper: Israel's Counter Terror Units and TrainingESSER AGAROTH - I'M NO TERRORIST
I'm No Terrorist
Erev Shabbath Qodesh B'ha'aloth'kha 5769
Below is a link to my neighbor Yekutiel's response to being Banned From Britain!. The report is just "OK," but still worth reading this summary of Torah Zionist beliefs. Unfortunately, the article contains some careless mistakes like reporting the K'far Tapu'ah was close to Hevron geographically, when they are actually quite far away from each other.
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ESSER AGAROTH - I'm No Terrorist
EXCEPT COMMON SENSE DOESN'T TRUMP REALITY
Except Common Sense Doesn't Trump Reality
Haaretz postulates that the Americans may try to resolve the settlement issue by unraveling its complexity.
Senior U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama's Mideast envoy
George Mitchell, say they might propose immediate talks on setting Israel's
border along the West Bank. The move comes in light of Israel's opposition to a
freeze on settlement construction and would determine which settlements will
remain in Israel in a final deal that would see the emergence of a Palestinian
state. The American proposal was raised in recent weeks following Israeli
suggestions that there is no reason to cease construction in the large
settlement blocs. Such construction would accommodate natural growth. The
Israelis say that since those blocs will remain in Israel under a final-status
agreement, there is no point in preventing construction.
The Israeli position was mainly directed at the blocs of Gush Etzion, Alfei
Menashe, Ariel, Ma'aleh Adumim and certain areas adjoining Jerusalem. The
American officials countered by suggesting that they initiate immediate
negotiations on the border between Israel and a future Palestinian state. This,
the Americans insisted, would make it easier for everyone to decide where
settlement construction could take place.
A fine, sensible suggestion. Figure out which settlements will stay in Israel and allow construction in them, and which won't, and don't build in them. Of course, it's hard to see how this could be done. Jerusalem lies at the heart of the conflict, is probably unresolvable, and is of course part of the settlement equation. Leaving in place large settlements that are near the Green line will probably require land swaps, which then raises the question of what Israel will offer for Har Adar or Beitar, a matter the Israeli public won't discuss before knowing that it will result in full peace. Perhaps some of the swappped land should have Israeli Palestinians on it, in an attempt to partion according to ethnic lines? The Palestinians will never even discuss ths so long as they demand a right of return for the descendants of refugees. Which means it can't be agreed before there's a full agreement on all points.
Nice try, folks.
taken from :Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
REALITY CHECK
Reality Check
The Economist sums up the tasks Obama must now complete so as to fulfill the promise of his Cairo speech:
In a nutshell, and if you leave aside Afghanistan-Pakistan on the region’s
rim, [but how can you leave it aside?] he has four main tasks.
First, he must help persuade Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace in two
states, side by side. Second, he must quit Iraq as he has promised, but leave
behind a reasonably stable and decent regime. Third, he must reach an
accommodation with Iran that acknowledges its place as a regional power while
dissuading it from getting a destabilising nuclear weapon. Fourth, he must tilt
American policy back towards a more realistic balance between naive idealism and
cynical pragmatism, without either alienating autocratic allies such as Egypt
and Saudi Arabia or ditching America’s support for democracy and human
rights.
Quite.
taken from :Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
Israel Matzav: Obama's lies about the 'Holy Koran'
Obama's lies about the 'Holy Koran'
I don't know enough of the Koran to comment on Obama's quoting of that book in his Cairo speech on Thursday. But here's someone who apparently does know and he says that Obama is deliberately falsifying Islam.
See video at :
Israel Matzav: Obama's lies about the 'Holy Koran'
Israel Matzav: The apology President Obama didn't make at Buchenwald
The apology President Obama didn't make at Buchenwald
There was one apology President Obama didn't make when he spoke at Buchenwald on Friday, and it's one you're not likely to read about in most of the American mainstream media. President Obama went to the Ohrdruf subcamp of Buchenwald because his great uncle Charlie Payne had liberated the camp on April 4, 1945. In fact, Ohrdruf was the first camp that was liberated by American troops, and it was to there, eight days later, that Dwight Eisenhower invited the American media and Congress to visit to see the Nazi atrocities with their own eyes.President Obama has commented on several occasions (including earlier on that interview with Tom Brokaw that I linked earlier) that Uncle Charlie suffered from what we today would call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of his experiences at Ohrdruf. Perhaps President Obama should apologize to Uncle Charlie - and to the Jewish people - on behalf of his own government, as explained by Rafael Medoff:
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Israel Matzav: The apology President Obama didn't make at Buchenwald
"GIVAT OBAMA" - Defiance: Jews name West Bank hilltop after Obama
BEIT EL, Israel – In defiance of President Obama's call to halt all Jewish construction in the West Bank, Jewish youth this week built a new outpost in the strategic territory – and named it after the U.S. president.
"Obama Hilltop," or "Givat Obama" in Hebrew, is located between Jerusalem and the biblical city of Beit El.
The builders told the Arutz Sheva news website the name of their new small community is "in recognition of the president's actions, which have led to a dramatic increase in the number of outposts being built throughout Judea and Samaria (the West Bank)."
Read All about it at :
Defiance: Jews name West Bank hilltop after Obama
ON THE AMBIVALENCE OF BEING A SAFE HARBOR
On the Ambivalence of Being a Safe Harbor
You're a young person in Darfur, say, perhaps your family has been murdered or dispersed, your life is hell, but you're young and enterprizing and willing to go great lengths to improve your lot - probably by foot. So what's the nearest western democracy that may offer a chance for a better life?
Israel.
Since 2005 there has been a steady trickle of refugees making their way across the deserts and borders to Israel, mostly from Dafur and war-torn Eritrea. Not all survive; but some do. These aren't Jews, of course.They're black Africans, mostly Muslims. Yet of all the countries around them and beyond, they expect Israel has the most to offer them. Strange, isn't it.
More than 17,000 of them have arrived so far. They don't fit into Israeli society in any recognizable way, yet when they started arriving there was a brief agonized public discussion, and the Israelis decided there was no way they could be turned away. Israel can't reject escapees of genocide or other severe persecution, not even if they're African Muslims. So they're allowed in, and turned over to various voluntary organizations who do their best, which is less than optimal. The government, meanwhile, treats them with what's best called callous indifference. They're shunted around, the bureacracy wishes they'd go away, but since they don't they're slowly gaining toeholds. This article about them concentrates on the bleaker aspects of their story, but you need to remember that it's stories like these which have been slowly creating openings for these people; anyway, I can't think of any western democracy that's in the position to lecture us when it comes to letting in uncalled for African refugees. So perhaps it would be better to read between the lines of the article to understand why ever more of these people keep on coming.
And remember the story the next time some malicious fool tells about how racist a country Israel is.
Israel.
Since 2005 there has been a steady trickle of refugees making their way across the deserts and borders to Israel, mostly from Dafur and war-torn Eritrea. Not all survive; but some do. These aren't Jews, of course.They're black Africans, mostly Muslims. Yet of all the countries around them and beyond, they expect Israel has the most to offer them. Strange, isn't it.
More than 17,000 of them have arrived so far. They don't fit into Israeli society in any recognizable way, yet when they started arriving there was a brief agonized public discussion, and the Israelis decided there was no way they could be turned away. Israel can't reject escapees of genocide or other severe persecution, not even if they're African Muslims. So they're allowed in, and turned over to various voluntary organizations who do their best, which is less than optimal. The government, meanwhile, treats them with what's best called callous indifference. They're shunted around, the bureacracy wishes they'd go away, but since they don't they're slowly gaining toeholds. This article about them concentrates on the bleaker aspects of their story, but you need to remember that it's stories like these which have been slowly creating openings for these people; anyway, I can't think of any western democracy that's in the position to lecture us when it comes to letting in uncalled for African refugees. So perhaps it would be better to read between the lines of the article to understand why ever more of these people keep on coming.
And remember the story the next time some malicious fool tells about how racist a country Israel is.
taken from :Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
Israel Matzav: President Bush's 2004 letter to Ariel Sharon
President Bush's 2004 letter to Ariel Sharon
American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed on Friday that there is no record of the Bush administration having agreed to Israel keeping the 'settlement blocs' (Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs). Hillary says the Bush administration never agreed to Israel expanding West Bank communities; insists there is no record of 'any informal or oral agreement' to that effect. The Israelis say the US position was laid out in a 2004 letter from Bush to then Israeli premier Ariel Sharon. Clinton rejected that claim, saying any such US stance was informal and "did not become part of the official position of the United States government." OK now we are back to Clinton word-parsing time.
If we're going to parse words, let's at least put the original ones on the table. Here's the Bush letter.
His Excellency
Ariel Sharon
Prime Minister of Israel
Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
Thank you for your letter setting out your disengagement plan.
The United States remains hopeful and determined to find a way forward toward a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. I remain committed to my June 24, 2002 vision of two states living side by side in peace and security as the key to peace, and to the road map as the route to get there.
We welcome the disengagement plan you have prepared, under which Israel would withdraw certain military installations and all settlements from Gaza, and withdraw certain military installations and settlements in the West Bank.
These steps described in the plan will mark real progress toward realizing my June 24, 2002 vision, and make a real contribution toward peace. We also understand that, in this context, Israel believes it is important to bring new opportunities to the Negev and the Galilee. We are hopeful that steps pursuant to this plan, consistent with my vision, will remind all states and parties of their own obligations under the road map.
The United States appreciates the risks such an undertaking represents. I therefore want to reassure you on several points.
First, the United States remains committed to my vision and to its implementation as described in the road map. The United States will do its utmost to prevent any attempt by anyone to impose any other plan. Under the road map, Palestinians must undertake an immediate cessation of armed activity and all acts of violence against Israelis anywhere, and all official Palestinian institutions must end incitement against Israel. [Note - even Annapolis violated this provision! CiJ]
The Palestinian leadership must act decisively against terror, including sustained, targeted, and effective operations to stop terrorism and dismantle terrorist capabilities and infrastructure. Palestinians must undertake a comprehensive and fundamental political reform that includes a strong parliamentary democracy and an empowered prime minister.
Second, there will be no security for Israelis or Palestinians until they and all states, in the region and beyond, join together to fight terrorism and dismantle terrorist organizations.
The United States reiterates its steadfast commitment to Israel's security, including secure, defensible borders, and to preserve and strengthen Israel's capability to deter and defend itself, by itself, against any threat or possible combination of threats. [The 1949 armistice lines did not constitute 'secure, defensible borders,' and one would have to be totally ignorant of the history of this region not to realize that use of the term 'secure, defensible borders' means something other than those lines. CiJ]
Third, Israel will retain its right to defend itself against terrorism, including to take actions against terrorist organizations. The United States will lead efforts, working together with Jordan, Egypt, and others in the international community, to build the capacity and will of Palestinian institutions to fight terrorism, dismantle terrorist organizations, and prevent the areas from which Israel has withdrawn from posing a threat that would have to be addressed by any other means.
The United States understands that after Israel withdraws from Gaza and/or parts of the West Bank, and pending agreements on other arrangements, existing arrangements regarding control of airspace, territorial waters, and land passages of the West Bank and Gaza will continue.
The United States is strongly committed to Israel's security and well-being as a Jewish state. It seems clear that an agreed, just, fair, and realistic framework for a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue as part of any final status agreement will need to be found through the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the settling of Palestinian refugees there, rather than in Israel. [NO 'right of return.' CiJ]
As part of a final peace settlement, Israel must have secure and recognized borders, which should emerge from negotiations between the parties in accordance with UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338. In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion. [That's the passage whose existence or binding effect Mrs. Clinton denies. CiJ]
It is realistic to expect that any final status agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities. I know that, as you state in your letter, you are aware that certain responsibilities face the State of Israel. Among these, your government has stated that the barrier being erected by Israel should be a security rather than political barrier, should be temporary rather than permanent, and therefore not prejudice any final status issues including final borders, and its route should take into account, consistent with security needs, its impact on Palestinians not engaged in terrorist activities.
As you know, the United States supports the establishment of a Palestinian state that is viable, contiguous, sovereign, and independent, so that the Palestinian people can build their own future in accordance with my vision set forth in June 2002 and with the path set forth in the road map.
The United States will join with others in the international community to foster the development of democratic political institutions and new leadership committed to those institutions, the reconstruction of civic institutions, the growth of a free and prosperous economy, and the building of capable security institutions dedicated to maintaining law and order and dismantling terrorist organizations.
A peace settlement negotiated between Israelis and Palestinians would be a great boon not only to those peoples but to the peoples of the entire region.
Accordingly, the United States believes that all states in the region have special responsibilities: to support the building of the institutions of a Palestinian state; to fight terrorism, and cut off all forms of assistance to individuals and groups engaged in terrorism; and to begin now to move toward more normal relations with the State of Israel.
These actions would be true contributions to building peace in the region. Mr. Prime Minister, you have described a bold and historic initiative that can make an important contribution to peace. I commend your efforts and your courageous decision which I support. As a close friend and ally, the United States intends to work closely with you to help make it a success.
Sincerely,
George W. BushRead All at :
Israel Matzav: President Bush's 2004 letter to Ariel Sharon