Tel-Chai Nation

I watched an interview with Elliott Abrams yesterday on TV. He confirmed that there was an agreement between the Sharon government and the Dubya administration on the subject of "settlement growth". But there were some problems I'm afraid I'm going to have to take issue with.

First, Abrams does confirm that there was a deal. But what exact kind of deal was it? I found Abrams's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (via Yid With Lid), which, while it does prove that Obama is lying about there not being a deal, still tells something very disturbing:

They were not secret, either. Four days after the president's letter [note: this is a letter from Bush to Ariel Sharon], Mr. Sharon's Chief of Staff Dov Weissglas wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that "I wish to reconfirm the following understanding, which had been reached between us: 1. Restrictions on settlement growth: within the agreed principles of settlement activities, an effort will be made in the next few days to have a better definition of the construction line of settlements in Judea & Samaria."

Stories in the press also made it clear that there were indeed "agreed principles." On Aug. 21, 2004 the New York Times reported that "the Bush administration . . . now supports construction of new apartments in areas already built up in some settlements, as long as the expansion does not extend outward."

Not outward? Some people may not realize it, but that suggests a ghetto concept was being agreed upon. In other words, the residents would be "crowded in" within a cramped space. The letter from Bush to Sharon said that the major settlement blocs would have to be taken into account in any final settlement.

There may have been an agreement, but the irony is that it actually was a bad one.

Labels: Israel, United States, White House