Lieberman and Clinton quarrel over settlement freeze

[Israel Insider]

Despite the smiles for the camera, the meeting Wednesday by Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was marred by deep disagreements over Israeli communities in Judea in Samaria. Clinton demanded a stop to settlements, while Lieberman says Israel would continue natural growth and would not freeze life for residents.

"People are born and people die in Judea and Samaria, and the settlements cannot be completely frozen," Lieberman said during a meeting with Clinton in Washington. "Our stance is clear. We have understandings with the previous administration on their matter," adding: "We cannot accept this vision absolutely, completely freezing these settlements. I think we must keep natural growth."

Clinton was not impressed. "We want to see a stop to the settlements," Clinton said. "We think it's an important and essential part of pursuing the efforts leading to a comprehensive peace agreement and the creation of a Palestinian state and an Israeli Jewish state that is secure."

She said that there was no written or oral agreement from President Bush's era approved by any American participant. "Looking at the history of the Bush administration, there were no informal or oral enforceable agreements," saying that position had been "verified" by accounts from former Bush administration officials, citing an op-ed in Sunday's Washington Post by former US ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, who served under Bush but backed Obama in last year's election, claiming that there were no understandings on settlement growth between the US and Israel.

Israeli officials have said in recent weeks that there were tacit understandings with the Bush administration regarding where Israel could build in the settlements, a position confirmed by former deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams, as well as Dov Weisglass, Ariel Sharon's former chief-of-staff.

Clinton nevertheless expressed the hope that a compromise could be reached between Israel and the US. She noted that the process being conducted by special Mideast envoy George Mitchell had only just begun. "There are a number of critical concerns, many of which overlap in their impact and significance, that will be explored in the coming weeks as Senator Mitchell engages more deeply into the specifics as to where the Israelis and the Palestinians are willing to go together," she said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said earlier Wednesday that "the Americans also want to find a practical and acceptable solution. This debate will take place mostly during the prime minister's meeting with George Mitchell in Paris next week."

Despite the disagreement, the hour-long meeting was defined by both sides as "very good".

[R.Alkalai]

Clinton tries to twist Israel's arm, and HaShem breaks her arm.

[Robert Bernier]

Israel has an unassailable legal right to establish settlements in the West Bank.
Eugene Rostow, a former dean of the Yale Law School who was also under secretary of state in the Johnson years, would write years later that "Israel has an unassailable legal right to establish settlements in the West Bank." He argued that Israel's claims to the territory were "at least as good as those of Jordan." Prof. Stephen Schwebel, who would become the State Department legal adviser and subsequently the president of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, went a step further when he wrote in 1970 that "Israel has better title in the territory of what was Palestine, including the whole of Jerusalem, than do Jordan and Egypt." More at : http://israelagainstterror.blogspot.com/2009/05/israels-forgotten-rights-in-jerusalem.html

[RonaldH]

Thanks, Jacob, for giving us the facts and excellent analysis.