News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Elliot Abrams, who served under United States Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, took issue Thursday with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's claims that there were no understandings between the Bush administration and Israel about construction for natural growth in Judea and Samaria. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Abrams said, "Despite fervent denials by Obama administration officials, there were indeed agreements between Israel and the United States regarding the growth of Israeli settlements on the West Bank."

Abrams cited a major policy speech by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon December 2003, in which he said, "Israel will meet all its obligations with regard to construction in the settlements. There will be no construction beyond the existing construction line, no expropriation of land for construction, no special economic incentives and no construction of new settlements." Abrams says this emerged from talks between Sharon and Bush in June of that year.

Abrams concedes, "It is true that there was no U.S.-Israel 'memorandum of understanding,' which is presumably what Mrs. Clinton means when she suggests that the 'official record of the administration' contains none [informal or oral enforceable agreements -ed.]. He concludes, "For reasons that remain unclear, the Obama administration has decided to abandon the understandings about settlements reached by the previous administration with the Israeli government. We may be abandoning the deal now, but we cannot rewrite history and make believe it did not exist."