Pres. Clinton: Arafat Turned Down Major Last-Minute Israeli Concessions in 2000

by TheTower.org Staff | 05.05.14 8:08 am

In a speech last week at Georgetown University, former President Bill Clinton said that Israel and the Palestinians were extremely close to an agreement at the Camp David summit in 2000, when Yasser Arafat refused to close the deal that was offered to him.

According to Clinton, Arafat insisted that a narrow strip of land on the Temple Mount be included in the deal, and walked away when Israel refused to add that to the other far-reaching concessions it was prepared to make.

Clinton’s remarks revealed that a breakthrough in talks between Israel and the Palestinians, particularly on the controversial issue of the division of Jerusalem, was closer at hand in 2000, at the summit he called a “roaring success,” than previously thought. …

Arafat agreed to leave Israel with control over the Western Wall, as well as over the Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, but insisted on keeping 16 meters, or 50 feet, of land leading up to an entrance to the Western Wall tunnels under Palestinian control.

The former president expressed sympathy for the Israeli position, saying, ““if you got in, you could do mayhem to the ruins of the temples.” Arafat subsequently launched the secondintifada a few months later.

Clinton’s recollection of Arafat’s refusal to make peace is particularly timely in wake of  a report last week on Israeli television that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to make significant concessions in order to keep peace negotiations with the Palestinians going. However, instead of coming to an agreement with Israel, Fatah, the main constituent organization of the PA, came to a unity agreement with the terrorist organization Hamas. If the Israeli report is true, it would be another time that the Palestinians walked away from peace.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Mahmoud Abbas refused to come to an agreement with Israel. In 2008, then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made a peace offer to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and never heard back.

Clinton’s remarks are a reminder of the uncompromising positions of Palestinian leaders regardless of who is Prime Minister of Israel.  LINK

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No, you shouldn’t have visited Arafat’s grave

March 21, 2014, 11:07 am TIMES OF ISRAEL BY JOSH HASTEN

Dear Harvard College Israel Trek 2014 – #Israeltrek2014 participants,

As you well know by now, your current trip to Israel has drawn international attention and media coverage.  While a group of college students traipsing through the Jewish State is probably not worthy of such focus, your visit to Ramallah and specifically your smiley group photo at the grave of Yasser Arafat, the father of modern-day terrorism, has drawn condemnation from many (myself included).

At the same time your organizers on the ground in Israel, as well as your sponsors back in Boston including Hillel and the CJP (Combined Jewish Philanthropies, under the umbrella of the US Jewish Federation system), have vociferously defended your itinerary, and have made a point to attack those who have come out against your visit, labeling them/us as fringe extremists.

I have read all of your explanations, justifications, clarifications, etc. for the smiley gravesite photo, and frankly I’m just not impressed.

While you claim to be fully aware that Arafat was behind countless Israeli deaths, I want to go over his abridged resume of mass murder just one more time to be sure you have the facts. Also, since you are representing a US institution, it’s important to note how many American citizens are dead as a result of Arafat’s murderous ways.

As chairman of the PLO, Arafat was responsible for (or linked to):

• The murder of 12 Israeli Olympians during the 1972 Munich games
• The murder of the United States ambassador to the Sudan, Cleo Noel, in 1973
• The bombing of the United States Marines barracks in Beirut in 1983 that killed 241 people
• The hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship in 1985 and the murder of hostage Leon Klinghoffer
• The Oslo War (2nd intifada) that claimed the lives of over 1,000 Israeli civilians and soldiers, including US citizens

But you probably knew all that, right? If not, you do now.

CLICK THIS TO KEEP READING

Mahmoud Abbas and the 'Jewish State'

by Robert Satloff

Also available in العربية

Foreign Policy

March 14, 2014

From The Washington Institute for Near East Policy 

NOTE: Another excellent and thoughtful piece by the brilliant Robert Satloff

"To his credit, Obama has understood the centrality of the "Jewish state" issue. Despite the pressure he has exerted on Israel to stop building in Jerusalem, release jailed terrorists, or make painful concessions in peace talks, the president has never wavered from his characterization of "the Jewish state of Israel."

Read the Article Here