Israel Cabinet 7 for and 7 against toppling Arafat....plusIsrael Turns Palestinian Towns into Prisons

[Seth Ackerman]

> . . . Still, despite Max's hypothetical, the reality has been that peace
has
> done
> better under Carter and then Clinton than under Reagan, when the first
> intifada spiralled up out of the complete oppression of the Palestians.
> Bush Senior deserves credit for moving away from Reagan's absolute
> disregard for Palestinian concerns.  But it was under Clinton that the PA
> expanded and the worst repression by Israel ended, until negotiations spun
> out of control late last year leading to the most recent rounds of
> violence.

Nathan, this reads like a foreign-policy version of Robert Bartley's "seven
fat years." Clinton's era of Oslo "peace" was exactly what Bush was working
towards when he convened the Madrid meeting in 1991. It was a totally
bipartisan policy. That's why Bush Sr. was invited to the Rose Garden
signing ceremony. The main reason Clinton failed is that he refused to
follow in Bush's footsteps of threatening Israel over settlements. (Not that
Bush's threats were that sincere.)

Seth