By David Singer ——Bio and Archives--March 20, 2016
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"I will revive the common-sense understandings reached in the 2004 Bush-Sharon letter and build on them to help ensure Israel has defensible borders,"
"Not only were there agreements, but the prime minister of Israel relied on them in undertaking a wrenching political reorientation -- the dissolution of his government, the removal of every single Israeli citizen, settlement and military position in Gaza, and the removal of four small settlements in the West Bank. This was the first time Israel had ever removed settlements outside the context of a peace treaty, and it was a major step".President Obama however sought to change the goal posts laid down in the Bush letter with this statement on 19 May 2011:
"The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states."Glenn Kessler pointed out at the time:
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"Indeed, Israelis and Palestinians have held several intensive negotiations that involved swapping lands along the Arab-Israeli dividing line that existed before the 1967 war — technically known as the Green Line, or the boundaries established by the 1949 Armistice agreements. (Click here for a visual description of the swaps discussed between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in 2008.) So, in many ways, it is not news that the eventual borders of a Palestinian state would be based on land swaps from the 1967 dividing line. But it makes a difference when the president of the United States says it, particularly in a carefully staged speech at the State Department. This then is not an off-the-cuff remark, but a carefully considered statement of U.S. policy."Given the chaos in Syria since Obama's statement, the birth of Islamic State in 2014 and the continuing unstable political and security situations in Gaza and the West Bank--mutually agreed land swaps as a concept have become just another missed opportunity whose time has expired.
Michael Oren--Israel's Ambassador to Washington between 2009 and 2013 was moved to make the following call in January 2015:
.. it's time to revive the Bush-Sharon letter and act according to it."Will Clinton so act--if elected America's 17th Democratic President--to honour a former Republican President's commitments to one of America's longstanding allies that go far beyond personal partisan politics? Her answer is eagerly awaited.
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David Singer is an Australian Lawyer, a Foundation Member of the International Analyst Network and Convenor of Jordan is Palestine International—an organization calling for sovereignty of the West Bank and Gaza to be allocated between Israel and Jordan as the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine. Previous articles written by him can be found at: jordanispalestine.blogspot.com