May 16, 2016

Bill Clinton: “I Killed Myself to Give Palestinians a State” – Jessie Hellmann
Bill Clinton on Friday defended his record on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in New Jersey when a spectator yelled “What about Gaza?” Clinton replied: “Hamas is really smart. When they decide to rocket Israel, they insinuate themselves in the hospitals, in the schools, in the highly populous areas, and they are smart. They said they try to put Israelis in a position of either not defending themselves or killing innocents. They’re good at it. They’re smart. They’ve been doing this a long time. I killed myself to give the Palestinians a state. I had a deal they turned down that would have given them all of Gaza.”  (The Hill)
See also The Palestinians Could Have Had a State If They Wanted One – Jonathan S. Tobin
When Bill Clinton says, “I killed myself to give the Palestinians a state,” he’s right. If they had wanted one, they could have had it. But they didn’t. Nor was Arafat’s successor Mahmoud Abbas willing to accept a state in 2008 when Ehud Olmert offered even more generous peace terms at the prodding of George W. Bush. Since then Abbas has refused to negotiate seriously. The problem was that the Palestinians were not prepared to recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders were drawn. (Commentary)