Nervy Israelis

Israelis Say Bush Agreed to West Bank Growth; Bush official call this an "overstatment"

If you read the article (and please do) you'll discover Israeli officials are making a deeply unsettling claim. They are saying that Bush released them from the obligation of honoring a signed agreement.

Senior Israeli officials accused President Obama on Wednesday of failing to acknowledge what they called clear understandings with the Bush administration that allowed Israel to build West Bank settlement housing within certain guidelines while still publicly claiming to honor a settlement “freeze.”

The chutzpah is appalling. Basically, Israel is admitting to what they say the PLO did all the time, ie, they signed an agreement they had no intention of keeping. Worse, they are claiming that Bush knew and didn't care. But is this even true? A former Bush official says no!

... a former senior official in the Bush administration disagreed, calling the Israeli characterization “an overstatement.” “There was never an agreement to accept natural growth,” the official said Tuesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the matter. “There was an effort to explore what natural growth would mean, but we weren’t able to reach agreement on that.”

So do I have this straight? Israel is (1) admitting to having behaved immorally by signing a deal with their fingers crossed, (2) claiming that Bush blessed this dishonest behavior, even though a senior Bush official denies it all; and (3) to top it off, Israel is also whining that Obama is refusing to honor a phantom agreement no Bush official will admit existed!

Can you believe the nerve?