Why Bibi Fell

AN exclusive front-page story in the March 28 edition of Israel’s leading Hebrew daily, Ha’aretz, caused an excited stir in Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu’s office. A senior American official “speaking on condition of anonymity” was quoted by diplomatic correspondent David Makovsky as saying, “The Clinton Administration has decided to accept the position of Israel that it need not implement the second pullback from the West Bank under the Wye agreement until the Palestinian Authority has adhered to all its obligations . . .”

The anonymous official was the State Department’s chief Middle East negotiator, Dennis Ross, with whom Netanyahu’s office had pleaded to come out with that rare commodity in diplomatic discourse—the truth. His statement to Makovsky amounted to an admission that Netanyahu was not stalling the peace process, but merely insisting on Israel’s right to demand Palestinian compliance before implementing further withdrawal. Since an anonymous statement is virtually useless, I asked Makovsky if he could get the statement on the record. He said he would try.

DB

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David Bar-Illan

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AN exclusive front-page story in the March 28 edition of Israel’s leading Hebrew daily, Ha’aretz, caused an excited stir in Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu’s office. A senior American official “speaking on condition of anonymity” was quoted by diplomatic correspondent David Makovsky as saying, “The Clinton Administration has decided to accept the position of Israel that it need not implement the second pullback from the West Bank under the Wye agreement until the Palestinian Authority has adhered to all its obligations . . .”

The anonymous official was the State Department’s chief Middle East negotiator, Dennis Ross, with whom Netanyahu’s office had pleaded to come out with that rare commodity in diplomatic discourse—the truth. His statement to Makovsky amounted to an admission that Netanyahu was not stalling the peace process, but merely insisting on Israel’s right to demand Palestinian compliance before implementing further withdrawal. Since an anonymous statement is virtually useless, I asked Makovsky if he could get the statement on the record. He said he would try.