So Who Was The First American Leader To Talk About A 'Two State Solution'?

Apparently it was Hillary Clinton back on May 6, 1998.

In Déjà Vu Diplomacy, Rick Richman writes about how it seems that whenever Netanyahu is Prime Minister, the Palestinians start talking about unilaterally declaring a Palestinian state. He notes this little piece of history:

On April 28, 1998, Hanan Ashrawi, then the Palestinian minister of higher education, spoke at the National Press Club in Washington and said Palestinians would declare statehood in one year regardless of where the peace process then stood.

At the time, no American administration had ever endorsed a Palestinian state. A week later, as Dennis Ross was traveling to Israel to meet with Netanyahu, Hillary Clinton spoke (via satellite hookup arranged by the State Department) to Arab and Israeli teenagers attending a “peace summit” in Switzerland. In response to a student who asked about her use of the word Palestine, Hillary used the word state nine times, saying it would be “very important” for “Palestine to be a state.” In case Israel missed the significance of her words, the American embassy in Tel Aviv immediately released a report entitled “Hillary Clinton: Eventual Palestinian State Important for Mideast Peace.”

The White House said she was “not reflecting any administration policy”—only a “personal view.” But William Safire wrote in the New York Times that the explanation was “laughably implausible” and was “a calculated move by both Clintons to ratchet up the pressure on Israel” by warning that American policy might change if Netanyahu did not promptly move the process forward.

Read the whole thing.

This came a year before Hillary's famous kiss of Yassir Arafat's wife.
Those who are confused about Clinton's 'metamorphosis' from a strong supporter of Israel to Obama's right hand 'person' in pressuring Israel about the settlements should realize that Obama is not the only politician adroit at masking his politics and positions.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

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