“This is something that I know you feel deeply and passionately about,” Blair told Bush. “You are the first president who committed yourself to the two-state solution.”
From Wikipedia on Harry Truman:
In 1946, an Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry recommended the gradual establishment of two states in Palestine, with neither Jews nor Arabs dominating. However, there was little public support for the two-state proposal, and Britain, its empire in rapid decline, was under pressure to withdraw from Palestine quickly because of attacks on British forces by armed Zionist groups. At the urging of the British, a special U.N. committee recommended the immediate partitioning of Palestine into two states, and with Truman’s support, this initiative was approved by the General Assembly in 1947.
Shouldn’t Harry Truman be considered the first, or was he more realistic about Arabic/Islamic rejectionism than George W. Bush is?
It appears that no one in officialdom has a memory or reads history.
By the way, kudos to Professor Ken Stein of Emory who has resigned from his position with the Carter Center. He (Ken) is a good man with a long memory.
What do you expect from Pres. Bush. 89% of American Jews voted for Democrats. They sold Israel to satisfy there liberal friends. The same way that there grandparents did to Eastern Europian Jews in second war.
Read the real history, not the NYT version.
Son of Auschwitz survivor
Anyone remembering Harry Truman’s two-state solution should realize that Jordan IS Palestine.
We don’t need another Arab terror state, but we could use transfer of the remaining rejectionists to their official national home.
Sheesh, I expected better from Tony Blair. At the very least he should have remembered how his “Third Way” soulmate, Bill Clinton, tried long and hard to bring about a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. The idea that Bush is the first President committed to a two state solution is absurd. (Maybe Blair knew he was lying but was trying to flatter Bush.)
He meant he is the first one who is still alive who is committed to a two state solution in which the second state is not Jordan.
Truman accepted the Arab “state” that was not Jordon but dropped it when the Arabs went to war and invaded the territory that would have been the new Arab state as well as trying to annihilate Israel.
Maybe we can rephrase it to mean, “accepted a two state solution in which the Arab state is to be called Palestine and Israel is still in existence”.
It appears Carter wants Israel not to exist and Clinton is subject to change to get his wife elected. We would only find his true feelings on the matter after she leaves office.