The Case Of The Missing Letter: US Evades A Written Promise

The U.S. State Department has refused to state whether Secretary Hillary Clinton will stand behind verbal promises to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and put them in writing, while the Cabinet met Wednesday without discussing the proposal.

In Tuesday’s daily press briefing that turned into a game of “dodge’em,” reporters badgered U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley to answer, “Are you prepared to give them [Israel] a piece of paper that outlines what you’re willing to do to get them back to the table.”

Crowley replied, “We’re prepared to do everything that we can to create the conditions for both the Palestinians and the Israelis to have confidence to return to direct negotiations.”

 Most of the question and answer session on Israel consisted of several attempts to corner Crowley, whose repetitious answers could have passed as a broken record.

The ping-pong session ended in a tie. The reporters were not satisfied, Crowley did not budge, and the “Clinton freeze” proposal may remain on ice when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu meets with his Cabinet Wednesday. Government officials have said that without a letter of guarantees, he will not present the freeze proposal for a vote.

Crowley supplied a one-track answer to various questions from State Department reporters, who opened the session by asking a simple question: “Have you sent them this proposal?” Crowley replied, “I am not going to get into specifics as to where we are. We’re trying to encourage both sides to get back into negotiations.”

Another reporter then asked, “The Israeli Government, too, has blamed the Palestinian Authority for thwarting the understanding between Secretary Clinton and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Have you got any reaction from the Palestinians?

Crowley again stated, “We – our efforts are to get both parties back into direct negotiations as soon as possible.”      

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