Daled Amos surprised me by considering that perhaps a growth freeze in Judea and Samaria is not a bad thing. his argument is that Begin did it before his peace talks, but then it is pointed out that Carter claimed the agreement was different. Let's hope that the paper trail of the internet age clarifies that Bibi's agreement is to ten months and no more then that.
For example, in an op-ed published in the Washington Post in 2000, Carter claimed:
Prime Minister Begin pledged that there would be no establishment of new settlements until after the final peace negotiations were completed. But later, under Likud pressure, he declined to honor this commitment, explaining that his presumption had been that all peace talks would be concluded within three months. (Washington Post, Nov. 26, 2000)
CAMERA finds the charge in Carter's Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid as well.
This is a distortion picked up by others in the media.
As it turns out, as CAMERA points out, during a symposium commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Camp David Accords, Carter agrees that it was a limited 3-month freeze. In the clip below, after former Attorney General of Israel Aharon Barak describes how he knows that the freeze was only intended for 3 months, you can hear Carter say, "I don't dispute that" (at 1:04)
Considering the stand of the Obama administration, denying previous understandings between Israel and the US, Netanyahu had better be sure that his 10-month freeze is not interpreted as an ongoing commitment to be re-examined and extended later.
