The Clinton Administration and UN Resolution 242

The Clinton team has turned out to be more hospitable to Israel's basic policies than any administration before it. In less than a year in office, it has already significantly changed, diluted, or signaled its willingness to modify at least four important U.S. policies on the Middle East. First, it openly allowed the use of U.S. funds to finance the growth of Jewish settlements in Arab East Jerusalem and the other occupied territories. Second, it acquiesced in Israel's contention that Israeli rule over Arab Jerusalem is non-negotiable. Third, it effectively endorsed Israel's right to deport Palestinians. And fourth, it has seemed to accept Israel's contention that the Arab territories captured by Israel in 1967 are "disputed" rather than "occupied."

Donald Neff is author of the Wariors trilogy (Amana Books), a study of how U.S. policy related to Israel and the Arabs during the wars of 1956, 1967, and 1973, and of the unpublished data base, Middle East Handbook, on which this article is based.