Washington – Former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice reassured Israel that the US military presence in Iraq should calm any Israeli security concerns “from the east,” minutes from a 2008 trilateral meeting between Rice and the Israeli and Palestinian negotiation teams reveal.
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Discussing the needs of Israel regarding Palestinian security forces in a future-Palestinian state, former foreign minister Tzipi Livni expressed concern over a third-party military force protecting a Palestinian state’s external borders. Secretary Rice inserted, “At this time there is no threat from the east because our forces are in Iraq and will stay there for a long time.” Chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat added, “For a very, very long time.”
The minutes of the meeting were revealed in leaked documents published by Al Jazeera and The Guardian in a WikiLeaks-esque series entitled “The Palestine Papers.” Both newspapers said they verified the authenticity of the documents but no government has yet done so.
Since when was Israel worried about Iraq?!
Iraq has participated in every Arab-Israeli war since 1948 plus tossing a few scuds over in 1991 just on general principles.