/ BARAK / 108 mosques on the Haram, and would not become a catalyst, or in this case a pretext, for violence. Yet the revisionist history about our peace efforts left Clinton not just frustrated, but genuinely puzzled. What the hell were these people talking about, he asked me. Why were they missing the forest for the trees. “The true story of Camp David,” he said, “was that for the first time in the history of the conflict, you and I, the Prime Minister of Israel and the President of the United States, placed on the table a proposal, based on Resolutions 242 and 338, very close to the Palestinian demands. And Arafat refused to accept it as a basis of negotiations, walked out of the room, and deliberately turned to terrorism.” All the rest, President Clinton said, was gossip. All of it was now irrelevant, too. His parameters were off the table. Palestinian violence against Israelis was getting ever deadlier. And I was out of politics. When I delivered my final remarks to a Labor Party meeting, I was asked whether I was leaving politics for good. I replied that I would always remain a member of Labor. But I saw my role as a bit like when I’d left the army. “I’m a reserve officer,” I said, adding that I hoped I would not be called back to duty any time soon. I had been Prime Minister for only 21 months. But I'd been in politics for six years, and in uniform for nearly thirty-six: in public service for more than four decades. Now, suddenly, I was a private citizen. And for a few years, I actually stayed that way. 394 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_028242