Unless the Israelis kick this bum out, I am just about ready to give up on Israel.
Olmert: Palestinians must give up the right of refugee return
“We, the state of Israel, will agree to withdraw from a large amount of territory, and from the settlements that we established there -something that is very difficult for us, [equivalent to] a parting of the Red Sea – but we will do that in exchange for real peace,” he said, directly addressing the Palestinians. [Genius. We've seen what giving so-called Palestinians the Gaza Strip accomplished--they elected a terrorist group to lead them, and Gaza is now one big terror camp.--ed].
Olmert told the Palestinians that “the terror, the violence, the acts of murder and unending attacks on Israeli citizens are liable to lead to us a new painful wave of horrible violence.” [Uh, what does he mean 'lead us to?' Terror and violence and acts of murder against Israelis is already a horrible wave of violence. Apparently even Olmert accepts the terrorist argument that the only real violence is Israel defending herself.--ed].…
According to Olmert, he understood the importance of the release of Palestinian prisoners to the Palestinians, said that with the release of Shalit “Israel would be willing to release many Palestinian prisoners, including those who were sentenced to long prison terms, in order to increase the confidence between us and prove that our hand is outstretched in true peace.”
In reading the whole article you will see that Olmert’s position is this: If the so-called Palestinians via their terrorist government, agree (again) to the U.S. Road Map for peace and release Shalit, Israel will withdraw from a large part of the West Bank and release hundreds of so-called Palestinian prisoners. “Agreeing” to a peace plan is nothing new to the terrorists. They do it all the time. Agreeing (a stall tactic) and implementing are two different things. But what all this has boiled down to is Israel meeting the demand the terrorists made when the kidnapped Shalit–the release of prisoners.
All of this is astounding, and after what the Israelis went through in June trying to recover all of their kidnapped soldiers, to now acquiesce is shameful. And to “deal” with the terrorists at all is now suicidal, especially since Hamas and al-Qaida in Gaza are the new clients of Iran.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m not going to give up on Israel just because they have some bad leadership at the moment. I believe they should do what they believe is in their best interest without the US or anyone else (especially the vile UN) dictating what they should do. During the Clinton years he would bring the Israeli leadership to Camp David and brow beat them into agreeing with a US brokered deal. You see what that accomplished (nothing). LET ISRAEL BE ISRAEL, and let them do whatever they believe is in their best interests. I support any decision they make and if the UN doesn’t like it then they can pack their bags and leave New York.
Methinks the man doth speak too much. And doesn’t he get it? The Paleosimians are ON RECORD –repeatedly — that the only peace in which they are interested is effected by a non-existent Israel. Yes, the Jews desperately need new leadership. They’re dealing with creatures who are consumate liars.
The situation may be deeper than is implied by this summary. The “right of return” is the major issue on which there’s never been any agreement. Prisoner and land concessions are usually negotiable. But the Palestinians have insisted that they all have the right to be citizens of Israel. Obviously the Israelis would under no circumstances ever agree to any such thing; their nation would be immediately overrun by hostiles who want it to cease to exist. So a big underlying question has been, are there any circumstances under which the Palestinians would relinquish the “right of return”. That seems to be the key part of Olmert’s address, and it will presumably be summarily rejected by the Palestinians. So I wouldn’t worry too much about him giving away the farm. Meanwhile, he’s thrown the stinking anti-Semitic world a bone by putting more territory on the table. That helps a bit in the propaganda war.
Is there any chance that the Palestinians would respond positively? Doesn’t seem likely, but it would be interesting if they did. Then the Israelis would have to struggle with the usual issue of negotiating with people who want you wiped off the map and who aren’t keen on keeping their agreements.
Israel could withdraw from Israel and give it to the Arabs and they would still track the Jews down and persecute them! C’mon, get with the program! You can’t negotiate with these Islamic pricks! All you can do is defeat them!
israel needs benjamin netanyahu in the PM’s office … because they are most likely going to have to do something about iran. and only bibi has the guts to do it
Connecticut Bruce stole my thunder. I was going to post that Netanyahu is the only hope. The Israeli’s elected this mushy liberal and you see what it gets them. More concessions on top of concessions. You don’t negotiate the end of a war with terrorists. They need to be defeated militarily before it ends.
Maybe after this latest round of appeasement, the terrorists will be satisfied and won’t want to exterminate the Jews anymore. Goodness! This is as pathetic as the U.S. wanting to negotiate with Iran and Syria. They need courage in Israel and we need courage in the U.S. What we don’t need is Jim Baker. Whose idea was that, anyway?
I agree. I’ve listened to Walid Shoebat who grew up in what is now the West Bank. He said the worst thing you can do with the Palestinian extremists is back down. They will only be encouraged to step up their campaigns of violence because they see it as a step in the “right direction” for their agenda. They don’t care by what means they achieve it.
The cease fire Israel had with Hezbollah is but one example of many cease fires. All they do is give their enemies the opportunity to regroup, re-equip, and live to kill Jews another day.
As another commenter said, implementation is the key, not promises.
We talk about having peace with Arab nations so long as they give up and condemn terrorism. The true meaning of this, though, is that Arab nations must give up their belief in Islamic supremacy, meaning the messages that are constantly sent out over Arab media, particularly state owned, that Jews are “dogs and pigs”, and inflammatory rhetoric blaming the “crusaders” (the West) for their problems. For comparison, let’s remember that Nazi Germany called Jews “rats” and an “infestation”. This is just the kind of rhetoric that children are being taught on a regular basis not only in the West Bank and Gaza, but in other Arab states. This is what truly must end before there can be peace.
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