Ehud Olmert must think he’s the king of Israel. Because he’s trying to give away the farm without any kind of mandate, or even public backing.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made clear on Tuesday once again that he still has the mandate to make concessions on Israel’s behalf, despite his lame duck government.
“In principle there is nothing to prevent us from reaching an agreement on the core issues in the near future,” Olmert said regarding the ongoing peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.
“We’re in a situation where it’s possible to do so, and I hope we do. It would be good for the State of Israel.”
In principle, he could, yes. But if he did so, it would be the final act of the most clueless prime minister Israel has ever had. Israelis don’t want to give away any more concessions to the Palestinians without first gaining security. Most Israelis do not want to give up any more land. They’ve learned that every time they give up land without anything in return from the Palestinians, it emboldens their enemies.
But gee, Ehud, it sure would put your name in the history books if you could force that peace deal, wouldn’t it? And that’s what it’s all about now: How history will see the prime minister who took over from Ariel Sharon, blew the 2006 Lebanon war, watched as Hamas took over Gaza, did not stop the rocket fire into Israel, and resigned due to corruption issues. He’s said he’s willing to give up almost every inch of territory Israel won in 1967, including half of Jerusalem (which Israelis do not want). And he’ll ask almost nothing regarding security issues on the Palestinian and Syrian sides. Just give them back the land and hope, is his strategy. Like it’s worked so far.
But hey—in principle, he could still broke a peace deal with the Palestinians and truly wreck things for the next PM. But at least he’d have all those cheerleaders on the left.
Yes, he could, and I wouldn’t put it past him, considered his corruption (and flip flopping doesn’t even begin to describe him on matters of policy). And although he would ruin Israel’s reputation (if that’s possible) for years to come, at least the Knesset would probably not ratify anything. Then again, with the group of people…
Actually, we can see in the book of Joshua that when the Israelis are tricked into an agreement, they will often keep the agreement anyway. From the time of Joshua with the giv’onim, to modern times with the Oslo “agreement”, Israel has often “kept its word” even when it never agreed as a country. The original Oslo “agreement” was made with a bunch of leftists who had no negotiating authority. The Arabs then took that “agreement” as the starting point for negotiations.