Olmert and Abu Mazen: Nothing's in writing?
This may be a piece of good news. Left-wingers argue that Olmert squandered an historic opportunity for a peace deal with the Palestinian moderates. "I had spoken to both Olmert and Abbas in private and knew how far they were willing to go, and I think that an agreement was within reach. And when I look back, it seems to me like another one of these famous missed opportunities," says Gershon Baskin, CEO and founder of Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI).The article goes on to say that Netanyahu is more likely to try to pick up 'where Olmert left off' with the Syrians. But Olmert never really got anywhere with the Syrians, and the Syrians are now saying that they will not negotiate unless Israel promises the entire Golan (including parts that Syria stole between 1948-67) in advance and promises the 'Palestinians' a 'right of return.' While it's (unfortunately) conceivable that a government headed by Netanyahu would offer the former, there is no government in Israel that could or would offer the latter. It won't happen.
Worse, says Baskin, Olmert refused to put anything down in writing so that despite his excellent chemistry with Abbas and all the progress they made, there is nothing to hand on to or bind Olmert's successor. "With [the Likud's Benjamin] Netanyahu coming in without the same ideological commitment or the same political will, he can easily say nothing was agreed and therefore he is not bound by anything," Baskin tells The Report.
Indeed, Baskin believes that Netanyahu will freeze the Palestinian track....
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:06 PM
3 Comments:
I don't think an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan is in the cards. Unlike Gaza, it doesn't have a "demographic issue." And the several thousand Jews there are not considered religious fundamentalists but mainstream Israelis by the public. So uprooting them is easier said than done. And of course, no Israeli government is ever to acknowledge a Palestinian "right of return." If it didn't happen under a left-wing government, its not going to happen under a right-wing government and under any Israeli government in the future.
Also, the Druze are not the Palithugs. Even the few Druze loyal to Syria would not be so happy to be on the other side. One can forgive them for wanting to reunited with their families. But Israeli citizenship means freedom, and even the dumb ones won't give that up so easily.
With the Kinnerent virtually depleted for now, there's not much the Syrians can squish out of us. Skiing they can do in their occupied Lebanon.
"there is nothing to hand on to or bind Olmert's successor"
You don't need signed agreements when you have already allowed the enemy to take what he wants. So although there are no pieces of paper to "hand on," there are "facts on the ground" that OldMerde has stealthily and treacherously assisted them in establishing, and which are a lot harder to erase than pieces of paper.
With Hashem's help we WILL erase them, but it will be a lot more painful than just tearing up a paper written with empty promises.
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