Posted on 06/12/2006 11:32:59 PM PDT by MadIvan
EHUD OLMERT, Israel’s new Prime Minister, was in jubilant mood last night after Tony Blair gave him tacit approval to move forward on the next stage of his controversial unilateral withdrawal plan.
“I feel very much encouraged. He wants what is good for us and the Palestinians,” the Israeli leader said after his talks at 10 Downing Street. The reason for his glowing assessment was Mr Blair’s unexpectedly positive remarks regarding Mr Olmert’s plan to “realign” Israel’s deployment in the West Bank.
After the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza last year, Mr Olmert wants to repeat the process in “90 per cent” of the West Bank. But the move is fraught with controversy. He intends Israel to hold on to several large Jewish settlement blocks and Arab East Jerusalem, which would be incorporated into Israel behind a security wall.
Mr Blair and Mr Olmert insisted that they would prefer a negotiated settlement with the Palestinian leadership. The Israeli leader said that he expected to open talks with President Abbas in the coming weeks, but few expect the negotiations to lead anywhere.
The Palestinian leadership is deeply divided. Hamas, the militant Islamic movement that now forms the government, refuses to recognise Israel’s right to exist.
Mr Olmert said that he would hold talks with the Palestinians in “months, not years”, indicating that his unilateral redeployment plan may begin this year. He desperately needs foreign support for it to work. When Mr Olmert visited Washington this year, Mr Bush called the proposal “bold”. The Israeli leader will raise the issue with President Chirac in Paris this week.
Yesterday Mr Blair went one step further than Washington by saying that he sympathised with Israel’s plan to go it alone if negotiations failed. “I want to see it move forward by way of agreement, so does [Mr Olmert]. What you cannot have is the situation where nothing happens. It just means that the situation continues to deteriorate,” he said.
The remarks are likely to infuriate the Arab world, which regards Israel’s unilateral plan and the extension of the security barrier as a “land grab”.
Mr Olmert made no secret of his intentions. He ruled out any idea of returning Israel to the pre-1967 borders. “It is a fantasy,” he said.
He was also unapologetic about extending the security wall through the West Bank. “The fence is a source of great nuisance for many Palestinians, but the fence does not kill. While there is no fence, lots of innocent people are killed,” he said.
Violence worsened yesterday amid a power struggle between the secular Fatah movement of Mr Abbas and its Islamist rival Hamas. Mr Abbas declared a state of alert last night after Hamas fighters fired anti-tank rockets into a Palestinian Authority security headquarters in Gaza amid the heaviest fighting yet between factions.
Gunmen waged running battles in Rafah after clashes at a funeral for the victims of earlier fighting. The final tally was 2 dead and 14 wounded.
Television footage showing Hamas fighters firing missiles into the Preventive Security headquarters provoked Fatah loyalists to storm the parliament building in the West Bank city of Ramallah and set it alight. Gunmen also fired on the Palestinian legislative offices in Nablus, and Fatah gunmen briefly kidnapped Khalil Rabei, a Hamas MP.
Several thousand Hamas supporters demonstrated outside the Palestinian parliament building late last night after the day’s incidents.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Who cares? Arabs are always angry.
I have great admiration for your PM.
I think they are angry that Christians and Jews exist at all. Basic courtesy requires we all commit suicide at once!
I'm a little late to this mess (b. 1967), but why did Israel give up the Sinai in '79? Certainly, Egyptian and Jordanian recognition is worthwhile, but why pull back further? They were attacked and won it fair-n-square.
Great for Blair, though. He's got diplomatic genes in him.
As far as I'm concerned, these constantly "angry Arabs" can shut up. They need to get over it: Israel is here to stay.
Jimmy Carter, in his one success in four years, was able to get Anwar Sadat (Egypt's President) and Menhachem Begin (Israeli PM) to sit down and negotiate a treaty.
Sadat was murdered by Islamofascists a few months later because he DARED to negotiate with the Jews, but his successor, Hosni Mubarak (Sadat's VP) vowed to continue honoring the treaty. I believe the Israeli pullout of the Sinai was part of that agreement. Both countries have lived up to their agreements, by and large.
Isn't that the truth!
Angry, outraged, offended, incensed, indignant, etc. always describe them.
Hmm. Kinda like "Democrats."
Ho hum.
Good for Olmert. The Israeli's shouldn't apologize for one darned thing. And good on Blair too.
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Everything about this story is absurd...and plain not true.
In fact Israel is changing its planing to conform to International pressure.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1648256/posts
Infidels breathing air in and out of their lungs risk Arab anger.
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
I love it!
The only infidel that does not risk Islamic anger is the one that kills those that threaten to kill him.
A dead terrorist hates nobody but himself.
Agree.
This story twists everything upside down.
Olmert and Blair are both working to finish Israel off.
Why would arabs oppose that?
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