The critics of Ehud Olmert on the right, including senior figures in his party, claim that the prime minister has turned negotiations with the Palestinians and Syrians into a shovel with which he seeks to dig himself out of the police investigations against him.
They say that to save his skin, Prime Minister Olmert would not hesitate to divide Jerusalem and to hand over the entire Golan Heights. …
The real problem is not Olmert’s tilt to the left of his mandate in order to escape punishment for criminal breach of trust. The opposite is true. The prime minister has breached the trust of the public by tilting to the right his most important promise. His announcement in the Knesset that the talks on Jerusalem were put off blocked progress on a commitment anchored in the basic guidelines for this government, namely to seek an agreement with the Palestinians on the final borders of the state as a democratic Jewish state with a Jewish majority. …
Even more modest promises, like freezing settlement activity (in line with the road map, including natural growth), dismantling the outposts and setting regulations for law enforcement in the West Bank have stayed on paper. … But at the top of the indictment that history will submit against Olmert will stand his criminal neglect of the Arab Peace Initiative. Access the full article>>
