Summary
[Ehud Olmert] received the greatest privilege, only reserved for blood allies like Britain's Tony Blair, in addressing the most powerful deliberative body in the world, the U.S. Congress, on Wednesday. In his speech, he extended his hand and urged the Palestinians not to "ignore our outstretched hand for peace." At that very moment Palestinians were experiencing Olmert's hand of "peace" and it came in the form of bullets. Israeli army units were raiding downtown Ramallah and Olmert's "outstretched hand for peace" was shooting Palestinians indiscriminately. They killed 4, wounded 60 and arrested a resistance leader. Such incursions are commonplace and part of every day life under occupation. And this is what Palestinians are resisting. They have no resistance towards peace.
He went back to list the impressive credentials of Israel and that it had more companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock market than any other foreign nation. He described the country he immigrated to, Israel, as "an oasis of hope and opportunity in a troubled region." He addressed the Palestinian people as an entity separate from its leadership and asked them to be courageous in choosing "peace over terror." He dangled the carrot of a modern prosperous democratic state living side by side with Israel and closed by saying, "we hope and pray that our Palestinian neighbors will also awaken," referring to the promise of a bright future.Olmert has no intention of negotiating with the Palestinians. Let me translate what he is saying in layman's language: we'll go to a meeting with [Mahmoud Abbas] and if we don't like what he's saying we'll just go ahead and do what suits us. He has already set the expectations of failure for negotiations. He will not sit down and talk to the Palestinians under a United Nations framework which abides by the will of the International community. That is the true test of negotiating in good faith. He says that "we can't wait forever" and if Israel can't find a Palestinian partner then it will draw its own borders unilaterally.See the full content of this document
Extract
Reflections: Olmert Hits the Jackpot
Ehud Olmert, the newly elected Prime Minister of Israel, arrived in the United States like a conqueror and was received with more honors and pomp than is normally bestowed upon royalty. His visit this past week was a continuation of the election campaign and he worked the media selling his ideas. The other side to the story was totally absent from the debate, ...
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