Ehud Olmert says Israel should withdraw....

[Sendo]

Ehud Olmert, outgoing PM of Zion, has just advocated withdrawal from the settlements if there is to be peace with Palestinians.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/29/olmert-israel-must-withdr_n_130232.html

Wow. Hmm. Discuss, I have to go eat dinner.

[Incendiarism]

Not going to happen.

[Kwisatz Haderach]

His statement should be read as "fuck you all, my political career is over anyway, look at all the highly controversial stuff I can say now!"

[Demogorgon]

His statement should be read as "fuck you all, my political career is over anyway, look at all the highly controversial stuff I can say now!"

Quite. Mind you, he did make his career as an Arch-Zionist. Being Prime Minister with access to the diplomatic world and the opposition to what Israel is doing that is quite prevalent there might well have softened him somewhat. Still it is telling that he has chosen to wait until it is too late for him to do anything to say this.

[Yehuda Stern]

Olmert and his ilk always talk about peace before, during, and after coming to power, and never do anything about it. Wake up! No Zionist will ever make peace with the Palestinians, nor would keeping the Zionist state alive be in the interests of the working class.

[Saorsa]

Withdrawal from the settlements would not lead to a lasting peace anyway. The West Bank and Gaza strip could not form a viable nation-state, and their economies ate inextricably linked with Israel's. Education, healthcare, employment, goods and services... all of these the Palestniants take largely from Israel. The only solution to the conflict in Palestine is a SINGLE, secular socialist democracy that doesn't discriminate against ethnic minorities and religious views.

[Sendo]

woah, I wasn't getting hard-on about this, I didn't even have "cautious optimism" I merely found it shocking that he said it. I'm sure it's because he's on his way out, yeah, it's still interesting that he said it. Not enough? Of course not. Its just words, and too little too late even in practice. But it is very interesting since the top Zionists are either war mongers in speech or give foggy speeches about "peace processes". This was something concrete. It's concrete in the way of getting GOP leadership to finally admit global warming, although with McCain/Palin they may have repealed that, like the Vatican's done with evolution of late.

[Yehuda Stern]

It's nothing new. Rabin, the Zionist racist who was murdered in 1995 for being 'too soft' said the same things, as did many Zionist politicians since. There's nothing new here but an attempt by Zionist propagandists to show that Israel is striving for peace, which is laughable.

[progressive_lefty]

What's the logic? Build settlements on Palestinian land, but refuse to have anything to do with Palestinians? What's the logic in that?

The Palestinians aren't just going to disappear.

[Labor Shall Rule]

It's not going to last long.

Olmert resigned (keep in mind) in July, and the Kadima party has lost influence in the last few months. In February, the National Union and National Religious Party - two parties that have nine MPs in the parliament - are going to merge for the elections to prevent the expulsion of right-wing settlers.

[Yehuda Stern]

Olmert is also making some noise about a peace agreement with Syria. It'll amount to... oh, about the same.

[Labor Shall Rule]

Olmert is also making some noise about a peace agreement with Syria. It'll amount to... oh, about the same.

Yeshuda,

We don't really have (in fact, your the only one) Israeli poster(s) on Revleft, so it's very interesting to have you on board.

I was wondering - what is the state of the anti-war left in Israel? Is Olmert doing this as a 'concession'? I'm interested in what's going on there.

[Yehuda Stern]

We don't really have (in fact, your the only one) Israeli poster(s) on Revleft, so it's very interesting to have you on board.And the sooner everyone realizes I'm the most important poster here, the better!


I was wondering - what is the state of the anti-war left in Israel? Is Olmert doing this as a 'concession'? I'm interested in what's going on there.Eh, what do you call "anti-war"? The groups in Israel that would oppose a future war with Iran or that oppose the occupation are very very small, and even then they usually have a pro-imperialist position*. The demos against the recent war on Lebanon got pretty big, 10,000 people at their peak, but it is still basically a drop in the ocean. Most Israelis would in theory be willing to give up territory for a lasting peace, but in practice they don't really believe this could happen and support the mainstream Zionist parties that are always ambigious about this course (and will never do it unless under extreme pressure).

If you're asking, then, if Olmert is trying to win some support from the Israeli left, then definitely not. It's way too small and Olmert does not depend on them politically or otherwise. I do think he's trying to win back some support from those who had illusions that his government could bring some peace and stability, but then I doubt he's so delusional as to entertain the thought of coming back to politics at some point. It might be that he's also trying to make people remember him for this and not for his corruption (just like people remember Rabin as a peacemaker and not as the man who told soldiers to break Palestinian protestors' arms and legs).

But I don't think any of these things are the real reason here. I think basically it is a continuation of Zionist strategy from the end of the last war - trying to politically isolate Hamas, Hizb Allah and Iran in the region by cutting off the support the two guerrilla groups receive from Iran through Syria.

*The Communist Party, for example, opposes the occupation because it "corrupts Israel's morality." The same with Meretz and other Zionist or semi-Zionist groups in the left and far left.