Back in September, and almost 20 years after then-Secretary of State James Baker used the same language, Olmert told the Knesset and all Israelis that "Greater Israel is over. There is no such thing. Anyone who talks that way is deluding themselves." He was trying to impress on Israel's increasingly polarized and extremist political atmosphere the futility of imagining a country holding on to settlements and occupied territories--not unless Israel wants to become a "binational state" where Jews are the minority. "I admit – this hasn’t always been my position," he said. "But eventually, after great internal conflict, I've realized we have to share this land with the people who dwell here – that is if we don’t want to be a binational state. "
(Getty Images)
"Anyone who consciously walks into a government that does not believe in two states for two people is likely to force Israel into an isolation it has not seen since its establishment," Olmert told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting." He continued,
Whoever thinks he can succeed in reaching international cooperation on the Iran issue on the basis of a policy which rejects any political agreement with the Palestinians and the Syrians is delusional. [...] Whoever believes this, I can only say that I pity his dogma. But someone who doesn't believe in this, yet still cooperates, I can only say I pity the scoundrel."Strong words, necessary words, but also, words too late. The die is cast in Israel. Olmert isn't so much a prophet in his own country as one of many predictors of the present they see all around them.
See Also:
Comments