Olmert lands in Washington
Iran’s nuclear armament stands at top of prime minister’s agenda during diplomatic meetings in United States; Olmert to present convergence plan to Bush, but not in detail; US president expected to embrace Olmert but avoid explicitly backing convergence
WASHINGTON - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert landed in Washington early Monday for his first official visit to the United States since his inauguration. During the visit Olmert is slated to meet with American President George W. Bush among other top US officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donal Rumsfeld .
High on the agenda will be talks about the issue of Iran’s nuclear armament, along with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Olmert’s proposed West Bank convergence plan.
Ahead of his departure Olmert was interviewed on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, where he stressed the urgency of dealing with Iran, as the Muslim nation is just months from acquiring the technological know-how to build a nuclear bomb.
Olmert said the key issue regarding Iran was not when it builds a nuclear bomb, but rather when it acquires the knowledge they need to manufacture such arms. “This technological threshold is nearer than we anticipated before. This is because they are already engaged very seriously in enrichment,” Olmert said.
“The technological threshold is very close. It can be measured in months rather than years,” Olmert added, repeating statements previously made by other senior Israeli officials.
Noting that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for Israel’s destruction, Olmert said the world could not take his nuclear ambitions lightly. However, he said it was unlikely Israel would act on its own, diplomatically or militarily, to deal with the problem.
Olmert to present Convergence
Aside from the Iranian issue, Olmert is expected to give an overview of his convergence plan to President Bush – but not go into detail. The prime minister’s associates said that preliminary meetings in Washington suggested that Bush would publicly embrace Olmert and express support for his government, but will avoid declaring full backing for Israel’s plan to unilaterally set its borders. Olmert will also have the rare honor of addressing both Houses of Congress.
During his CNN interview, Olmert noted that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was too weak to represent the PA. “He has no power. He is helpless. He can’t even minimally stop terror among the Palestinians. How can he represent his government in such critical, complicated and sensitive negotiations?” Olmert asked.
Despite these reservations, Olmert said that he respected Abbas deeply as a man opposed to terrorism, and as someone who adopted the basic principles for future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Survey: Most Americans back Israel
Despite lacking full US support for Convergence, Olmert can be encouraged by the results of a survey carried out by the Israel Project organization in anticipation of his US visit, which found that 78 percent of those surveyed said they were positively impressed by the Convergence plan. Only 18 percent saw it as a negative process. The survey’s subjects were college-educated Americans with a yearly income of at least USD 75,000.
The poll reveals strong support for Israel among democrats and republicans in the US: 80 percent agree that the US shouldn’t give financial aid to the PA until Hamas renounces terrorism and recognizes Israel, 94 percent agree that the Palestinian leadership must dismantle terror organizations, and 65 percent believes Israel is doing more to advance peace than the Palestinians. Only 7 percent believed the opposite was true.
Attila Somfalvi and Yitzhak Benhorin contributed to the report
