Olmert overcome by vertigo?

"Any beginner pilot understands that when facing vertigo, the world does not revolve around you. It's your head that's dizzy. Olmert refuses to look at the gauges and is clinging to a vertigo that doesn't really exist. The trouble is that he may pull the control stick in the wrong direction and crash all of us on the ground," he said.

In aeronautical medical terms, vertigo is defined as "a sense of lightheadedness where a person feels as if he, or his environment, are in constant motion." Olmert may not sit at the cockpit and apparently doesn't suffer from real vertigo, but he's obviously dazed by the loud applauses that followed his call over Ben Gurion's gravesite: I reach my hand out in peace to our Palestinian neighbors in the hopes it is not rejected.

His concessions – ranging from ceding territories to evacuating communities and releases prisoners – instilled a new spirit of peace in the Middle East, or so he thinks.

Yet some of his ministers only see an imaginary spirit. "This is a spin that will pass by the next Qassam rain," one minister said. "Too many words created the illusion of peace but never extinguished the fires of war." Another skeptical minister said: "A leader is not measured by his words, but rather, by his deeds. Life in the Middle East taught us that in order to achieve peace we must prepare for war."

Officials at the prime minister's office are astounded.

"Vertigo? The prime minister is overcome by vertigo? The PM is enjoying one of the best weeks of his term in office. The support for the principles of his diplomatic plan is overwhelming, including members of Likud and Labor. Look how the entire world applauds him, ranging from President Bush at his press conference in Amman to Minister Omar Suleiman who came from Egypt, Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, and Condoleezza Rice here in Jerusalem. So who here is overwhelmed by vertigo?"

Yet for the time being, this is what the gauges indicate:

• The Qassam fire on Sderot and Gaza-region communities persists
• Top security officials doubt the ceasefire's durability
• No truce agreement in the West Bank
• Security officials warn that a ceasefire in the West Bank would lead to an enhancement in Palestinian rocket capabilities that would threaten central Israel
• Weapons and explosives continue to be smuggled through the Egyptian border
• The IDF is formulating a plan for a wide-scale operation against terror groups in Gaza that will be presented to the cabinet on Sunday
• Hamas is not quick to give up power in the Palestinian Authority
• Mahmoud Abbas is unable for the time being to form a national unity government
• The government of Israel has not approved the list of prisoners to be released and particularly not those with blood on their hands
• Nobody, aside from Olmert, approved the concessions to the Palestinians – not the government, not the Knesset, and not even his own Kadima party.
  

So who here is overcome by vertigo? The answer will apparently come in the form of the crash test – either Olmert crashes or his thesis crashes.

Lieberman satisfied

Paradoxically, new Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman believes that the PM's generous offers actually serve him. The Israel Our Home chairman – a hawk who does not believe in diplomatic miracles – did not speak out against Olmert's speech of painful withdrawal and the evacuation of Judea and Samaria settlements.

Meanwhile, he is sitting on the sidelines, calculated and clear-headed, and waiting for the Palestinians to screw up. He knows that once Olmert gets disappointed by the partner, he will give him the legitimacy to handle the Palestinians the Lieberman way.

Lieberman, who joined the government in the role of Olmert's rightist "burden," has not changed. Even words carried by the southern winds will not change him. He's unwilling to remove Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, he does not believe in a withdrawal through agreement to the 1967 border, and he does not believe that the fundamentalist Hamas will disappear and leave the arena to Abbas.

He also does not believe that terror organizations will stop arming themselves just because a ceasefire was worked out or that the Palestinian president will be able to push forward the diplomatic process, as officials in Washington, Paris, London and Jerusalem offices may imagine. So for now, he's sitting alone at the Knesset snack bar and enjoying a cigar.

Lieberman doesn't mind talking, but for the time being he does not submit to interviews. He is adopting the tactic of "let them play before us." He does not openly confront those who suddenly see blue skies over Gaza with a dove holding an olive branch. He will certainly not confront the prime minister. He is patient.

For Lieberman, tomorrow or in two days at the most, Abbas will fail in his attempt to form a national unity government, which is a condition for diplomatic progress, or alternately, one of the many terror cells will renew the Qassam fire from Gaza. So until he is called upon to handle the insurgents, he has time to enjoy his cigar.