Olmert to US: Stop focusing on settlements
In article published in Washington Post former prime minister explains US and Israel have already reached understandings regarding settlements; says other issues currently more critical
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert published an article in the Washington Post Friday in which he subtly criticizes US President Barack Obama and claims that the president should bear in mind that Israel is the US' natural ally, and the only true democracy in the Middle East.
In his column Olmert noted that the US Congress had endorsed President Bush's 2004 letter elaborating Israel's right to defend itself "and recognizing new realities on the ground in which the Jewish population centers in the West Bank would be an inseparable part of the state of Israel in any future permanent-status agreement."
The former PM also referred to the Annapolis peace conference, which laid the groundwork for direct negotiation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
"Yet today," Olmert writes, "instead of a political process, the issue of settlement construction commands the agenda between the United States and Israel. This is a mistake that serves neither the process with the Palestinians nor relations between Israel and the Arab world. Moreover, it has the potential to greatly shake US-Israeli relations."
Insistence futile
Olmert further elaborated on the understandings reached between Israel and the US regarding the settlements, including Israel's promise that no new settlements will be constructed, no new land would be allocated or confiscated for settlement construction, there would be no provision of economic incentives promoting settlement growth and the unauthorized outposts built after March 2001 would be dismantled, a commitment that Israel, the former PM noted, "regrettably has not yet fulfilled."
"Let me be clear," writes Olmert, "without those understandings, the Annapolis process would not have taken on any form. Therefore, the focus on settlement construction now is not useful.
"The insistence now on a complete freeze on settlement construction - impossible to completely enforce - will not promote Palestinian efforts to enhance security measures; the institution building that is so crucial for the development of a Palestinian state; better movement and access to the Palestinians; nor an improved economy in the West Bank."
He continues, "Nor will it weaken the Hamas government in Gaza. It will not bring greater security to Israel, help improve Israel's relations with the Arab world, strengthen a coalition of moderate Arab states or shift the strategic balance in the Middle East."
More important issues
Olmert then goes on to criticize the Palestinians' decision not to accept the proposal presented to them during his term in office that he claims contained a solution for all the issues on the agenda, including territorial concessions and the refugee problem.
"It would be worth exploring the reasons that the Palestinians rejected my offer and preferred, instead, to drag their feet, avoiding real decisions," he notes.
The former PM concludes by saying that "the focus on settlement construction, while ignoring the previous understandings, unjustly skews the focus from a true political process and from dealing with the real strategic issues confronting the region."
These issues, he adds, include "the political process; preventing Iran's attempt to obtain nuclear weapons; eliminating Islamic extremist terrorism; and creating the necessary dialogue for normalizing relations between Israel and the Arab world."
