A MUST READ! Olmert Has No Gov’t Without Shas and Agudat Yisrael!, by Hillel Fendel
Excerpts;
“Agudah [United Torah Judaism] is already practically in the government,” they say in Shas, “so why shouldn’t we go in as well?”
“Ehud Olmert can form a government without us,” they say in Agudah, “so let’s at least try to save what we can.”
Wrong! The claim that Olmert has already practically completed forming his convergence-uprooting-expulsion government, and that the hareidi-religious parties are merely an “extra”, is a lie – and if we allow it to go unchallenged, we are liable to find ourselves with tens of thousands more homeless Jews and a bunch of excuses from the religious parties.
Why? Simple math. At present, Olmert has exactly 60 MKs who want to join his government: 29 of Kadima, 19 from Labor, 7 Pensioners, and 5 from Meretz. That’s a total of 60, and not even one more. This is not a majority. Does anyone really believe that Olmert, who said, “I will form a government that is as broad-based as possible,” would want to present such a paltry coalition to the nation and to the Knesset? Does he want to have to rely forever on the votes of the Arabs to prop it up? No chance in the world.
Olmert needs another party in order to form his government, period.
So, you’ll say, “Okay, he’ll take Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party.” Not so fast. Olmert himself has said, and justifiably so, that he does not want a government that any coalition partner can topple on any whim. This means that including Lieberman is not yet enough for Olmert; he still needs another religious-Hareidi party.
For this reason, the Hareidi parties cannot claim, “There is already a government without us.” It’s simply not true. If the Hareidi parties stand strong, Olmert will not be able to form the government of his choice that will carry out his evil scheme of destroying Judea and Samaria.
Given these circumstances, every religious-Hareidi party that joins the coalition – and it doesn’t matter how much money is promised – will not be able to claim, “Our hands did not spill this blood.” Their hands will have spilt, and how. The destruction of hundreds of Jewish communities, yeshivas, schools and synagogues will be registered on their name.
Olmert: Convergence to be Finalized Within 18 Months
Full Text;
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he intends to finalize plans for a large pullout from parts of the West Bank within the next 18 months.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Olmert said the aim of his planned meeting with President Bush next month will be to secure international support for the pullout, including financial assistance.
“The State of Israel will change the face of the region,” Olmert said of his plan. “I will not miss this opportunity.”
Olmert rejected the possibility of sharing control of Jerusalem and its main holy sites with a future Palestinian state, though he left open the option that some Arab neighborhoods surrounding the capital could eventually fall under Palestinian sovereignty. “Dividing Jerusalem will not bring peace, only more fighting,” he said.
According to Olmert, the convergence plan is the only alternative to continued fighting. Physical separation from the Palestinians, he said, will reduce daily friction and violence.
Olmert reiterated that he doesn’t plan to hold a national referendum or other vote to seek additional legitimacy for the pullout. Last month’s election, he said, proved a majority of Israelis share his vision. He also said he is watching closely to see if Hamas moderates its view toward Israel. If that doesn’t happen, he said, Israel will act unilaterally. “I can’t wait forever,” he said.
Olmert: Destroy Eli, Elon Moreh, Shiloh Before 2008
Full Text;
Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asserted Wednesday that Elon Moreh, Eli and Shiloh will be among 60 Jewish communities to be destroyed and the residents expelled within the next 18 months.
Olmert said his intention is to transfer the residents to seven blocs of communities which will be under Israeli control.
Olmert: Convergence to Cost USD 10 Billion
Excerpts;
PM Olmert tells Wall Street Journal he will seek broad international support for his plan to withdraw some 70,000 settlers from West Bank; On planned May visit to U.S. PM will ask financial backing for plan, which will be completed within 18 months.
In an interview published Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said his “convergence plan” will cost up to USD 10 billion.
Olmert said he plans to visit Washington in May to seek U.S. political and financial backing for his plan.
The newly appointed prime minister said he intends on withdrawing 70,000 Jewish settlers from the West Bank, less than a third of the 250,000 currently living beyond the Green Line.
In return, Israel will keep hold of large West Bank settlement blocks, where most of the evacuees will be relocated.
IDF Would Like to Stay in West Bank
Excerpts;
The IDF would recommend retaining a military presence across the West Bank even after a unilateral withdrawal from most of the territory under Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s convergence plan, a high-ranking military officer has told The Jerusalem Post.
The IDF, the officer said, would need to maintain a military presence in “every corner” of the West Bank unless the pullout was carried out in agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
“As long as there isn’t someone on the other side to take over the reins then we need to be in control,” the officer said.
Yet to be fully revealed, Olmert has said that the goal of his plan is to ensure security and set Israel’s permanent borders. While former Shin Bet chief and Kadima member Avi Dichter said recently that he believed the military would not pull out of the West Bank, and that the pullback would be of civilian settlers rather than of the IDF, both Olmert and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz dismissed his remarks while strongly hinting that the withdrawal would be total, including the withdrawal of the IDF.
Yisrael Beitenu: Future Disengagements Must Include Recognition of Borders
Full Text;
Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Lieberman in talks aimed at entering the coalition continues to stress any future land concessions to the Palestinian Authority (PA) must include the recognition of Israel’s borders by the international community.
Lieberman, who exhibited staunch opposition to additional unilateral disengagements by Israel prior to the elections now seems to be stipulating his party may agree to such a move providing it enjoys the support of the international community, namely that western nations would announce their acceptance of Israel’s new permanent borders to prevent additional demands for future land concessions.
Our World: The Jordanian Option, by Caroline Glick
Excerpts;
Whereas one of the basic rationales given for the “disengagement” was that Israeli presence in Gaza was the main source of friction between Palestinians and Israelis, what is now clear is that Israel’s presence in Gaza was a source of stability.
Speaking to Newsweek over the weekend, Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert set out his plans for the future. Olmert declared his intention to push forward with his
“convergence” plan in Judea and Samaria. He will forcibly expel tens of thousands of Israelis from their communities and vastly curtail Israel’s military control of the areas. And he expects America to support him by financing the resettlement of some 80,000 Israeli refugees and recognizing Israel’s self-declared borders. That is, he desires American support for an Israeli implementation of the Gaza expulsions and retreat on a mass scale in the strategically vital areas of Judea and Samaria.TODAY, THERE are two paradigms for contending with the Palestinian conflict with Israel. The first one is to negotiate a peace treaty with the Palestinians in which they will get land and sovereignty in exchange for promising to live at peace with Israel. In a word, this paradigm is the paradigm of appeasement.
The second paradigm involves an Israeli retreat from Judea and Samaria and parts of Jerusalem in exchange for nothing whatsoever from the Palestinians. That is, the second paradigm is the paradigm of surrender.
LUCKILY, appeasement and surrender are not the only options available for stabilizing the Middle East and diminishing levels of violence and terror. In the current issue of the Middle East Quarterly, Dan Diker and Pinchas Inbari outline a paradigm that has a better chance of success than either appeasement or surrender.
Their article, “Re-energizing a West Bank-Jordan Alliance” notes that Israel and Jordan today share a cardinal interest in ensuring that Judea and Samaria do not follow the Gaza model. As they demonstrate, there is reason to believe that from this convergence of interests, a strategy can emerge that will be capable of succeeding where appeasement and surrender fail.
The Jordanian regime is today subject to two sources of turbulence that have the potential to destroy it. First there is Iraq. Iraq’s political and military instability wreaks havoc on Jordan which is economically dependent on its eastern neighbor. Jordanian terrorist and al-Qaida commander in Iraq with Abu Musab Zarkawi has targeted the Hashemite regime. Al-Qaida has cells throughout Jordan. Al-Qaida operatives attacked Eilat with Katyushas from Akaba on August 19 and they targeted Amman itself in the hotel bombings last November.
Al-Qaida’s spread from Iraq to Jordan is now, in the wake of Israel’s retreat from Gaza being followed by its spread to Gaza and Judea and Samaria. As Jordanian diplomats explained to Diker and Inbari last September, Jordan is deeply opposed to Olmert’s proposed Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. In their view, such a retreat would cause a spread of Gazan and Iraqi style chaos to Judea and Samaria. Such chaos could easily endanger the Hashemite regime.
Inbari and Diker believe that the Jordanian regime may be willing today to entertain a strategy of federating or confederating with Judea and Samaria. The advantage of such a policy for the Palestinians is that as citizens of overwhelmingly Palestinian Jordan, they would no longer be stateless. The advantage for Israel and Jordan would be that the threat that the PA’s chronic instability poses to both states’ security would be remedied by the presence of two sovereigns – at peace with one another, with decades of military cooperation behind them, and a shared interest in destroying all vestiges of Islamist terror cells in the area – in charge.
Clear and straightforward arrangements regarding citizenship and security responsibilities for both the Palestinians and the Israelis can be reached with little more than a handshake given the depth of both Israel and Jordan’s shared interests…