Posts Tagged ‘Ehud Olmert’

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Annapolis Conference: Olmert says Abbas is his friend

Tuesday, November 27th, 2007

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has just finished addressing the Annapolis conference, in the public opening session, and he, too, spoke mainly to his own domestic constituency.

But, he did say, at the end, that Palestinian President Mahmoud was his “friend”: “I invite you, my friend, Mahmoud Abbas, and your people, to join us on the long road to peace [through this newly-agreed negotiating process and the "painful compromises" that it will necessarily entail]. Together we shall start, and together we shall arrive.” Olmert had just said that “there is no just solution other than two national states for two peoples”.

Olmert said that he did not come to Annapolis to settle historical controversies. But, he said, “I want to tell you, from the bottom of my heart, I acknowledge, I know that (alongside Israeli suffering…) your people too have suffered for many years, and some stil suffer. Many Palestinians are still in camps (cut off from the world) … and living with a deep, unrelenting sense of humiliation … This is the deepest foundation that formented hatred toward us”, he said.

Olmert said: “We want peace, but we demand an end to terror, incitement, and hatred.” He spoke about “dreadful terrorism perpetuated (against the Israeli people) by Palestinian organizations”, that he witnessed when he was the mayor of Jerusalem, and about the “ongoing shooting of Qassam rockets in the south of Israel, particularly in Sderot”. He also said “we are anxiously awaiting the return of our missing sons — Gilad, Elad and Udi — kidnapped by “terrorist organizations”.

He also said that the absence of Palestinian government institutions, and law enforcement, as well as the absence of a legal system based in democratic values, are all factors that deter us from moving forward. But the time has come, he said.

And, Olmert added, “in the course of negotiations between us”, the two delegations would be working on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, as well as the Roadmap, and the letter that George Bush addressed to Ariel Sharon on 14 April 2004 (which said that negotiations for the establishment of a Palestinian state would take into account present realities — interpreted as meaning that large Jewish settlements could remain in the West Bank). And, Olmert said, the result would reaffirm that Israel was “the national home of the Jewish people”:

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Saeb Erekat says Palestinian negotiators should not acknowledge Israel as Jewish state

Monday, November 12th, 2007

Although the Palestine National Council has already done so, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has “rejected Israel’s demand that the Palestinians acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state”, according to both the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz. Both newspapers are reporting that Erekat said in an interview with Radio Palestine that “There is no country in the world where religious and national identities are intertwined.” Erekat told Radio Palestine.

The Palestine Liberation Organization’s late leader, Yasser Arafat, proclaimed a Palestinian State in 1988 on the basis of UN General Assembly Resolution 181, which stated that the British Mandate of Palestine should be divided into two parts, one Jewish and one Arab.

The JPost says that “A senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office said in response that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert insists that the Palestinians recognize Israel’s Jewish identity, as a condition for Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state … Meanwhile, Olmert told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the peace conference scheduled to take place in Annapolis in late November would last for a single day. The conference, the prime minister said, would serve to launch negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, and be a one-time event geared towards gaining international support for the talks”.

The JPost report is here.

Haaretz is reporting that Olmert said Monday: “We won’t hold negotiations on our existence as a Jewish state, this is a launching point for all negotiations … We won’t have an argument with anyone in the world over the fact that Israel is a state of the Jewish people. Whoever does not accept this cannot hold any negotiations with me. This has been made clear to the Palestinians and the Americans. I have no doubt that Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas] and [PA premier Salam] Fayad are committed to prior agreements and want to make peace with Israel as a Jewish state,” Olmert continued … Olmert told the gathering that immediately at the start of negotiations following the summit, Israel will set a precondition that the Palestinians recognize Israel as ‘a Jewish state’. ‘I do not intend to compromise in any way over the issue of the Jewish state’, Olmert said, thereby accepting the position of Livni and Barak. ‘This will be a condition for our recognition of a Palestinian state’. Olmert said he raised the importance of this issue during his talks with European and American officials, and their response had been positive. However, during talks in recent weeks between the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams, the Palestinians refused to include the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state in the shared declaration the teams are preparing, which will be made at Annapolis. Erekat’s statement to Israel Radio on Monday did not seem to imply that refusal would waver ahead of the summit…” The Haaretz account of Erekat’s and Olmert’s remarks on recognition of Israel as a Jewish state are here.

There are already 557 comments on Erekat’s remarks posted on the Haaretz website.

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Olmert endorses calls for Palestinian pledge that Israel is a Jewish State

Monday, November 12th, 2007

Haartez newspaper is reporting on Monday that Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has joined Defense Minister Ehud Barak in saying that Palestinian assurances should be obtained at Annapolis concerning Israel’s existence as “a Jewish State”:

“Olmert held a meeting on Sunday to discuss the Annapolis summit and the negotiations toward a final-settlement agreement. [Foreign Minister Tzipi] Livni, [Defense Minister Ehud] Barak, [and] the chief of staff and the heads of the intelligence services attended the meeting. Olmert told the gathering that immediately at the start of negotiations following the summit, Israel will set a precondition that the Palestinians recognize Israel as ‘a Jewish state’.”
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Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators

Tuesday, November 6th, 2007

Here they are, the peace negotiators:

Israeli Government Press Office photo taken 26 October 2007 in Jerusalem

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and FM Tzipi Livni meet with
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and former PM Ahmad Qurei
in Jerusalem on 26 October 2007 (Photo: GPO)

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has just published a sort of background note, “Behind the Headlines: Israel prepares for Annapolis”, a sort of synthesis of remarks made over the past few days by Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Here is an excerpt: “Despite all the difficulties, Israel believes that the present situation is an opportunity that must be taken advantage of. As the Annapolis meeting approaches, Israel’s goal is to reach understanding on the widest possible common ground, in the time available. This will enable forward progress towards the realization of the two-state vision. While the Annapolis meeting will not be a place for negotiations, it will certainly be a starting point. After Annapolis, it is expected that Israel and the Palestinians will enter into vigorous, ongoing and continuing negotiations, dealing with the fundamental issues which are a condition for realizing the vision of two states living side-by-side in security and peace. Annapolis will be the jumping-off point for continued serious and in-depth negotiations in which no issue will be avoided. No division which has clouded relations between Israel and the Palestinian people for so many years will be ignored. The two-state solution is a goal shared by Israelis and moderate Palestinians, envisioning two homelands for two peoples, living side by side in peace and security”. The full position statement can be found here or here.

This makes it sound that those Palestinians who are not “moderate” will be in big trouble.

As a sign of what may be to come, it happens that, over the last 24 hours, there have been arrests of Hamas members in the West Bank both by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and by Palestinian policemen operating in Nablus and the neighboring Balata refugee camp.

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The day after Annapolis?

Monday, November 5th, 2007

The date hasn’t even been set, yet U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice told journalists travelling with her, in a “roundtable” discussion on Sunday night, that she’s pleased and amazed that the “parties” are now speaking a lot about the day after Annapolis.

(Actually, it was the U.S. side which mentioned that this would be the necessary perspective, during Rice’s previous visit to the region, but never mind. Rice seems happy to let the “parties” think it was their idea — or to let the press think that it was the “parties’” idea…)

The press corps travelling with Condoleeza Rice were actually more interested in President Musharraf’s actions in Pakistan than the day’s developments in Jerusalem.

Still, they got down to the matter toward the end of the “roundtable”.

Rice told the journalists: “[W]hat we’ve really been trying to be very clear on is that they want to come to Annapolis with some understandings about how they move forward. But increasingly, you hear them talking not so much about specifically what might be in this document, but about how they are going to actually get to the negotiation of a Palestinian state. And I think that’s actually a very healthy move”.

Pressed by the press, Rice asked teasingly, Does everybody remember what was said (in a similar briefing by the same participants) in this same room last February? “When everybody said, is ‘political horizon’ an empty phrase for ‘They can’t talk about the real issues’?”

Rice added: [Y]ou’re starting to see here is that people are starting to see Annapolis as the beginning of a process, not a single point in time. And that’s extremely important because the more that they talk about the day after Annapolis and that they are going to have to continue their work to the establishment of a Palestinian state, the more likely they are to get to a place where they’re actually going to end the conflict. And I think what you’re seeing is that people are starting to address really difficult issues that they haven’t addressed in a long time. And that means that, you know, they’re negotiating and they’re trying not to negotiate in the newspapers. They really are, which is remarkable”.
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