Weekly Commentary: Replacing Olmert to get Israel out of the corner he
painted us into

Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 3 January, 2008

The bad news is the Prime Minster Ehud Olmert has managed, by his remarks
and responses to event, to paint himself into an incredibly tight and
dangerous corner.

The good news is that as a democracy the Jewish State has the ability to opt
out of the corner without this leading to anything close to an
insurmountable crisis.

By presenting the creation of a Palestinian state as an existential need for
Israel, Olmert has stripped himself of the ability to effectively insist on
Israel many vital interests.

And his interlocutors know this.

After all, if a Palestinian state is seen as an existential need for the
Olmert team, their security concerns - and certainly any interests that are
beyond the scope of security (e.g. economic, historic/national, etc.) are of
secondary importance if addressing them means a stalemate over the
Palestinian state.

Olmert's team has also embraced the fantasy that foreign security forces
coupled with elegantly drafted verbiage can overcome the fundamental
problems that make the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state that even
marginally approaches the Bush vision impossible for the foreseeable future.

The reality on the ground both in Gaza (and the Gaza-Sinai border), the West
Bank, south Lebanon, etc. certainly provides the evidence to justify a
radical change in Israeli policy.

A change that a different Israeli head of state, not encumbered by a record
of embracing the lies that serve as the foundation of Olmert's program,
could effectively advocate and implement.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il