While the former US president lauds the former Kadima PM for his willingness to divide up J’lem and place religious sites under the protection of others, he chastises him for his tepid response to the Syrians during the last war with Hezbollah in 2006.
Well when looking at the situation from an Israeli perspective -keeping in mind that the Israelis are fully appreciative of the former US president’s pro-Israel views and policies- they looked at Olmert as a disaster. He was no Ariel Sharon, and was subsequently rewarded by the Israeli electorate with a massive drubbing in the next parliamentary elections. Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud, was seen as a better chance of driving Israeli self interests than Olmert’s Kadima.
Whether Mahmoud Abbas was really ready to back Olmert’s deal remains speculation, Bush’s speculation, and in the Tundra Tabloids’ opinion, highly doubtful, for it would not mean an end to the conflict, because the PA has not changed/prepared its society for an eventual peace. On the contrary, it has fomented incitement of Jews and Israel and has proven itself to be unpopular with a whopping number of the Arabs who call themselves ‘Palestinian’.
Beisdes, any theoretical agreement reached between Olmert and Abbas would have collapsed under the weight of thug opposition to it by not only Hamas, but by all the other terrorist groups vying for control of the areas currently ruled by Abbas’ P.A.. Face the facts, any agreement by Israel, will be honored, any agreement signed by the P.A. is not worth the paper its written on. KGS
NOTE: Thankfully elections were called and the Israeli people voted Olmert out of office.
Abbas was ready to back Olmert deal, Bush memoir says
WASHINGTON – Former US president George W. Bush indicates that both Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas were willing to publicly back Olmert’s proposed peace agreement before Olmert’s ouster as prime minister ruined the deal, according to a memoir to be released on Tuesday.
Bush also excoriates the US intelligence agencies that famously concluded in late 2007 that Iran had halted production of a nuclear weapon, denying him any possible military option, and notes that he rejected an appeal by Olmert earlier in the year to bomb a Syrian nuclear facility.
More here.
