Mr. Olmert Wows Washington
By all accounts, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's visit to Washington was a success. Anyone who watched or watches PM Olmert's address to the Joint Session of Congress (available on cspan.org) will be wowed by a politician at his prime, with words crafted partly by Elie Weisel and pr-ster Frank Luntz.
Prime Minister Olmert came to Washington hoping for support for what is now called in English the "realignment" plan, which is Olmert's idea for a unilateral withdrawal of close to 90% of the West Bank and 80,000 Jewish settlers. As he said, "we will move forward...realignment will significantly reduce the friction between Israelis and Palestinians, the goal is to break the chains that have tangled our two peoples im unrelenting violence for far too many generations. With our future unbound, peace and stability might finally find its way to the doorsteps of this troubled region..."
These are moving words, but whether Israeli unilateral action can bring peace to the troubled region is a very big question mark-and one that the U.S. must heed with utmost seriousness.
That's partly why the Bush Administration has asked Olmert to attempt to negotiate with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas. Olmert has never shown much interest in that, since he thinks that Abbas is unable to deliver--and there's no doubt that Abbas has gotten weaker even than before after Hamas' victory. But there is at least the glimmer of an interesting development on the Palestinian side--a letter penned from prison between Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and Hamas prisoners--for a joint negotiating statement with Israel based on the 1967 lines, rights of prisoners, and Jerusalem as the capitol of a Palestinian state. These points are not surprising--what is new is the agreement reached between the internal, feuding Palestinian factions.
