Considering that Ehud Olmert was a failed, corrupt, political degenerate – I am not sure how much credence this report can be given. However given the fact that the “compassionate conservative” progressive President Bush was an open borders fool, it might have some legitimacy. How soon before we are propagandized that Jeb Bush is the “real conservative” of the family?
NO MORE BUSH’s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Gil Hoffman
The US would have accepted 100,000 Palestinian refugees had Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accepted then-prime minister Ehud Olmert’s diplomatic overtures in 2008, Olmert said on Sunday.
In a speech sponsored by the Geneva Initiative at Tel Aviv’s Eretz Israel Museum, Olmert outlined the offer he made the Palestinians at the end of his premiership, which included a contiguous Palestinian state, transferring control over Jerusalem’s “holy basin,” an area including the Old City, to the stewardship of five countries, and accepting thousands of Palestinian refugees into Israel on humanitarian grounds.
“The US would have been willing to accept 100,000 refugees,” he said, revealing a previously unknown detail of his negotiations with Abbas.
Olmert said that in all of his talks with world leaders, none expected Israel to accept all the Palestinian refugees. But he said he was proud to be the first Israeli prime minister to express sympathy with their plight. He said a limited number of refugees could be accepted on the basis of the Saudi diplomatic initiative.
On Jerusalem, Olmert revealed that he gave Abbas maps with a detailed border down to specific houses, roads and tunnels.
“Whoever wants to solve the conflict with the Palestinians must deal immediately with the five core issues, because if we solve them, we can solve the rest of the problems,” he said. “Whoever thinks they can deal with water before dealing with borders will never deal with borders.”
Olmert said the Palestinians now regret not accepting his offer. In veiled criticism of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, he challenged him to put reaching a diplomatic agreement ahead of staying in power.
“I don’t doubt the current prime minister’s resolve to protect Israel’s security,” Olmert said. “But when a man reaches such a lofty position, he must consider: What will you do with the time you have? “You must be loyal to the truth you believe in,” he said.
“You can’t abandon this responsibility because of political considerations.”
Read the rest here: Olmert: U.S. agreed to accept 100,000 Palestinian refugees
On a similar note – Seymour Reich, a former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, must be smoking some heavy pot to come up with the idea that Obama is good for America and for Israel. Hopefully you have already eaten lunch by the time you read this useful idiots column
by Seymour Reich
The question I often hear in the United States and in Israel is, “Is Obama good for Israel?” My answer: yes. The direct Israeli-Palestinian talks, the first in nearly two years, confirms this. Results of the first two rounds have confounded skeptics and critics. At the White House Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas his “partner in peace.”
In Jerusalem, where Netanyahu hosted Abbas in his residence for the first time, US envoy George Mitchell told reporters after their third meeting in two consecutive days, “They are tackling up front… the issues that are at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
These talks, orchestrated by President Barack Obama, are good for Israel and good for the US. So are Obama’s overall policies relating to Israel – and Iran. Israelis and Americans, especially Jews, who want to see a secure Israel at peace, a viable Palestinian state alongside it, a stable Middle East and a respected US should support these policies.
YET RECENT polls in Israel and the US indicate the opposite. Sixty-five percent of Jewish Israelis believe US Jews should criticize the Obama administration’s policy toward Israel, according to a survey published in June conducted for the B’nai B’rith World Center in Jerusalem. Pew Research findings released in August show that American Jewish voters who identify or lean Democratic decreased to 60% from 72% in 2008; while 33% now identify or lean Republican, up from 20% in 2008.
These poll results and charges that Obama is anti- Israel disregard the facts about his administration’s policies. The contrast between the reality and the misperception about these policies is stark.
[…]
Read the rest here: Obama – Good for Israel, good for the U.S.
Tags: Gil Hoffman
