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| What would be Israel's likely response to any further attacks launched from the Gaza Strip once Israel has withdrawn from the area? (A similar question was sent by many readers.) |
Elizabeth Stanley
Sheffield, UK |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
| Naturally, if there will be terrorist attacks on Israel after pulling out of the Gaza district, we will respond in an effective way to stop terror. Pulling out and disengaging from Gaza will allow us to separate the Jewish population from the Palestinian population, but in no way will we stop our war against terror if it continues. |
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| In your opinion, what would a final peace agreement with the Palestinians look like? How much of the West Bank will be given to the Palestinians along with sectors of East Jerusalem? (A similar question was sent by Julius Koenig of Vienna, Austria, Ari Ne'eman of New Jersey, USA, and others.) |
Ajay Usgaonker
Eagle Pass, USA |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
I think it will be premature at this point to give a comprehensive response on the issue of a permanent peace agreement between us and the Palestinians. It depends on so many uncertain elements that it would be simplistic and artificial. However, I already said a few times what I think the guiding principles should be for a permanent agreement.
We have to separate Jews from Palestinians. Therefore, we'll have to pull out of the areas densely populated by Palestinians and make sure that Israel has a stable and permanent Jewish majority in the State of Israel. Or in other words, maximum Jews and minimum Arabs.
Consequently, we will have to dismantle many isolated settlemetns in the West Bank and retain the major blocs of townships that were created.
I think that we should forever keep the city of Jerusalem undivided. The Old City, the Temple Mount, the Mount of Olives, Sheikh Jarah, Ras el-Amud, Beit Hanina and so on will remain part of the State of Israel. |
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| Ariel Sharon's plan is to give up Gaza in a bid to hold on to most of the West Bank. This will not solve the conflict, only perpetuate it, since it does not fulfill basic Palestinian demands and will not be recognized by the international community as an end to occupation. How do you see this? |
David
Florida, USA |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
| Your statement is ridiculous. Of course we will have to pull out from parts of the West Bank and dismantle the isolated settlements there. It is obvious that the disengagement plan from Gaza is in no way an attempt to trade it off for complete and eternal control of every inch of the West Bank. |
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| Why don't you support the Geneva Accord? |
Pierrot
Abidjan, Ivory Coast |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
I don't support the Geneva draft for three reasons:
1. It implies a complete withdrawal to the 1967 lines, which is acutely dangerous to the future existence of Israel.
2. It implies the redivision of Jerusalem, which is totally unacceptable.
3. It established the basis for the solution of the refugee problem on UN resolution 194, which laid the foundation for the Palestinian claim for right of return.
All these three elements are totally unacceptable. |
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| Ariel Sharon, the 'patron saint of the settlements,' is now telling the Israeli public that it is time to leave all the Gaza Strip settlements and some of the West Bank settlements. Isn't this an admission that Israel has been following a wrong and cruel policy for the past 37 years? |
Sani Meo
Ramallah, Palestinian Authority |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
The distinguished gentleman assumes as a premise that for 37 years the Palestinians were begging Israel to make peace and instead of doing this, Israel was building settlements. But the truth is that for all these years the Palestinians were unwilling and unprepared to make the slightest move that could have created the basic opening for a peace based on mutual compromise. That was the main obstacle for creating an entirely different reality from the outset. Without Palestinians ever recognizing their dramatic mistakes from the very beginning until these very days, there will never be genuine peace. We certainly made some mistakes and it would be stupid not to recognize this.
But to put all the blame on the side that was ready to make peace from day one and to relieve from any responsibility those who continuously and consistently were engaged in the most brutal terror is another example of the kind of intransigence which characterizes the Palestinian leadership. |
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| Will Prime Minister Sharon invite the Labor Party to join the coalition now that some National Religious Party ministers have quit? |
Stephen
Melbourne, Australia |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
| It certainly is possible, depending on political circumstances. We obviously need to have a stable coalition. Even if the Labor Party is not the first natural choice for a coalition partnership, under the circumstances, it may become one. |
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| Under your most recent proposal to transfer certain 'Jerusalem neighborhoods' to the Palestinian state, would that include the Muslim Quarter of the Old City? |
Jon Purizhansky
Buffalo, NY, USA |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
| Definitely not. |
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| Do you see the Gaza disengagement plan as part of the 'unilateral alternative' you spelled out in the Haaretz interview last November that would 'inevitably preclude a dialogue with the Palestinians for at least 25 years'? If so, won't Israel lose almost total international support, including from the U.S.? |
Brendan O'Brien
Dublin, Ireland |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
| My original unilateral alternative was much broader in scope than the first step, which is now being implemented in Gaza. Therefore, this will not preclude a dialogue - I hope it will trigger it. |
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| How do you explain the decision by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to dismiss the opinion of former state prosecutor Edna Arbel and not press charges against Ariel Sharon? Was the State Prosecution guilty of conducting a witch-hunt against the prime minister? Was this a lack of professionalism? |
Harry Rubin
Tel Aviv, Israel |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
First of all, [those who] ignore the decision of Attorney General Mazuz raise a vicious suspicion that he might have had inappropriate considerations that would cast a deep doubt on his fundamental integrity. I don't think that dismissing Arbel's recommendation means necessarily that she was conducting a witch-hunt, but it is safe to assume the following: firstly, that she was utterly mistaken; secondly, that she was very eager to convict Sharon far beyond the call of duty; thirdly, the fact that she prepared an indictment which was leaked to the press, even though formally she doesn't have any authority to indict the prime minister, certainly proves her eagerness. Fourthly, my main argument against her basic approach is that Edna Arbel represents the school of thought that in order to indict a public figure, you don't need to have the strongest possible evidence. [She thinks] it's enough that you think that there is a likelihood that a person will be convicted and that if he misbehaved he deserves to be punished, and why should the attorney general take the responsibility for making the decision when there is a court?
According to my approach, the attorney general is given the responsibility to make a decision and not to pass it on to someone else. And this decision ought to be made on the basis of foolproof evidence and not a likelihood of conviction. |
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| After years advancing right-wing causes, now you're advocating what has long been a plan of the left. Did your wife, a well-known Meretz supporter, have a role to play in this switch? Were you just tired of the nagging at the dinner table? |
Brett Levi
Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
My wife is not a well-known Meretz supporter, and recently I checked with her and she told me that she does not remember ever participating in any public action, demonstration or other political activity of Meretz. It is true that she was always more inclined to more dovish positions.
It is indeed a very interesting question as to who was nagging more at the dinner table - me with my right-wing positions, or the rest of my family with their left-wing positions. The family has been deeply engaged in a thorough and comprehensive analysis of this, and to this day we haven't yet found an accepted answer. |
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| How do you feel the upcoming presidential elections in the U.S. will affect us here in Israel? Who is the better candidate for Israel - George W. Bush or John F. Kerry? (Ian Boulder from the US sent a similar question.) |
Mark Zober
Jerusalem, Israel |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
| George Bush has been a very friendly president to Israel. I hope that if John Kerry will ever become president, he will be equally friendly. Otherwise, I don't think that I should interfere with the internal political issues in America. |
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| Jerusalem has horribly high unemployment, is a security nightmare, and disgracefully has constant garbage and filth throughout the streets. How can you support the creation and expense of the light rail system? |
Gershon
Jerusalem, Israel |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
| Dear Gershon, your question proves that even though you are in Jerusalem, you appear not to be familiar with the city. Jerusalem has a relatively small rate of unemployment. It is far from being a security nightmare, and it is a much cleaner city than most other big cities in the world, certainly much cleaner than New York, which has been praised for becoming a clean city. The light rail system is one of the most fantastic vehicles for urban development. It is friendly to the environment, it is an efficient system, and it will relieve the highways in Jerusalem from the pressure of traffic - which is a major problem in every city, including Jerusalem. So why be against it? |
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| Can you explain why the PM cannot sack Bibi Netanyahu from the cabinet since he has refused to see the immense benefits of disengagement? |
Wellington Okereh
Port Harcourt, Nigeria |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
| I think Netanyahu made a mistake, but in the end, he decided to support the disengagement plan which shows that the great efforts he made finally bore fruit. |
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| It appears that in recent years the Israeli government has taken an approach of shoot first, ask questions later. Why doesn't your government exhaust all constructive, diplomatic, hope-building avenues, before sending in the bulldozers? |
David Kat
Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
| David, I'm sure that had your street been subject to homicide attacks that would have killed tens of your neighbors near their homes in coffee shops or restaurants, you wouldn't have asked this strange question. We don't shoot first and question later. We shoot when there is no other way of preventing the killng of innocent people. I know that fighting terror is not always pleasant, but trust me, being the victim of this is even worse. |
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| What is your view on the 'demographic problem' WITHIN Israel, and what action is the government pursuing? How do we in practice keep it from becoming an issue of the survival of Israel in the next 30-40 years? |
Gilad
London, U.K. |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
| I am a lot more concerned with the demographic problem in the entire territory between the Jordan River and the sea. It is true that within the Green Line there are also 20 percent Arabs, but this is a much more manageable problem than the demographic problem in the entire territory. |
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| In closing the Erez industrial zone, what provisions are being made for 4,000 Palestinian workers to find other employment? This may not be Israel's formal responsibility, but won't this make these workers become more dependent on aid from hostile elements within the Palestinian community? (A similar question was sent by Thea van den Berg of The Netherlands, Mowia Louzon of Dearborn, Michigan and others.) |
Bob Jacobson
Redwood City, California, USA |
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| Ehud Olmert: |
| I'm prepared to consider handing over the Erez industrial park to the Palestinian Authority intact following the pullout of Israel and the relocation of the Israeli manufacturing plants outside of Erez. I already received a request from high sources in the Palestinian Authority and am expecting an official request soon, and it will be negotiated. There is no intention of destroying an infrastructure that can improve the quality of life of the Palestinians. |
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