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Last update - 10:54 02/04/2007
What hasn't changed on this night?
By Haaretz Editorial

Pesach is not considered to be a time for introspection. Notwithstanding, especially this year when tonight's ritual seder (also Hebrew for "order") at home starkly contradicts the sense of political and public chaos outside, the question "How is this night different from all other nights" since last year's holiday should not necessarily be restricted to children. This is especially true since exactly a year ago, on Passover eve, prime minister-designate Ehud Olmert made a springtime promise that he "does not intend to miss the opportunity" to further peace, or at least to implement the convergence plan.

Olmert made several wonderful promises last April. He said, for example, that "a withdrawal from parts of Judea and Samaria will be carried out in a year and a half." He declared that his plan "will alter the face of the region," and that "in coming weeks, immediately following the formation of the government," he intended to begin "planning in detail" the withdrawal with the assistance of "a team of experts that will include individuals from the army, political and economic advisers." Olmert called on the international community to support the plan saying that "this is the sole alternative to the continued fighting."

We have become accustomed to the ever-present chasm between promises of elected leadership and their realization. But in Olmert's case, the existing gap borders on the grotesque: the leadership that promised "not to miss the opportunity" to further peace, appears in retrospect to have not missed the opportunity to embroil Israel - at a time when the army and home front were ill prepared - into a war that turned out to be its longest, and perhaps, least successful in history. There has even been a crack in the "tradition" whereby every new Israeli prime minister extends a hand of peace, at least a rhetorical gesture, and receives a rejectionist Arab response. This year, the situation has been reversed: not only Syria and the Palestinian president, but also a coalition of Arab states, have extended (at least rhetorically) their hand in peace - and have been confronted with a passive, even sour, Israeli reaction.
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All this has not prevented the prime minister from emerging this year with celebratory statements, spreading updated promises of spring. In a holiday interview to Haaretz, he said that "it is necessary to begin dialogue with Saudi Arabia and with other Arab states," and that he "would be glad to cooperate in a regional summit meeting that will bolster direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians." Olmert even foreshadows that "in five years, it is possible [that conditions] will mature for an overall peace agreement with the Arab states and the Palestinians."

Time will tell if there is any substance to these promises, or whether they are part of a new Passover tradition - albeit not an ancient one - that Olmert has initiated: to fill our pockets with verbal walnuts and amuse ourselves with reality in games of hide and seek as if it were the afikoman (a piece of matza hidden during the seder that is eventually eaten at the conclusion of the meal).

Sated by promises and expectations for the prophet Elijah who never arrives, we will note this year what has not changed since last Passover: false promises and words lacking in currency, a love affair with inertia, faint-hearted leadership, and focus on a war for personal survival. The only positive change since last year is the hope that something at least has changed among our neighbors.
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  1.   CHAG SAMEACH 11:05  |  Daniel Leopold 02/04/07
  2.   islam REMAINS ISLAM AND YOU CANNOT DEAL WITH IT !! 11:06  |  paul harris 02/04/07
  3.   Excellent English proverb for Olmert to remember 11:15  |  Clickfool 02/04/07
  4.   It`s time Israel changes 11:37  |  John 02/04/07
  5.   the change on the horizon is israel`s choice 11:56  |  eric 02/04/07
  6.   What a typically short memory Haaretz 12:05  |  Judith, Haifa 02/04/07
  7.   Paul Harris you confuse peace with surrender 12:09  |  Mark B. 02/04/07
  8.   To Clickfool 12:12  |  Mark B. 02/04/07
  9.   It`s time the Palestinians change 12:27  |  Yonatan 02/04/07
  10.   Paul Harris, you are an ugly bigot 12:38  |  Marilyn 02/04/07
  11.   To Yonathan 12:38  |  Mark B. 02/04/07
  12.   #5 ERIC CONFUSES HIMSELF WITH WAFFLE!! 13:14  |  paul harris 02/04/07
  13.   37 MARK B STOP SMOKING MARIJUANA 13:16  |  paul harris 02/04/07
  14.   To Mark B. - 1 13:27  |  Alicia 02/04/07
  15.   Marilyn - Israel basher 13:40  |  Ruth 02/04/07
  16.   "Painful concessions"... 13:46  |  Maureen Ann 02/04/07
  17.   Mark B. - 2 13:46  |  Alicia 02/04/07
  18.   In strange and far off lands 13:59  |  Benlolo 02/04/07
  19.   For Mark B, on screwing with reality # 11 14:32  |  Clickfool 02/04/07
  20.   #6 Judith, maybe it`s something to do with the "unilateral" bit 14:37  |  Johnboy 02/04/07
  21.   To Alicia 14:48  |  MArk B. 02/04/07
  22.   The Enslaved become the enslavers? 14:56  |  David Scheinmann 02/04/07
  23.   They Shoot Horses Dont They? 14:59  |  Ronnie Wolman 02/04/07
  24.   settler nation 15:11  |  otiwa ogede 02/04/07
  25.   Sorry I meant the Pharoah, not Herod. 15:12  |  David Scheinmann 02/04/07
  26.   Maureen Ann - an honest answer to a question with a sting 15:12  |  Chachmeister 02/04/07
  27.   Yeah, Scheinman 15:18  |  Benlolo 02/04/07
  28.   otiwa ogede # 24 15:22  |  ChanahS 02/04/07
  29.   Maureen Ann and stolen land 15:25  |  ChanahS 02/04/07
  30.   MORON ANN #16 15:27  |  GABE1 02/04/07
  31.   To Chachmeister on a `fair` land swap 15:30  |  David Scheinmann 02/04/07
  32.   Change among neighbours???? 15:53  |  Willy 02/04/07
  33.   Israel faces imminent military and political isolation 16:35  |  Rotunda 02/04/07
  34.   #16 Maureen 16:38  |  Willy 02/04/07
  35.   #26 Maureen Ann Re Chacmeister 16:42  |  Labhras 02/04/07
  36.   Paul Harris you hardly know islam 16:45  |  Taufik Druzi 02/04/07
  37.   #10Marlyn re harris 16:48  |  Labhras 02/04/07
  38.   #3 Clickfool 16:52  |  Labhras 02/04/07
  39.   Ottiwa Ogede confirms the gap between the two sides 16:58  |  Taufik Druzi 02/04/07
  40.   Amazing that an Israeli major media outlet 16:59  |  Chick Corea 02/04/07
  41.   Ronnie #23: the doubts & the risks - 17:17  |  Ivo 02/04/07
  42.   neighbours 17:45  |  Naim S. Mahlab 02/04/07
  43.   #27 Benolo 17:45  |  Labhras 02/04/07
  44.   That is not the question 17:45  |  Danite 02/04/07
  45.   Trying to understand Olmert 17:53  |  Tosefta 02/04/07
  46.   Labrhas #31 17:55  |  Chachmeister 02/04/07
  47.   Peace 18:04  |  Linda 02/04/07
  48.   #43 LAB-ARSE AND THE IRISH FROM EIRE 18:07  |  paul harris 02/04/07
  49.   Promises Promises 18:08  |  Zev 02/04/07
  50.   Jews (Yhudim) are the aborigines of Judea (Yhuda) 18:27  |  AV 02/04/07
  51.   How Olmert always misses his opportunity 18:40  |  Tosefta 02/04/07
  52.   After the first Pesakh, Jews refused to return to Israel 18:42  |  Hal 02/04/07
  53.   Marilyn 18:48  |  Connie 02/04/07
  54.   Israel must annex Judea 18:52  |  AV 02/04/07
  55.   JOHN 18:59  |  Connie 02/04/07
  56.   Labhras on expansionism 19:06  |  ballistic 02/04/07
  57.   #46 Chachmeister 19:31  |  Labhras 02/04/07
  58.   Palestines for Philistine 19:34  |  ScotGuy 02/04/07
  59.   Ivo: Prague Springs Forward 19:36  |  Ronnie Wolman 02/04/07
  60.   Saudi Plan BAD and Fatah ALSO Terrorists 20:07  |  Ben 02/04/07
  61.   David Scheinmann #22: try sunday school - 20:22  |  Ivo 02/04/07
  62.   Change among our neighbors... 20:27  |  Webster 02/04/07
  63.   Danite- My answer 20:27  |  GABE1 02/04/07
  64.   Ronnie #54 20:35  |  Ivo 02/04/07
  65.   HAG SAMEACH! 20:39  |  KUTW 02/04/07
  66.   4. John: It`s time Israel changes 20:42  |  KUTW 02/04/07
  67.   Question for Paul Harris # 48 21:14  |  Clickfool 02/04/07
  68.   Tosefta 45 interesting Tosefta 51 spot on 21:16  |  Michael 02/04/07
  69.   Time for the Arab countries to recognise Israel 21:17  |  Briton 02/04/07
  70.   #56 FAKE BALLISTIC. 21:28  |  Labhras 02/04/07
  71.   Hey Labhras; FAKE BALLISTIC at #56 21:32  |  ballistic 02/04/07
  72.   22. David Scheinmann: the enslavers 21:33  |  KUTW 02/04/0