Subscribe to Print Edition | Mon., November 17, 2008 Cheshvan 19, 5769 | | Israel Time: 01:01 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate GA 2008 Travel Week's End Anglo File
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, U.S. President George W. Bush and Israeli PM Ehud Olmert in Annapolis (Avi Ohayon / GPO)
Last update - 18:05 29/11/2007
Olmert to Haaretz: Two-state solution, or Israel is done for
By Aluf Benn, David Landau, Barak Ravid and Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz Correspondents and AP
Tags: Ehud Olmert, Annapolis summit 

WASHINGTON - "If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories), then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Haaretz Wednesday, the day the Annapolis conference ended in an agreement to try to reach a Mideast peace settlement by the end of 2008.

"The Jewish organizations, which were our power base in America, will be the first to come out against us," Olmert said, "because they will say they cannot support a state that does not support democracy and equal voting rights for all its residents."

Olmert pointed out that he had said similar things in an interview he gave four years ago, when he was deputy prime minister under Ariel Sharon, in which he revealed for the first time his proposal for a withdrawal from most of the occupied territories.
Advertisement
"Since then, I have systematically repeated those positions," he said, adding that people "will say I'm having problems and that's why I'm trying to do [a peace process], but the facts must be dealt with justly."

Olmert said the Annapolis conference "met more than we could have defined as the Israeli expectations, but that will not absolve us of the difficulties there will be in the negotiations, which will be difficult, complex, and will require a very great deal of patience and sophistication."

According to Olmert, "we now have a partner," in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "He is a weak partner, who is not capable, and, as Tony Blair says, has yet to formulate the tools and may not manage to do so. But it is my job to do everything so that he receives the tools, and to reach an understanding on the guidelines for an agreement. Annapolis is not a historic turning point, but it is a point that can be of assistance."

The prime minister said that Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni would continue to head up the Israeli negotiating team.

"There will also be people acting on my behalf, who will have a very significant role in this process, and the ones ultimately who will be in charge of this matter will be the leaders on both sides. That is why we announced that we will continue to meet regularly."

General James Jones, who was NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe until 2006, has been appointed the U.S.'s new security coordinator in the territories. According to a senior diplomatic source, Jones will determine whether Israel and the Palestinians have met their commitments in accordance with the "road map" plan, and will draw up security plans for transfering responsibility for additional Palestinian cities from the Israel Defense Forces to Abbas' forces.

On Wednesday, Olmert and Abbas met again separately with President George W. Bush, and later joined him, along with their chief negotiators, Livni and Ahmed Qurei, for a brief ceremony in the White House Rose Garden to inaugurate the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

"One thing I have assured both gentlemen is that the United States will be actively engaged in the process," Bush said. "We will use our power to help you as you come up with the necessary decisions to lay out a Palestinian state that will live side-by-side in peace with Israel." "Yesterday was an important day, and it was a hopeful beginning," Bush said with the leaders at his side. "No matter how important yesterday was, it's not nearly as important as tomorrow and the days beyond. I appreciate the commitment of these leaders, working hard to achieve peace. I wouldn't be standing here if I didn't believe that peace was possible, and they wouldn't be here either if they didn't think peace was possible." Unlike their three-way handshake on Tuesday, the leaders did not shake hands in the Rose Garden.

Olmert also met Wednesday with China's foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, and spoke by phone with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He also briefed the cabinet members by phone.

Olmert departed the U.S. Wednesday night and will be arriving in Israel Thursday afternoon, in time for the Knesset's special session marking the 60th anniversary of the UN partition plan that called for the formation of a Jewish homeland.

Irangate

Olmert's private conversation with Bush Wednesday centered on blocking the Iranian nuclear threat. Olmert told reporters Wednesday that "there is nowhere I encounter greater understanding for Israel's existential issues than in the Oval Office."

At a meeting earlier this week in Washington, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov informed Defense Minister Ehud Barak that Russia has decided to supply the nuclear fuel rods for Iran's Bushehr power plant.

The fuel will be sent to Iran in special packaging, in keeping with the instruction of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Lavrov told Barak, adding that "it is not so simple to open these packages without it being discovered."

Lavrov's announcement contradicts Russian President Vladimir Putin's promise, during his meeting with Olmert several weeks ago, not to supply the fuel for the reactor in Bushehr.

Related articles:
  • THE ANNAPOLIS CONFERENCE
  • Israel, PA agree to strive for deal by end of 2008
  • Bush: Annapolis is a chance to 'redouble' bid for 2-state solution
  • Without conferences, without linkage
  • The Rosner Annapolis reader
  • Ehud Olmert to Haaretz: Israel must espouse unilateral separation - withdrawal to lines of its own choosing.
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Taped launch
    IDF releases video of Gaza gunners firing rockets at Israel.
    GA, Jerusalem
    UJC General Assembly opens, organizers expect 'success.'
      1.   Get rid of Olmert or Israel is finished! 09:02  |  Avraham 29/11/07
      2.   What have I been preaching here day and night....???? 09:03  |  Swiss (Dino) 29/11/07
      3.   I`m learning 09:06  |  Doug McFarlan 29/11/07
      4.   Oseh Shalom B`Mromav 09:09  |  IsraFan 29/11/07
      5.   Haaretz, don`t mix subjects in the same article 09:11  |  S 29/11/07
      6.   Olmert 09:13  |  Steve 29/11/07
      7.   Olmert comments are correct and at the end 09:22  |  Khalil Ishabib 29/11/07
      8.   Am Palastien hi 09:35  |  SJ 29/11/07
      9.   SWISS get out and leave us alone GOODBYE 09:35  |  Israeli 29/11/07
      10.   Indeed, but WHAT two states? 09:38  |  Clickfool 29/11/07
      11.   Empty PR jokes, again 09:39  |  www.kibush.co.il 29/11/07
      12.   A Prime Minister threatening the destruction of his own country 09:40  |  Shalom Freedman 29/11/07
      13.   Dear Doug McFarlan 09:41  |  Judith, Haifa 29/11/07
      14.   McFarlan 09:43  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 29/11/07
      15.   The power of speech..from the tongue of an amateur 09:43  |  sptz 29/11/07
      16.   If This Is Really A First Step 09:45  |  Yaakov Sullivan 29/11/07
      17.   Israel is finished, period. 09:49  |  Chanalau, Tova 29/11/07
      18.   Two-state solution, or Israel is finished 09:50  |  fsilo 29/11/07
      19.   OLMERT IS ABSOLUTELY WRONG AND SHOULD RESIGN 09:56  |  *!* Gill Ottine *!* 29/11/07
      20.   Khalil Ishabib 10:03  |  Yosemite 29/11/07
      21.   it`s too bad olmert`s returning to a den of wolves 10:06  |  eric 29/11/07
      22.   Don`t tell everybody or they might believe you and work for it. 10:39  |  John 29/11/07
      23.   # 9 Israeli 10:40  |  Swiss (Dino) 29/11/07
      24.   ISRAEL IN NEED OF COURAGOUS LEADERS!!!!!!! 10:43  |  Jeremy 29/11/07
      25.   # 14 Margie in Tel Aviv 10:46  |  Swiss (Dino) 29/11/07
      26.   Olmert, go and join Avrumele Burg. 10:55  |  FO 29/11/07
      27.   Olmert..the words of a coward. 10:55  |  Leslie Udwin 29/11/07
      28.   2008: THE MOTHER OF ALL LIES 10:57  |  indrajaya 29/11/07
      29.   are we ... 10:57  |  Atilla Karagözoğlu 29/11/07
      30.   # 10 #19 # A FOOLISH CLICK : OLMERT IS WRONG 11:05  |  *(*LOU KNEE*)* 29/11/07
      31.   TRY GOD 11:11  |  . 29/11/07
      32.   And what, Jeremy, will these "mature, honest leaders" do? #24 11:12  |  Yaakov Sullivan 29/11/07
      33.   Hi Judeth 11:16  |  Doug McFarlan 29/11/07
      34.   #3 Doug, welcome 11:18  |  Outsider 29/11/07
      35.   This is no peace process 11:24  |  The Arab Hammer 29/11/07
      36.   ABBAS IS A WEAK PARTNER, SAYS OLMERT !! 11:38  |  Arab Citizen 29/11/07
      37.   #24 yes Jeremy and your answer is what? 11:45  |  superswede 29/11/07
      38.   Solution 11:45  |  Peacemaker 29/11/07
      39.   PM Olmert and his vision. 11:48  |  Vital 29/11/07
      40.   Two states in the land of Israel? 11:48  |  Yohan Dahal 29/11/07
      41.   Ben Gurion 11:53  |  Joseph 29/11/07
      42.   There is always seperation 11:53  |  Israeli 29/11/07
      43.   #3 Doug McFarlan, 2 state solution 12:05  |  HM 29/11/07
      44.   Olmert has finally lost it 12:09  |  Marco 29/11/07
      45.   One state solution or Israel is finished 12:12  |  Amy Taylor 29/11/07
      46.   To # 13 Judith in Haifa 12:17  |  Velvl Shmerlson 29/11/07
      47.   #11 kibush... 2 State solution 12:25  |  HM 29/11/07
      48.   Reports of Our Demise Have Been Greatly Exagerrated 12:37  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 29/11/07
      49.   Future Survival 12:41  |  Dr MI Barton MA. MBA 29/11/07
      50.   Avraham 12:41  |  Shaina 29/11/07
      51.   EVEN OLMERT HIMSELF DOESNT BELIEVE THAT 12:43  |  indrajaya 29/11/07
      52.   One or two? 12:44  |  The Other Alan 29/11/07
      53.   One State Solution for peace and security 12:49  |  Yohan Dahal 29/11/07
      54.   Olmert,just shut up,before you give all of Israel away 12:54  |  Don Saliman 29/11/07
      55.   Israel is finished if Olmert remains PM 12:58  |  Michael 29/11/07
      56.   #2 swiss dino 13:04  |  duncan 29/11/07
      57.   OLMERT IS SICK FOR MONEY 13:41  |  BOB KING THE ZIONIST 29/11/07
      58.   #43 HM hmmmmmm 13:18  |  Hastaroth 29/11/07
      59.   Israel needs to finish Olmert before his "Peace" finishes Israel 13:19  |  Genuine Tosefta 29/11/07
      60.   A question 13:22  |  Hastaroth 29/11/07
      61.   # 29 Atilla.. I was surprised to find 13:30  |  Lynn