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del.icio.us Digg It!  new 6 comments on the situation By Yoel Marcus Tags: Israel, Ehud Olmert, politics 1.I almost fell off my chair when I saw the banner headline splashed across Haaretz's front page: "Olmert: Two states or Israel is done for." Israel is done for? I read this quote, taken from an exclusive Haaretz interview with the prime minister, in utter disbelief. Throughout 60 years of Israel's battle for existence, no prime minister has ever declared that Israel might be "done for." The closest anyone has ever come to that was the statement by Israel's greatest general, Moshe Dayan, on the second day of the Yom Kippur War, when he told a forum of news editors that "the destruction of the Third Temple is at hand." Some of the editors (among them Gershom Schocken) worried that Dayan's desperation might leak out at the news conference scheduled for that evening. They called prime minister Golda Meir and the event was canceled. In the end, the tables turned and the war paved the way for peace with Egypt. Conclusion: Don't scare the public. Israel is not done for, in any shape or form. 2.A two-year dispute between Likud MKs Silvan Shalom and Benjamin Netanyahu has been patched up in a bid to consolidate forces and get Likud back into power. The "sulha" did not take place in Annapolis, but at a Tel Aviv hotel, and the mediator was not Condoleezza Rice, but MK Reuven Rivlin, who has a knack for this sort of peacemaking. His greatest accomplishment was the compromise he devised in the spat between Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert. Olmert wanted the finance portfolio, but Sharon was only offering industry, trade and employment. Olmert threatened: "Give me finance or I'm out the door." At that point, Rivlin intervened and suggested that Sharon grant Olmert the title of deputy prime minister. Sharon, who didn't give a hoot about honorifics, agreed. Little did he know that he was anointing the next prime minister. 3.Olmert is less apocalyptic about his own personal future. With three criminal investigations and the last installment of the Winograd report still in front of him, he was full of himself in a recent interview with Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer. He bragged that all the Arab ministers shook his hand despite the fact that he gave up nothing at Annapolis (apart from agreeing to a clause in the joint declaration of principles that describes Israel as a terrorist state). Advertisement But the most interesting disclosure in the interview was his hint that he may be prime minister for the next five to 10 years. Whether he will bring peace, no one knows, but one thing is clear: He intends to break an unheard of record in Israel. No prime minister in this country has ever held the job nonstop for a whole decade. Maybe a peace treaty with Iran is also on his wish list. 4.The oddest political statement of the year must be this one by Defense Minister Ehud Barak. "Labor will remain in the government until its electoral victory is assured." According to that logic, it will stay put until it gives up the ghost. Labor, which dropped from 56 seats to 44, and now has 19, could end up like the defunct Independent Liberal party if it follows this clever strategy. The Independent Liberals, which joined every coalition, shrank from one election to the next, until they failed to reach the electoral threshold and disappeared from the map. 5.We haven't seen this yet: 40 MKs, including members of Kadima, signed a petition to oust Minister of Education Yuli Tamir. This might be a legitimate demand for the opposition, but when the minister of transportation, Shaul Mofaz, adds his signature, it runs the gamut from astounding to appalling. When a minister wants another minister fired, he doesn't join the opposition - he fights him (or, in this case, her) in the government. And if he did find Tamir's performance so upsetting, he could resign in protest himself. Tamir was right on the ball in her response: She doesn't demand that Mofaz quit every time there's a traffic accident. In a similar incident, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called on Olmert to resign for screwing up the Second Lebanon War. "Me? What about you?" he shot back, and she submissively backed down and continued to work for him. Under Ben-Gurion, Golda and Begin, no wayward minister would last a day after challenging the prime minister. 6.In today's era of billboard, newspaper and television advertising, Kibbutz Hahorshim's ad for their cemetery is pretty much par for the course: "Beit Olam - A Cemetery in a Whole New Spirit." "You choose everything: plot size, location, burial with or without a coffin, type of ceremony, eulogy, music, songs. For the peace of mind of the bereaved, burial in a beautifully tended leafy grove, a pleasant and inviting place for mourners. Special productions included, executed by our own staff. Cold drinks, flowers, pergolas for shade, amplifiers." In short, you could die of pleasure. Bookmark to del.icio.us Construction conflict Palestinians condemn Israel's plan to build new homes in disputed East Jerusalem. Nuclear freeze A new U.S. intelligence report maintains that Iran froze its nuclear program in 2003.   1.   Two states? or three 10:25  |  JW 04/12/07   2.   When Israel is done for... 10:34  |  Martha Hoelzermann 04/12/07   3.   Olmert!!! 13:11  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 04/12/07   4.   Shaking hands with ALL the Arab minsters .. 13:21  |  Akram Zekaria 04/12/07   5.   Thank You, Yoel Marcus 13:44  |  Johnny Weintraub 04/12/07   6.   More BS from Marcus - an unrepetent Osloist &Itanatkutist 14:18  |  Oiy va Voiy 04/12/07   7.   Very Amusing...still laughing...what would Haaretz do 14:20  |  Smadar 04/12/07   8.   7# Smadar. Not right. 14:44  |  Akram Zekaria 04/12/07   9.   5# John Weintraub. All Israel add its thanks to Yoel Marcus. 14:51  |  Akram Zekaria 04/12/07   10.   Marcus is right Olmert`s comment is a disgrace 14:58  |  Shalom Freedman 04/12/07   11.   Akram IDF 16:17  |  jacob 04/12/07   12.   a marvellous refreshing sarcasm 16:25  |  scallywag 04/12/07   13.   Marcus decries the Frankenstein he has created 17:18  |  Absolute Sweden 04/12/07   14.   Olmert has no future as PM 17:53  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 04/12/07   15.   11# Jacob. If you want to be fair ? 18:12  |  Akram Zekaria 04/12/07   16.   The next PM should be CLEVER, FIRM and BRAVE. 18:31  |  Vittorio 04/12/07   17.   Olmert is reading Koran and Hamas handbook 18:51  |  Trembling Palestinia 04/12/07   18.   Vittorio; quite right 18:52  |  Jacob 04/12/07   19.   Actually, the Israeli economy is bankrupt. It really is. 19:32  |  Don Camillo 04/12/07   20.   Olmert has a point 21:04  |  roberta 04/12/07   21.   Absolutely correct,, Akram #15 21:38  |  Polybios 04/12/07   22.   21# Polybios. You are talking about two things.. 22:52  |  Akram Zekaria 04/12/07

Today Online PM: Report on Iran nukes justifies tighter sanctions Responses: 261 Colleagues back Israeli Arab lecturer who threw out soldier Responses: 256 Rosner and Benn: Iran nuke study pulls military option off table Responses: 109 Editorial: Bring home the settlers east of the West Bank fence Responses: 106 Palestinians slam Israeli plan for new E. Jerusalem homes Responses: 85 More Headlines 02:02 Bush to make 1st official visit to Israel in January 23:52 Condoleezza Rice calls easing of pressure on Iran a 'big mistake' 01:08 Israel vows to press ahead with campaign against Gaza militants 02:30 Rightist Jewish organization told to reveal source of $7 million donations 21:37 Greek far-right historian on trial over allegedly anti-Jewish book 01:47 Court issues back-to-work orders to striking high school teachers 22:45 Social workers to close offices Wednesday in protest of attack 22:02 Pines-Paz: Ethiopians must be allowed a secular education 22:03 IDF major indicted for spying for Iran, Hamas seeks plea bargain 23:30 Palestinians slam Israeli move to build new homes in E. Jerusalem Previous Editions Select Day 04 dec 03 dec 02 dec 30 nov 29 nov 28 nov 27 nov 26 nov 25 nov 23 nov 22 nov 21 nov

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