PM to settler council: We will have to make concessions

Lets not get too excited about propects for peace. While it is disheartening to hear Olmert claim that he has "no choice," security and common sense must prevail in the end.

Concessions? Good Lord, what twisted thinking. Would anyone in their right mind call being robbed of their possessions and the return of such goods as concessions? What doublespeak. Israelis are something else. They are lucky the Security Council isn't taking them in chains to the Hague for their atrocious crimes. Dutch

For you, "sharing" means ethnically cleansing Jews from OUR land. We won't allow that. YOU, on the other hand, WILL be if you don't stop trying. Tens of thousands of you have left since your failed jihad of 2000, and the more you try to "share" your jihad, the worse it gets for you. That won't change. There won't be a state of "Palestine" here in Israel- EVER. You'll just have ot do that in your own land of Jordan.

....PM to settler council: We will have to make concessions .... If you say something similar times and times again, for hundreds of times without any real action, instead of make people believe in you, people would take it as an INSULT. And it will backfire VERY HARD and DEADLY upon you.

Again the cowardly corrupt Olmert preaches of giving concessaions.When will the arabs give concessions.?When will the arabs accept that Israel is a country.?When will the arabs stop terrorism.?When will the arabs cease the firing of kassam rockets daily,?When will the arabs begin talking peace.? Yet the idiot olmert wants to give concessions.

I WONDER WHAT THE ABORIGINIES IN AUSTRALIA THINK OF YOUR COMMENT?WHAT DO THINK THIER RESPONCE WOULD BE.

Just exactly when do the palestinians start putting their concessions on the table. It is either peaceful coexistence with Israel or NO PEACE TALKS. It is either recognition of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state or no peace talks. Any other conditions are BS...and no prisoner releases till shalit free

And what do u think is the appropriate atonement for Palis for what they have done to the Jews? Not only r the Palis not blameless but they r the creators of the abolition of the best intentions of Jewry towards them. U may not believe it , but as proud u seem of ur name Jews r prouder of they did in Israel and what they intended to do for the Palis, had not the Palis misconscrued every Jewish intent or policy. Have u ever handled misinformed conceited fools? Try it; see how far it gets u.

What makes u think that u know what God wants? Did he speak to u lately? Have the Spanish people suffered immensely as a result of destroying all prior people and cultures of S. America? In a court is there not a claim and a counterclaim? If so what makes u think that the Palis r right except that they managed to state their complaint in terms u sympathize with? Juvenile nonsense is nonsense nontheless

There is no sane way to share the land and both have rights and self determination except for a 1 or 2 state solution. There is no ifs or buts about it. Palestinians carry Palestinian passports. Bethlehem or Rammallah will not be in Jordan or Israel. Millions of Pals will not just disapear. Israel will not be destroyed. Haifa and Akko will remain as Israeli cities. Israelis will not just disapear. There is no other way. This status quo will destroy both sides' future in every way not to mention in the international arena and di-stablizating the M.E. and feeding extremists. Get back in the box people and get real.

Annapolis conference must not reward the mideast violent extremists with a pal state ,

Did they actually think their state subsidised Jewish rhodesia paradise was going to go for ever??? They have the mental state of childtren.

but only if Israeli citizens and Palestinians both can see each other as people, just human , even as they see each other as enemies, and if we are all prepared to get off this eternal maneuvering and out-maneuvering in what is presumed to be a zero-sum game. Identity politics is no substitute for daily-living as divine service.

YES,ISRAEL MUST MAKE VERY PAINFUL CONCESSIONS...GIVE TO THE "pals" EVERYTHING EAST OF THE JORDAN RIVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A day or so ago, there were IDF bulldozers were plowing down Arab orchards near Bethlehem. There concessions expected of settlers are clear. They will have to stop destroying Arab orchards and leave it to the IDF. Do we not all understand that the Likud sent a message to the left, to Rabin? That if you get in the way of war, and the settlers, you will be exterminated for the good of the right? Does anyone expect Olmert to risk assassination for peace? Does anyone expect Olmert to actually stop the settlers and expunge the settlements? I don't. Perhaps I am wrong.

Why do you leave the middle "O" out of your name. It would better describe what you post.

"... from Jordan to the sea is a part of Eretz Israel and is intrinsically connected to the legacy and history of our people", says Mr Olmert. It may have been part of "Eretz Israel" (the "Land of Israel") in biblical days, but it has never been part of "Medinat Israel" (the "State of Israel") in the modern political sense. In 1947, the UN General Assembly, through Resolution 181, partitioned the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. A look at the partition map clearly shows the entire West Bank falling within the Arab state. The Jewish Agency, of which the Government of Israel is the legal successor, accepted this plan. Subsequent Jordanian and Israeli conquests of the area have not changed its legal status. It still belongs to an as-yet unrealised Palestinian Arab state. Mr Olmert may talk of its "every grain of soil" belonging to Israel, but there is not a grain of truth or legality to any Israeli claim of ownership.

As part of the concessions i hope the government evicts the illegal settlers of Tel Rumeida, whose warped interpretation of the Torah seems to justify their daily criminal actions toward the Palestinians. I think the 10 commandments on their walls must be written upside down and backward for they exhibit no understanding of right and wrong. I am ashamed to include them in the Jewish community.

Well, where else are they going to house all those refugees that Israel refuses to take back? After all, if Olmert is going to insist - as he surely will - at Annapolis that: "The refugees? We don't want them. YOU take them, sonny" then he needs to help Abbas to find a place to put them all. Those settlements would make a very handy start...... After all, isn't that what "compromise" is all about, or is Olmert's idea of "compromise this: We take all this land from you, and you take on all those people we don't want...

Of course Mr. Olmert is right people have to make concessions. Indeed, many Americans won't support Israel anymore in the absence of a Palestinian state. But what greed from the settlers--you would think they would have the dececy to offer a plan to Mr. Olmert themselves.

-Exellent post, I agree 120% !

Excellent post, food for thought. Regards.

"america forced israel to withdraw from gaza and it lost one of its major port cities the next day." The weather is terrible over here. Probably I am not supportive enough to the Zionist movement. How many percent of the Westbank should I demand for Israel to get, say, a ten degrees temperature rise?

It is written ..." The L-RD will roar from Zion , and utter His voice from Jerusalem ; The heavens and the earth will shake ; But the L-RD will be a shelter to His people , and the strength of the children of Israel "... Joel 3 : 16 . BEWARE THE PEOPLE AND NATIONS OF THE EARTH WHO THUMB THEIR NOSES AT G-D AND HIS WORD AND REBEL AGAINST HIM .

I'm not an Arab. However, I did enjoy your racially motivated, hate filled diatribe. Thanks for proving me correct in that ALL people of your ilk will be a past in the future state of Palestine. ALL those settlements will no longer exist, and they will be removed by Israelis. An "Ethnic Cleansing" as you called it by your own people. Enjoy your hate...

My sources in Brussels just told me that the European Commission will back Olmert in his plans to remove the settlers from the West-Bank. Europe has agreed to send as much as 30 cruise ships to the port of Haifa. In Haifa the settlers will be individually carried into the ships by the IDF and thereafter the ships will be heading to Alaska, as Russia has refused to take the settlers back. The settler problem will be solved accordingly.

If the Israelis really believed what is contained in the good book, you would not hear a peep out of them about nukes, this or that. Why worry if you all say God will fight your battle? Why the nail biting? Everbody is waiting to see what is up and I have an idea you know what is up which is why you are posting melodramatic nonsense. Sit back, relax, have tea. Regards.

"men like Einstein and Oppenheimer were Jewish, even Enrico`s Wife was Jewish and there is a Reason for that" what is it? Shalespear was British.. Mendel was Astrian (Catholic Monk, father of genetics) .. Picasso Spanish..Darwin, British....so was Keats and Yeats....George Washington was American, but from English ancestry, so was Lincoln I think...Columbus, Italian...Wagner, German...all of them Europeans, most Catholic...What are you saying? I'm seriously trying to understand your comment. "Allah will not stop The Entire Islamic World from Being Nuked off the Face of the Earth." No, they will still be around, just like the jews were liquidated in Europe (with much of the same rhetoric before incidently) and there still some schlepping around. If victory is mearly suriving, then the Muslim will win.

It is written ..."Thus said the L-RD : Cursed is the man who trusts in man who makes flesh his arm and departs from the ways of the L-RD . He shall be like a plant in the desert , Which does not sense the coming of good : It is set in the scorched places of the wilderness , In a barren land without inhabitant ."... Jeremiah 17 : 5-8 The comment .."We have to compromise".. is a lie from the pit of Hell . We do not have to give up an inch of the children of Israel's Land Inheritance . We are commanded to trust in G-D and His WORD , in Him alone are we to put our trust . Leftist secular humanistic trust in the vanity of man will bring a curse upon all .

Israeli authorities let the squatters in. They get them out. It is that simple.

Man in India Marries Dog As Atonement http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5izV6F9rbUeQsmLtQq06wgpVTmgCAD8SSPDG00 What do you think would be an appropriate atonement for what the Jews have been doing in Palestine for the last 60 years?

"Live From Occupied Palestine," show videos of settlers harassing Palestinian residents, school girls and teachers, and Israeli soldiers "Breaking the Silence." http://livefromoccupiedpalestine.blog.com/ Israel should be forced to make concessions. Enough of the despicable inhuman treatment of the Palestinian people that Israeli illegal settlers squat on! Condoned, and protected by the army Mr Olmert 'commands!' Video and media reports show time, and time again, the tormenting and harassment of Palestinian people, by settlers and IDF!

and it lost one of its major port cities the next day. i wonder what happens to those who force 200000 israelis from their homes?

Everyone is tired of sparing you people only to have you thrust your first in the air and proclaim victory. This is how you answer mercy, with arrogance? Next time Israel has to go in to Lebanon, no one will bother listening to Olmert. There will be nos topping at the river. Beirut will be destroyed and there is not a force on earth that can stop it. For that matter Damascus will be destroyed. So will Tehran, so will Mecca and Medina, two more places Arabs took from Jews. Allah will not save the Islamic World form our weapons, the day before they can seriously threaten us, Islam will vanish in a bright white flash and there will be nothing left of the Koran but Dust in the Stratosphere.

Of course you realize Mr. P.M. that so-called peace will release all aid you get after all it's peace. The other side will achieve air space and get all the most modern weapons money and oil can buy. But be true to fiction and make a one sided so called peace like the capitulation in Gaza and gift you got of kassam rockets continuing now in Sderot. Be afraid and Succumb to the rich outsiders after all they have money.

No, Arabs will not ethnically cleanse any more lands, and sure as hell not while idiots like you accuse their victims of racism. Arabs are Racists because they ethnically cleanse dozens of countries including well down in to Africa. This is the fact and this fact will end, because your savages have forced us, to destroy you. Your Desert Dwelling Culture of Ruination, Wife Beating and Slavery will end. Pack up your tents, the show is over, Mecca Will Burn!

How about Olmert standing firm for a U.S. concession or sacrifice for Pollard's release. Or is only Olmert supposed to make painful concession and sacrifice. Olmert, it is a dismantelment of Israel if you capitulate. If it was not for the limelight Israel would long ago have been dismantled by friend and foe alike. You are alone and must stand up and not capitulate.

I think men like Einstein and Oppenheimer were Jewish, even Enrico's Wife was Jewish and there is a Reason for that. The Arabs will keep pushing and when Push comes to Shove, Allah will not stop The Entire Islamic World from Being Nuked off the Face of the Earth.

Ah well, the false drama of this post sounds appropriate for any step forward... How "terrified" can one get of just a hint of peace... It's apparently unbearable to even contemplate something that has eluded us for so long...Like getting so accustined to purgatory, that one is fearful of even a hint of moving out...

Dear Olmert, go Concede Yourself. No one else is interested in dying for your "Peace" Prattle.

Why don't you just roll over and beg like a dog? When are you going to get a spine and tell the Arabs that they will get nothing at all until they finally fulfill their obligations? You are a gutless, lying, cheating worthless moron.

Do the Pals agree with those visions of yours?

Kamal, Politicians make statements like that all the time. They choose the words that will please the constituency they are speaking to at the time. Your very own Nasrallah says things like that to please his people. The Muslim leaders who proclaim the Caliphate from the Atlantic to the Pacific have nothing to back them up, not even a 2000-year-old book. Yet they keep proclaiming it, right? I don't understand how people can invoke the Koran as the ultimate authority and yet dismiss the Koran's predecessor and, in a way, what inspired it- the Bible and the Torah.

Rose, now you're just being stupid. You must be American, because you take property rights for granted and think that they are absolute and God-given. Well, people have their land confiscated all the time under much weaker claims than Israel's. In WWII millions of people had their property stolen, and, as hard as you might find it to believe, were actually killed- yes, killed!- just for being of a certain religion. In the case of Palestine, its government decided on land ownership. At various times, the League of Nations, Great Britain, and the UN controlled Palestine and made land decisions. "Palestinians...own the land and no one has the right to come and occupy it by force and claim that God gave it to him/her" Well, people do it all the time! Why don't you try giving the USA back to Native Americans? Or return the Jewish homes seized by Muslim countries when the Jews were kicked out of them post-1948? It doesn't take the "most extreme" Muslim to take someone's land away.

8% popularity means a referendum is needed at once, if not new elections, for whom does he represent but for the 8% if the polls are correct.

Rose, the biggest mistake the Palestinians made is they forgot to limit their greed. In the early 20th century Arabs came in large numbers to Palestine to find work, provided by the Jews. Then they decided to stay instead of moving to the Palestinian homeland- Jordan. After 1948, and even after 1967, large numbers of them continued to live on land belonging to Israel. It is this "favor" the Jews did them- let them stay, live, and bear children- that has caused the current crisis. Wouldn't it have been better if the Arabs were all kicked out of Israel? It sure would've reduced their suffering in the long run. (Let's ignore, for the moment, the suffering inflicted on them in other Arab countries which refuse to settle the Palestinian refugees). The biggest mistake the Jews made is that they started negotiating not from what was their due originally- Israel proper, West Bank, Gaza, and Jordan- but with the little that they have left right now.

No Arab leader nor any other country's leader in his right mind would surrender one inch of land if it was the other way around . Only the mostly secular leftist camp Israel leaders would contemplate one-sided surrender, one-sided peace i.e. real (estate) pieces for non-real peace i.e. continued battle to win and take it all. The beginning of the end i.e. is not real instead of is real if above succeeds. A house divided cannot stand.

"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told heads of the Yesha council on Tuesday that in efforts to make peace with the Palestinians, "we will be forced to make some concessions.""

Some zionist dream of not going like sheep to the slaughter. We must abandon Gaza, and we must accept a rain of rockets that are getting longer ranges and better aim. Now, we must accept Hama rockets in the rest of the country. We must accept to be attacked constantly. We must accept the sacrifices to rest in peace. We must die with nobility, with the moral high ground.

There is universal agreement, even in Arab world governments, that the Palestinian Arabs, having rejected the 1947 lines in 1947 (and also in 1967!), can not come back now and try to regain all their lost fortunes within the old partition plan at the expense of the Israelis, who did accept the UN plan. That's why the negotiations begin at the Armistice line, not because of any "mistake" by PA leaders. They had no leg to stand on under international law, especially since they never demanded a Gaza/W. Bank state during the 19 years these territories were in Arab hands! Wording of UNSC specifically enables Israel to keep lands beyond the Green Line that are required for secure borders. Keeping eastern Jerusalem, Latrun, Maale Adumin and the Etzion Bloc are consistent with that mandate. The Ariel bloc defends Israel's "wasp-waist". If PA and Hamas keep up their current extreme conduct, the rift valley along the Jordan will also have to stay Israeli. A PA state? One North Korea in enough!

To Esther: do you mean steadfast for giving up completely the W. Bank and E. Jerusalem, or steadfast in requiring Palis deeds that they are no longer at war with Israel? We should understand that the Palis are, in effect, giving up nothing, while Israel is compromising it's safety for the Arab world's double talk. Use the Strip for heavens sake as representative of the Palis mindset. The disengagement should tell it all, the Palis want Israel to disappear. Hez wants Israel to fade away into the M.E. sunset. Iran wants another Holocaust, lasting about 20 minutes (has targeted all of Israel with 20,000 rockets to date-10 nukes tomorrow). An Israeli presence in the territories will give it an advantage over Iran's nukes..dead Jews and dead Arabs. Perhaps the Iranians don't care though? The solution: give the Palis autonomy over their areas..secured by Israel. Let them rule themselves, with some limitations. All else is wishful thinking. Al Qaeda and the Jihadists won't respect any deal.

To Geneve (con't): If Israel, as some suggest, goes to a referendum, the settlers might be shocked to learn that a simple majority of Israeli's (not including Arabs), want to compromise for peace. And why not? No one wants continous warfare with the Arabs. But reality and Palis and other Arab deeds paint a different picture. Erekat says no to an Israel that is a Jewish state, as if anyone cares about his opinions. He has been belligerant with Hanan Ashrawi for decades (sided with Arafat on everything). Hamas claims it will take over the W.Bk when the IDF leaves. Hez is warning Israel about striking them (retaliation or no). Iran's nukes are about 2 years away, if they can muster up more centrifuges, IN SPIRE OF THE UNSC. They are tweaking the Jewish noses, in Israel and the US (laughed at the Jewish involvement at Columbia U.), calling it the den of Zionism. Israel seems never to learn anything. Olmert is being pressured by Condi and Bush into concessions, while Iran continues.

A central injustice of the "peace process" is that it froze Yesha settlement enterprises at Oslo, without obtaining real Arab reciprocation. Nothing. If the mythical Just-and-Lasting-Peace can really be obtained by land compromise in Judea, Samaria and Gaza allowing a PA state to be formed as part of a viable 2-state solution, fine. But so far, the PA, by foot-dragging, by reneging on their obligation to end terrorism and recognize Israel's right to exist as the state for the Jews (which allowed PLO leaders to end their Tunis exile), by demanding 100% of Jerusalem (East+West) and by the idiotic "right-of-return" - have gotten something for nothing at Yesha residents expense. This must stop. By all means, as Abbas demands, apply a fixed time limit to the negotiations, a year or so; if Abbas continues to block agreement with the current extremist demands on "return" and not recognizing Jewish Israel, END the process, and resume Yesha settlement full bore, annexing the current blocs.

....are rivers of beer, at least on the weekends here in Switzerland. Please, don't exaggerate.

if israel were to give some land, could israel have land around mt. sinai and vicinity in exchange to create a another jewish hibitation or state, while creating land (much disired by other world religions) for the palestinians?

by your logic Israel should be the longest established state in history! there was no expulsion, do destruction of the temple, no holocaust, progroms, etc....no, Warrior (where were you in WW2) people will not leave 'israel' alone and nothing will happen. If bad happens because we went against your god, what does it say about all the bad things that happened to the jews? Well deserved according to your ficticious god? Go worship your 'wailing' wall Warrior and think about what I said. PEACE

Sadly our politicians are going slowly bananas.To avoid more civil unrest in Israel, a referendum of all Israeli voters is needed. I fear that this is the first of many delicate conscessions of the upcoming "Bananopolis Summit".

tries his hand once again to bring disaster upon us. Now Hamas will be in Yehuda & Samaria. Just who is he kidding. We all know why he is once again playing with fire. Ask the police who picked up the cartons of files.

"I have no doubt that every grain of soil from Jordan to the sea is a part of Eretz Israel and is intrinsically connected to the legacy and history of our people." how come this kind of thing, these statements that are just as detrimental to the peace process as terrorist attacks, never make international press. Actually your historical home is the modern day west bank. If you want to build a national legacy on ridiculous evidence from a 2000 year old book, then simply trade with the Palestinians and put Israel in the west bank...only. Have fun in the hill country...losers

The first concession Olmert should make is to resign.Israel does not want a man under suspicion representing the country.This is like a nightmare :OLMERT MUST GO CONCESSION NUMBER ONE !!!!ELECTIONS NOW !!!!

The fact is that te property you are living on is the legal property of Palestinian individuals. Apart from property that Jews actually purchased legally from Palestinians, no sane person can agree to give up his/her property which he/she paid for and owned for hundreds of years to someone coming from another country (Russia, US, Ethiopia..or whatsoever) only because he/she claims that God had given it to him/her few thousand years ago. So yes, the red line is private property and property rights are to those who have paid for it and have papers to prove that... unfortunately in your case it is the Palestinians who own the land and no one has the right to come and occupy it by force and claim that God gave it to him/her. Not even the most extreme moslems would do that. Settlers should therefore go back to where they came from or settle in the vast land within th egreen line. Live and let others live...

LEAVE ISRAEL ALONE OR FACE THE LORDS WRATH!YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Olmert, be steadfast, for you have more than half the nation behind you.

and who's a happy little settler now?

...is that they started negotiating from the 1967 borders. Now they will end up with 45% of the West Bank in the form of cantons of populated areas separated by settlers and highways to settlements. Palestinians should have started with what was granted to them by the UN partition plan of 1947 - half of historic Palestine. This was a compromise of its own, given that jews were a mere small percentage of the population at that time. It is sad that the Palestinians had and still have to pay the price of the world's hate to the Jewish people. The Palestinians could have been the closest and most friendly to the Jews. Mr. Olmert: God gave you the land few thousand years ago so that you (the Jewish people) can be a good witness to Him among the nations, so that others would also come to Him. What you did in this land is a disgrace to God's name. You will never be able live in security unless you also give this security to the Palestinians. Remember that God also loves the Palestinians..

"I have no doubt that every grain of soil from Jordan to the sea is a part of Eretz Israel and is intrinsically connected to the legacy and history of our people." Well it is just what the Hamas is saying in reverse. -"I have no doubt that every grain of soil from Jordan to the sea is a part of Palestine and is intrinsically connected to the legacy and history of our people." Yet when the Hamas voices it it is terrorism speaking and when Olmert gets on his high horses nobody gives a fig. Now double standards or double standards, you tell me.

The PM couldn't have said anything different. The things that he didn't said are more important than the things that he had said. Olmert could have done better than talking about his deep feelings. He could have talked about the Red Lines.For the Red Lines are the property of the people; crossing them is touching the the Jewish Soul.There is no doubt that the PM shares every Jew and Israeli in this sacred feelings.But the question is; diplomacy is untrusted business. And there is no business in the Soul business. No one can tell the PM anything that the PM dosen't know.One can only be frank with the PM and just reminded him. Israel suffered a lot at the hands of today's Israeli Politicians. One can also reminded the PM that the voice of the people is eternal and it can't remain quite all the time. The massage is clear and the Jews everywhere wish him well for his honourable service for the eternal Jewish State.

I know my good thoughts of Sharon helped my mother last February to get up after hard stroke. As one do to other some day God give back. Peace with you

"I have no doubt that every grain of soil from Jordan to the sea is a part of Eretz Israel and is intrinsically connected to the legacy and history of our people." Suppose that Abbas announced his belief, just before this peace conference, that every grain of soil from the river to the sea is rightfully Palestinian. What an uproar there would be!

Looking forward to seeing all the extremist/racist pawns of apartheid [settlers/settlements] being a thing of the past.

He won't be making concessions on OURS.

ready to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people which they refuse to do at present time. Indeed, Olmert should not make any move what-so-ever towards the Palestinians until and unless they bring themselves to state verbally and in writing in Arabic, Hebrew and English that the Jewish state of Israel is indeed our nation-state.

"A Leader is born!" article from a professional appeaser Yoel Marcus of the "Haaretz" notwithstanding

where he was ...and ...where he is now ...38kg not in olam haze ...and not ...in olam abba !