Posted by
Cary Wesberry on Sunday, July 13, 2008 11:51:49 PM
French president Nicolas Sarkozy organized a jovial photo-op with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas to launch his Mediterranean union debut in Paris Sunday, July 13, attended by 40 leaders.
The first sour note came from Syrian president Bashar Assad, who was reinstated by Sarkozy’s invitation on the international stage. He and foreign minister Walid Mualem walked out as Olmert entered to the hall to deliver a speech. Earlier, Assad had his security men jostle Israel correspondents and TV cameras out of his way as he swept past. And he firmly rejected Sarkozy’s effort to arrange a meeting with the Israeli prime minister and announced that peace with Israel could take another two years.
This reply followed Olmert’s optimistic statement to reporters: “We have never been as close to an accord as we are today.”
Abbas and Sarkozy beamed their approval of Olmert’s statement and co-chairman Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak called on Israel and the Palestinians to work harder for a peace deal to pave the way for a Palestinian state.
Behind the bonhomie, DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources report that Abbas’ Fatah and its rival, the rejectionist Palestinian Hamas, have never been so close to a peace accord as they are today, largely due to the efforts of Mubarak himself. Success in this effort would write finis to the US-sponsored Palestinian peace track with Israel.
This is the real purpose of the lengthy talks the Hamas delegations from Gaza and Damascus have been holding in Cairo. According to our sources, the rival factions have covered considerable ground:
1. Hamas has agreed to relinquish its rule of the Gaza Strip and accept a government manned by nonpartisan technocrats.
2. Parliamentary and presidential elections will be held in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the date subject to the Hamas proviso that it is admitted to the Palestinian Liberation Organization leadership under a major structural reform.
3. Hamas and Fatah have agreed to Egyptian military forces’ deployment in the Gaza Strip to organize and train Palestinian security and intelligence bodies.
Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah, Hamas and Egypt agreed to leave Israel out in the cold and present the Palestinian reunion as a fait accompli. They reckoned that Israel would swallow the deal if captive Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit were freed. In any case, the prime minister Olmert is not expected to survive the corruption scandals gathering over his head.
The Palestinians groups and Cairo are moving forward as though George W. Bush, whose two-state solution was one of the high points of his international policy, had already left the White House.
Perfect! Now Egypt gets to invade Israel as well as the Palestinians. This is truly the most nonsensical undertaking Ehud Olmert of Israel has committed himself to during his tenure as Prime Minister. Bashir Assad however did not appear to be as jovial as the rest of the merry band of politicians and diplomats in Paris. For Syria, peace with Israel will apparently take a lot longer than Olmert expected. Who could have seen that coming?
All this insanity by Israel was of course engaged in without U.S. support or approval from the White House. The report above suggests this entire spectacle took place as if President Bush "had already left the White House". Since Olmert allowing Hezbollah to conquer Lebanon while refusing U.S. support to destroy the terror group in addition to his peace talks with Syria, the Israeli government has fallen out of favor with the Bush Administration. This is all well and good as far as I'm concerned. I do not want my country to have any part of negotiations with our Islamic fascist enemies. If Olmert wants to take Israel down the road of further appeasement of terrorists, he can do it without the United States.
Personally, I'm still in favor of the United States supporting an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear weapons facilities. However, until the Israeli government decides to come to its senses regarding other issues that is about all the support I want to give them at this point. The Israeli government lead by Olmert chooses to embrace madness over reason. Again, they can do that without involving my country. I very much support Israel as a nation; I won't support their government's continued attempts at suicide.