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Peace Process

Wait is over, convergence to begin

Olmert says already clear there is no peace partner


By Ryan Jones
April 24, 2006

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said prior to his party's electoral victory last month that if after a "reasonable period of time" it became clear the Palestinian Arabs had ceased to be a partner for peace, Israel would take its destiny into its own hands.

At Sunday's Cabinet meeting, Olmert indicated that waiting period had already come to an end, after the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority last week publicly endorsed the slaughter of nine people in a Tel Aviv "suicide" bombing.

And so Olmert will now begin implementation of his mind-boggling plan to punish the "Palestinians" by unilaterally surrendering to them nearly all of what they had hoped to gain through negotiations.

Almost patting himself on the back, Olmert told his ministers of how his intended reaction to Islam's unrepentent efforts to eradicate the Jewish state had elicited accolades from the liberal international media.

Editorials in major newspapers from The New York Times to London's Guardian had praised "the Israeli position and essentially said it has been proven that Israel does not have a partner and that this will necessarily lead to unilateral Israeli steps," the prime minister was quoted as saying by The Jerusalem Post.

Senior diplomatic officials told the Post Olmert wants to get his "convergence" plan off the ground before the end of US President George W. Bush's second term, confident the current American administration will offer the same full backing it did for Ariel Sharon's Gaza "disengagement."

Olmert's plan to unilaterally draw what he believes will be Israel's final borders will see the Jewish state relinquish control over more than 90 percent of Judea and Samaria, possibly including parts of eastern Jerusalem.

Opponents of the plan, led by Likud Party chief Binyamin Netanyahu, warn the withdrawal will encourage an unprecedented level of anti-Jewish terrorism and regional Muslim aggression fueled by the perception that the Jews can be driven from their land through violence.

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