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Olmert says 'hand of God' favours Israel in peace talks
AFP, January 4,
2008
JERUSALEM, Jan
4, 2008 (AFP) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the "hand of
God" had helped create an international climate that is
favourable to Israel in its peace negotiations with the
Palestinians, according to an interview published on Friday.
"If there's a
chance to reach an agreement in the presidential term of
George Bush, that's preferable," Olmert said in an interview
with the English-language Jerusalem Post published ahead of
Bush's landmark visit to the region next week.
"It's not
merely Bush's presidency. It's a concidence that is almost
'the hand of God:' that Bush is president of the United
States, that Nicolas Sarkozy is the president of France,
that Angela Merkel is the chancellor of Germany, that Gordon
Brown is the prime minister of England and that the special
envoy to the Middle East is Tony Blair."
"What possible
combination could be more comfortable for the state of
Israel? So why would I gamble on what might be?"
He said that
despite this favourable environment, Israel would have to
make concessions if it hoped to achieve peace with its
Palestinian neighbours.
"The world that
is friendly to Israel -- not the world comprised of fanatics
and extremists -- the world that really supports Israel,
when it speaks of the future, it speaks of Israel in terms
of the '67 borders. It speaks of division of Jerusalem. We
must remember this."
Olmert's
interview was published ahead of next week's landmark visit
to the region by Bush, the first one to Israel and the
Palestinian territories by a sitting US president in nine
years.
Bush aims to
advance final status negotiations that the Israeli premier
and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas relaunched at a US
conference hosted by the American president in late
November, after nearly a seven-year hiatus.
At the time
they both pledged to aim for a final agreement by the end of
2008, just weeks before Bush is to leave office.
"I don't know
if I will be able to meet the timetable and I never promised
that I would. I said that I hoped so but I don't know.
"But let me ask
you: If there's a chance to reach an agreement and to get
assistance to complete an agreement, what is better for us,
that it be done in the era of President Bush or that of
another president when we at the moment can't exactly know
who that president will be and what his positions will be?"
Olmert heaped
praise on Bush, saying "in all my years of public life,
since 1973, I don't recall that America was led by someone
as friendly since the days of president (Gerald) Ford" and
adding that "he doesn't apply pressure."
"I don't recall
another preisdent who systematically and consistently showed
the same level of commitment to Israel as George W. Bush,"
adding that "with him, I know for certain that he backs our
red lines" and that "he doesn't say a thing that he thinks
will make life harder for Israel."
Olmert
reiterated that "we will honour our obligations as set out
in the roadmap," the 2003 international roadmap peace
blueprint that called on Israel to halt settlement activity
and on the Palestinians to boost security.
But he
reiterated that Israel had no intention of giving up some of
the large settlement blocks in the occupied Palestinian
territory, notably the Maale Adumim settlement east of
Jerusalem -- one of West Bank's largest.
"Maale Adumim
is an indivisible part of Jerusalem and the State of Israel.
I don't think when they're talking about settlements they
are talking about Maale Adumim." |
