More Letters on Roger Cohen's "Tough Love"

This time in the International Herald Tribune in addition to the ones I posted from the NYTimes:-

Olmert's change of heart

Roger Cohen's analysis is naïve ("Olmert to Obama: Think again," Globalist, Dec. 1). Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel talks of peace, of his past mistakes, of the need for Israel to make major concessions, but he has done virtually nothing in the past two years to advance the cause.

Instead, he has overseen the expansion of settlements on both sides of the wall and done almost nothing to uproot the illegal outposts and their occupants, continuing instead to see to it that they are provided with military security, electricity and water.

Cohen writes that Olmert's proclaimed conversion "is a measure of how the political ground has shifted in Israel ahead of elections early next year." There has been no such shift. Polls suggest that Israelis are set to return to power former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud Party. Both Netanyahu and his party outright reject the significant territorial concessions Olmert allegedly supports.

Finally, Cohen quotes Olmert as saying "I'd like to know if there's a serious person in the State of Israel who believes that we can make peace with the Syrians without, in the end, giving up the Golan Heights" and recommends that this declaration be posted on Hillary Clinton's State Department office wall. But I'd like to know if there is a serious person in Israel who is certain that giving up the Golan Heights will bring peace with Syria or, indeed, if returning to the 1967 borders will bring peace with the Palestinians.

And, still, as every sufficiently-aged leftist in Israel has insisted for the past 40 years, the concessions Olmert proposes must be tried, regardless of whether or not he is serious about them. They might - just might - bring something reminiscent of real peace.

Bill Freedman, Haifa, Israel


Roger Cohen makes the mistake of identifying Israel's disgraced outgoing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, with Israeli policy.

Even before corruption scandals toppled Olmert, his approval rating was very low.

Olmert adopted positions of the extreme left and refused to address the consequences of ceding territory to an adversary that will use its land as a staging ground for attacking Israel.

Olmert ignores the implications of the thousands of attacks launched by the Palestinians against Israel from Gaza after Israel withdrew all settlements and military bases from that territory.

Olmert ignores the fact that any Israeli withdrawal from the Golan will threaten the Galilee.

Olmert ignores the fact that any Israeli withdrawal from Samaria will threaten Israel's coastal plain, including Israel's only international airport.

In short, Olmert has been discredited.

David Bedein, Jerusalem