Last Train to Negotiation City Pulling into Olmert-Bush Terminal!
May 24, 2006
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
The following analysis of what Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, has presented in his article, leaves little doubt that if the Palestinians don’t hop on board at the Olmert-Bush Terminal,
they will have little to say as to where the final borders will be placed when the wall is completed by 2008. I believe this train is headed for the fulfillment of some prophetic events of earth shaking magnitude, which are likely to begin at some point in time between 2008 and 2012.
Begin Haaretz Article
ANALYSIS / George Bush Wants the Convergence Plan Too
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
May 24, 2006
For Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, there were many good reasons to be satisfied with his first meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush.
In the press conference that followed their first round of talks, Bush warmly adopted Olmert’s initiatives for an extensive withdrawal in the West Bank, terming them “bold ideas” that “could be an important step” to peace.
The president also pledged that the United States would hasten to Israel’s defense in the event of an attack by Iran, and, no less important to Olmert, stressed the personal relationship between them.
Bush even mentioned the private talks the two were to hold in the residential wing of the White House, without the presence of aides, immediately after the press conference.
If we want to, Bush joked, we might even tell them what we talked about.
For his part, Olmert publicly declared his intention to make every effort to hold peace talks with the Palestinians, and even upgraded Abbas from chairman of the Palestinian Authority to its president.
The prime minister promised to meet with Abbas in the near future, and refrained from reiterating pre-Washington comments in which he dismissed the Palestinian leader as “very weak.”
Olmert’s comments were at first reminiscent of a promise by former prime minister Ehud Barak some seven years ago to leave no stone unturned on the road to peace.
But this time Olmert’s aides were quick to qualify that he was not placing any hope in peace negotiations with Abbas, and that this was ultimately breathing space in which to gird for a unilateral process.
It was clear from Bush and Olmert’s statements that the withdrawal would not determine permanent borders, which would only be set after a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Olmert used the phrase “secure borders,” and repeated his promise to append the settlement blocs to Israel. In a letter to Ariel Sharon two years ago, Bush recognized the reality of “existing major Israeli populations centers” in the territories.
In anticipation of the visit, Olmert, his cabinet and the White House had all lowered their respective expectations – effectively convincing the media that Bush’s support for the convergence plan would be lukewarm, and that Iran would be the central topic of the meeting.
These lowered expectations served as an agreeable backdrop for Bush’s supportive statements, fortified by Olmert’s allusion to the fact that Bush had been the first world leader to support former prime minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan.
The two men read the statements prepared by their assistants, but Olmert elaborated during the press conference that followed, saying that he hopes to complete the convergence within three to four years.
This begs the question of what must have gone through Bush’s mind, in light of the fact that he will no longer be president by then.
End Haaretz Article
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance underst anding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific,
and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
For more detailed information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. You may use material originated by this site.
However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.