In an interview for columnists of the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, outgoing Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has said that Israel will have to withdraw from almost all the land it seized in 1967, adding that this should include parts of East Jerusalem as well as return of the Golan Heights to Syria. (Reported in the Guardian, 30 September 2008)
Olmert admits this dramatic statement is rare for an Israeli leader. He said: “I am not trying to justify retroactively what I did for 35 years. For a large part of those years I was unwilling to look at reality in all its depth.”
Olmert has the luxury, having resigned, of now being only caretaker prime minister, but his statements put pressure on his probable successor, Tzipi Livni.
The current reality that is being forced to the attention of Israel is that pressure from the Palestinian resistance is raising the issue of a single state for muslims, jews and christians, as originally envisaged by the PLO. To avoid this, Israel is faced with desperate measures towards a two-state solution.
Of course, such a retreat undermines the essence of zionism, but, whichever turn it takes, zionism’s doom awaits it.
> Break the siege Oppose the occupation – October 2008
> Palestine: Resistance victorious over its enemies – Lalkar May 2008
