Israeli PM Olmert is ready to give away the farm. With only a 3% approval rating in hand, he has offered to give away the strategic Golan Heights for a Syrian promise. "Olmert to Assad: Israel willing to withdraw from Golan Heights," from Ynet News:
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently relayed a secret message to Syrian President Bashar Assad saying Israel knew what the price of peace was and would be willing to pay it, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday.According to the report, Olmert told the Syrian leader Israel would return the Golan in exchange for a comprehensive peace agreement and the severing of Damascus’ alliance with Iran and terror groups in the region.
A senior official in Jerusalem was quoted by the newspaper as saying that Assad has yet to respond to Israel’s offer.
We get two interesting details from "Syria Continuing to Mobilize for War" by Hana Levi Julian in INN:
The prime minister told the Syrian president last month that Israel would be willing to withdraw from the Golan Heights if Syria were prepared to make peace, according to the Hebrew newspaper Yediot Aharonot. The Syrian ruler responded positively to the offer, the newspaper stated.
Firstly, the offer was made last month. Secondly, Assad responded positively. If those things are true, Assad is now behaving very curiously. If he did “respond positively,” then why did the Syrian Government issue an ultimatum earlier this week? Why is Syria massing troops and heavy equipment along the border? Why did Assad just last week call for “better cooperation between Tehran and Damascus”?
The answers are obvious. Syria has no intention of breaking ties with their main financier, Iran. Syria is a poor country and can in no way afford to let go of Iran’s petro-euros. Syria has no intention of regaining its lost pride by signing a piece of paper, as worthless as that paper may be. Syria needs to correct the wrongs of 1967. That can only be accomplished by spilling Jewish blood, and lots of it.
Syria has no intention of breaking ties with the terrorist organizations whose activities have put Syria front and center in the Middle-East. After all, without terror and without Iranian money and weapons, Syria is a poor man’s Somalia.
Olmert, for his part, is making a huge miscalculation. It can be argued that he is looking to expose Syria and put it in a situation in which it must refuse even a most generous offer. Even if this were to be true, you can’t deny the fact that the Olmert proposal is a blatant display of weakness. If Olmert was looking to make a stand, all he needed to say to Syria was “go for it.”
Olmert is playing his pair of aces like offsuit 2-7. He is bending over backwards to make it appear that a deal, at any cost, is in the works -- just to solidify his very shaky political position. Knowing full well that the Arab world views such chatter as weakness, he does not stop his insane outbursts for even a minute’s time.
The final round of the Labor Party primaries are days away. At that time we will know who will lead the call for new elections and the fall of the Olmert government. Olmert learned his lessons from the father of political manipulation, Ariel Sharon. Sharon managed the Gaza disengagement in order to turn the public focus from the many criminal investigations that were hanging over his head. Once the left wing, liberal MSM got wind of major appeasement on the horizon, all of Sharon’s alleged criminal activities were swept under the rug.
Olmert is attempting to do the same. He is trying to hypnotize the media and the public with a Syrian peace deal in order to cover up his alleged criminal activity and very weak political position. In Assad, he found the perfect vehicle.
Olmert shouldn’t offer the Golan, and Assad won’t accept. The fate of many innocent civilians hangs in the balance of a very dangerous political game. This is the worst time for a man like Olmert to be at the helm. But the again, any time would be a bad time.
Crossposted from The American Israeli Patriot.
It looks like Israel is in the same situation as it was right before the Six Day War. Back then Israel had bold and decisive leadership and hit its enemies before they were ready to strike Israel. Olmert is indeed the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.
My guess is that the Syrian troop movements are designed to bring about an Israeli pre-emptive attack in the style of 1967. Syria would be in a can't lose situation-regardless of outcome Israel will be branded the aggressor (as usual), bringing forth more jihadist crazies and maybe other wonderful things (like nations breaking off relations with Israel). Plus the whole ummah would probably rally around Syria. And the Syrians might be thinking this could finally be the time where they actually beat Israel in war thanks to the mess Israel's politicians have been making under the Olmert mis-administration. Unfortunately, we're in for an interesting summer.
Im surprised this guy is in office still or even alive. What does it take in Israel to remove someone who is a tratior?
someone said it before me, but , tic toc tic toc
Hopefully something will happen soon. Hezzie is geared up for round 2.
Does anyone know Israeli politics enough to know what it would take to get Olmert removed from office besides waiting for the next election?
Didn't Israel annex the Golan Heights in 1982, following a statement by Hafez al Assad that Syria would never recognize Israel? Why are they even considering this?
..I smell Rice...
According to someone I know from an other website, you can see the Syrian tanks mass near the border with Israel even when you are quite a couple of miles from the Golan heights. I don't know what to think of it, but I guess we won't have to wait a long time to know what is going on.
Debka view..june 6
..."During the summer months, the Golan can expect to be targeted by “Golan Liberation Fronts” fashioned in Damascus out of Syrian and Palestinian “resistance fighters” (terrorists). They will find succor and sanctuary in the Druze villages of the territory for harassing Israeli civilian locations, military positions and roads.
This will go on until Israel is goaded into striking back against targets inside Syria. At that point, Damascus will fire up Hizballah for action against Israel from the Lebanese border, just as it activates the Palestinians in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. The Syrian army will meanwhile stand ready for the final confrontation with Israel.
The Assad regime is getting away with this low-intensity combat tactic for waging war through proxies on Israel, the Lebanese government and the Palestinian Authority headed by the Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, with little risk to itself. No one is raising a finger to scotch this war of attrition, even though it is building up step by step to the next full-scale Middle East conflict."...
Olmert is bending over, pants at the ankle, and gleefully chanting....come here big boy...
Syria has two models for getting the Golan back. Egypt and a Peace agreement or Gaza and armd struggle.
Thay are going with armd strugle.
Published: 06/05/07, 11:31 PM
The War's Upon Us
by Cale Hahn
"We have come to the end of the road.
"We hoped for peace, but no good has come. A time of healing, but there was only terror." (Yirmiyahu 8:15)
We have come to the end of the road. No more initiatives. No more recycling under different names the same failed formula for Middle East peace. The end of the road is conflagration, not coexistence.
The peace process is dead. The time of wars has begun. Israel has been sufficiently weakened for the Muslim world to once again attempt annihilation of the Jewish state. The facade of Muslim desires for peace is lowered, and behind the curtain looms a violent and murderous religion that brooks no opposition.
The peace process is dead. The time of wars has begun.
Islamic peace is: no god on earth but Allah. Islamic honor may only be restored by the destruction of the Jewish nation. Hence, their nakba is the "catastrophe" of Israel's birth."
continued...
"..the Muslims will soon attack. Israel is led by a coalition of political hacks who exhibit colossal incompetence and cinematic buffoonery. They possess no will to fight beyond a staged photo op. They are hollow men, empty shells without convictions and without courage beyond self-preservation.
As Ehud Olmert confessed, "We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies."
In previous wars, Israel was armed with superior US weapons systems, while the Muslim armies fielded inferior Soviet-bloc material. Though significantly outnumbered, Israel possessed enough of a qualitative advantage to overcome significant quantitative disparities.
Not so anymore. The Muslim nations are armed with the latest Western weapons platforms and, for the first time, possess not only numerical superiority, but qualitative parity with Israel in many areas. Under the auspices of enlisting Muslim support in participating in its "War on Terror," the US has armed Israel's enemies with its latest weapons systems. Examples include Harpoon anti-ship missiles, F-16 fighters, Apache helicopters, Abrams main battle tanks, JDAM bombs, AWACS radar planes and Avenger Air Defense Systems."..
..cont...
"Along with Western weapons, the Muslim armies possess advanced Russian, Chinese, Iranian and North Korean rockets. These will target Israel from the Golan to Eilat, employing the successful strategies garnered from the Second Lebanon War. Utilization of chemical, biological or nuclear munitions cannot be ruled out.
The most likely casus belli is an Iranian terror proxy launching attacks against Israel's borders, forcing Israel to respond in kind. The situation will quickly deteriorate to include rocketing from Syria, Lebanon, Hizbullah, Iran, Gaza and other Palestinian enclaves. These attacks will dwarf the Second Lebanon War in terms of intensity and accuracy.
The Muslim nations will then follow the rocket blitz with conventional forces to rid the Jews from Palestine. Dar-Al-Islaam, at last.
Indeed, this is precisely the reason the US has restrained Israel from responding to the rocket barrages on its southern border. The US is deeply concerned an Israeli invasion of Gaza will trigger a regional war or possibly World War III."
cont.
"Knock one domino down and it is connected by a tripwire to others, which will blow from Gaza to Afghanistan in a quick succession of cataclysmic explosions. Islamic war planners deliberately engineered the structure as such.
America is feverishly working to keep this from happening. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack cautioned, "We've urged them [Israel] to consider the consequences of defending themselves."
But global war is precisely the goal of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It is the prerequisite for the Islamic Messiah (the Mahdi) coming upon the world stage to lead the Islamic ummah ("nation") to global victory. Ahmadinejad believes he is the one chosen to usher the Mahdi's coming.
The whole of the Middle East is a mountain of munitions atop a rumbling, ash-belching volcano. Late summer or fall appears to be the intended point of detonation. When it erupts, it will blow the US from the Middle East and propel Israel to the brink of destruction."
cont.
"These are heady days for the ummah. They are drunk on the power their oil wealth brings. They sense a moment of historic tectonic shift is soon to occur, an imminent glorious triumph over the infidel.
Iran is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons and is restoring Islamic honor by standing up to America. Every Muslim nation is undertaking a massive armament campaign, ironically provided in large measure by America. The US fatally misidentified their enemy as terrorism, when in actuality the enemy is Islam, from which terror springs.
The Muslim nations haven't made the same mistake. They know America's veneration of its economy, and they intend to bring it down in a ruinous, smoldering heap. They intend to drive the US from the region and shut the oil taps to its markets. The OPEC oil embargo of the 1970s is returning, only this time it will be utilized to a much greater effect, intended to destroy the US economy.
America should prepare for numerous terror attacks using conventional and non-conventional munitions. A Department of Homeland Security agent said Al-Qaeda has several South American training camps to instruct terrorists in Spanish and the Hispanic culture and infiltrate them across the US-Mexico border as illegal immigrants. He stated there are several thousands of terrorists who have successfully infiltrated the US and who are awaiting orders to strike.
The coming conflagration in the Middle East may be the trigger to activate these cells; almost certainly, should a shooting war develop between America and either Syria or Iran.
Since the Rabin-Arafat handshake fourteen years ago, 2,000 Israelis have been killed, 14,000 wounded and unnumbered hundreds of thousands psychologically scarred. Israel was willing to pay the price for peace. Time and again, Israel gave faith. Time and again, faith was violated. Time and again, Israel hoped. Time and again, Israel was targeted.
Israel will learn its lessons. After the war, all of Jerusalem will be free from Islamic domination. No area will be off-limits to Jewish worship."..
..apologies for the serial posting..thought the piece was poignant..
sorry..linky
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/7174
Ruebacca:
Syria has two models for getting the Golan back. Egypt and a Peace agreement or Gaza and armd struggle.
I think not. I think Syria has higher stakes than just the Golan Heights. Syria must have rearmed Hezbollah by now.
You did not mention the fact that Olmert got bushes approval for this deal BEFORE he made the informal diplomatic contacts with Syria -- bush of course GAVE THE GREEN LIGHT.
So, the same bush who demands Reid re-introduce the immigration and is hell-bent on distroying the United Sates; is the same bush who is also hell-bent on destroying Israel.
The iranian ape has threatened to destroy the American people and Israel with nukes; but if bush gets his way, there won't be either of these entities in existance for iran to nuke.
bush is a more immediate threat to Isreal and to the United States than is Iran unfortunately; the latter seeking to kill us all for allah, the former seeking to destroy us in on the alter of global-elitism.
Ohlmert is a disgrace who should resign. My hunch is that he knows Assad won't take the offer. I'd like Ohlmert to resign (I think he is a disgrace for staying on) but I don't know that the offer was a bad idea.
I don't know what Assad is planning. You would have thought that if he wanted war he would have done so last July when things broke out in Lebanon. My guess is he wants to get more arms into the West Bank before starting a war with Israel. And get more and better arms to Gaza.
I think the Israelis may have some tricks up their sleeves to. Its possible that the trophee system on the tanks is operational. That may neutralize the antitank weapons Hezbollah used effectively. And, one has to consider that Hezbollah fought from very high ground in Lebanon, advantages that may not be available to Assad in his battles with the Israelis.
And, one success that the Israelis did was getting into the bunkers and seeing their configuration. This will give the Israelis a better idea of how to attach them. The Vyper robots may be good in identifying the bunkers.
Syria has there own agenda!-"PEACE! of the 3rd kind!"