Epstein Secrets

ed to go?” I told him and he willingly agreed to drive us there. As I began to get into his car, a cab driver pulled over and said, “I'll take them.” Olmert replied, “No, no, it’Il be my pleasure.” The cab driver pulled his car in front of Olmert’s, blocking it and shouting, “I don’t try to run Jerusalem,

or the weekend. It looked like we might be late for our appointment with the Prime Minister. Suddenly a car pulled up. It was the mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, whom I knew. He rolled down his window and shouted, “Alan, you’ll never get a cab on a Friday afternoon. Where do you need to go?” I told him and he

ief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, for breakfast. He had invited me to discuss with him a pending application of the Palestinian Authority to be recognized as a state by the International Criminal Court in order to bring charges against Israel for the war in Gaza and for building settlem

TA02720622 Palestinian moderation allowed the PLO's leadership to sign a deal. Sharon's stroke in early 2006 did not kill that plan, and indeed, Ehud Olmert ran and won on something like it when he succeeded Sharon as leader of Kadima. Olmert called it hitkansut -- translated as convergence, gathering,

stroke in early 2006 did not kill that plan, and indeed, Ehud Olmert ran and won on something like it when he succeeded Sharon as leader of Kadima. Olmert called it hitkansut -- translated as convergence, gathering, or rallying together. The idea was the same: pull back from isolated settlements and

rusted, diminishing even further the European Union's role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Second, such a move could only undermine Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, which view Hamas as an enemy to be defeated rather than as a genuine partner. Third, peace talks would themselves be impossible if Hamas were part

paper Ma'ariv that he regretted not having killed Arafat when Israeli forces invaded southern Lebanon in 1982. In 2003, then-Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that murder was an option for getting rid of Arafat. But is that any proof? When asked about this, Israeli officials say: "It has nothing to d

because the murder began in the Palestinian territories and ended in France. He then added the curious sentence that Suha Arafat wants to prevent the Palestinian Authority from obstructing the investigation. The Missing Piece of the Puzzle This is a charge that enrages Tawfik Tirawi, Arafat's former intelligence chie

/ BARAK / 115 Minister, I felt it was not my place to criticize Olmert publicly when Israeli troops were in action. Two days in, in fact, I told a television interviewer that the government had every right to respond and

. I doubted that even Arafat would have been ready to do so. But relations had only worsened, since his death in 2004, between the Fatah old guard in the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank and the Hamas overlords in Gaza. I doubted very much that Abu Mazen would want to get involved. I did send an aide to see him to ask

d the "sovereign cage" of a Palestinian state that Israel can contemplate (as Ahmad Khalidi and Saeb Erekat have categorized the generous Barak and Olmert proposals). What they have always wanted is "runaway" statehood and the total delegitimization of Israel, alongside an ongoing campaign to swamp Is

withdrawn all-together from Gaza, and allowed a Palestinian government to assume authority over 95 percent of West Bank residents. Israel has made the Palestinian Authority three concrete offers for Palestinian statehood over more than 90 percent of West Bank territory plus Gaza. Palestinians have made no even-remotely

/ BARAK / 115 Minister, I felt it was not my place to criticize Olmert publicly when Israeli troops were in action. Two days in, in fact, I told a television interviewer that the government had every right to respond and

. I doubted that even Arafat would have been ready to do so. But relations had only worsened, since his death in 2004, between the Fatah old guard in the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank and the Hamas overlords in Gaza. I doubted very much that Abu Mazen would want to get involved. I did send an aide to see him to ask

nese leaders brokered by Qatar. 21 May 2008 Israel and Syria announce holding indirect talks through Turkish mediation. 30 July 2008 Prime Minister Olmert announces he is not seeking re-election. 15 October 2008 Establishment of diplomatic relations between Syria and Lebanon. 16 December 2008 Last mee

sident made further US involvement in peace negotiations contingent upon Arafat’s removal from power, and the implementation of democratic reforms in the Palestinian Authority’s political structure. This was consist- ent with Prime Minister Sharon’s policies. At this time, parts of the Palestinian leadership either passively

ccords of December 2003 led by PLO official Yasser Abed Rabbo and former Israeli Minister Yossi Beilin. The stalemate in the process continued until Ehud Olmert’s election as Prime Minister in 2006. Through intense negotiations facilitated by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her team, the parties came

U.N. bid, if unsuccessful, could spell the end of the Palestinian Authority. There's been a flurry of last-minute pressure f

yyip Erdogan had begun to sour on Israel following Israel’s incursion into Gaza in late 2008. Erdogan was miffed that the then Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, who had visited him in Ankara HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_025002 --- PAGE BREAK --- ? only four days before the impending hostilities in Gaza, kept him in d

collapses, makes Israeli concessions or new flexibility in the West Bank impossible and puts paid to the entire "peace process." It brings Hamas into the Palestinian Authority government, ending a period of several years when Palestinian Security Forces have cooperated with the Israel Defense Forces against terrorism and ag

e open to commencing a negotiation as a means to escape international isolation, but that's all the more reason not to give it to him. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's 2008 talks with Syria (via Turkey) allowed Syria to escape the partial isolation the United States had imposed on it in that decade, with zero gain