Olmert's shelter

[Englander]

By Akiva Eldar

Ehud Olmert has apparently learned from Ariel Sharon that it is easier for a prime minister to maintain a hawkish policy if he has a minister or two to his left presenting dovish positions. This was Shimon Peres' primary role in the Sharon government. Olmert has fine-tuned the concept. He granted Amir Peretz the empty title of "defense minister" and turned him into a significant player to his left. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who often talks of peace and influences Olmert as much as forecasters affect the weather, has also done her part. The leaks that the prime minister is on the brink of taking Peretz's toy away from him and of putting Livni back in the Justice Ministry, have ensured that things will not go to their heads. Here are a few examples, which illustrate the phenomenon of a government steering rightward on left-wing crutches.

Under the cover of the sound of explosions in Gaza and Olmert's nice words to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the Kadima-Labor government is proceeding with a settlement strategy that explains why the minister of strategic affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, is so quiet. Construction of a police station in the area known as E1, between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem, is now nearing completion. Four floors have already been built and heavy equipment is energetically paving a highway to the new station. No other police facility has merited its own four-to-six lane highway. Dozens of settlements in the territories began in the same way. First came the rope, then the bucket. After the road come the houses.

Because of U.S. opposition, the plans to build a neighborhood of 3,500 housing units in the area and to use it to link Ma'aleh Adumim to Jerusalem will have to wait. But the new building and the expansive road ensure that this area will remain for the time being outside the Palestinians' area and will perpetuate the division of the West Bank from north to south (in addition to cutting off the Jordan Valley in the east, from the rest of the West Bank).

In order to remove any doubt as to who will be in charge, the government last February approved the inclusion of E1 within the route of the separation fence. At around the same time, the responsibility for the fence in the area surrounding Jerusalem was placed in the hands of the Jerusalem district police. This means that the new headquarters of the Judea and Samaria police district, which is in charge of the West Bank, lies in the capital district's jurisdiction. The explanation given at the time for the decision to move the headquarters eastward was that the current premises of the Judea and Samaria police district, in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood, lies within the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem district and this distortion must be corrected. Do you understand that, Peretz?

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Haaretz

[Violet_Crumble]

1. Olmert's such a bland copycat....

Let's hope Israel's next leader is one with initiative and a desire to end the conflict in a way that's fair to both Israelis and Palestinians...