Intel chiefs to present cabinet with grim scenarios for 2008

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Last Thursday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert heard assessments on the Middle East from historian Bernard Lewis. The 93-year-old Mideast expert, who is wrapping up a three-month stay in Israel, was invited to a meeting with Olmert by Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel, a history teacher by profession.

Besides Olmert, Lewis had meetings in recent weeks with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and MI chief Amos Yadlin.

In contrast to what the ministers will hear from the intelligence chiefs, Lewis opened his conversation with Olmert on a relatively optimistic note, saying that several Middle Eastern countries are in the process of going through the "Sadat syndrome."

"Like the former Egyptian president, there are several states that recognize that the major threat is not Israel, but rather Iran and radical Islam," Lewis told Olmert. "I recognize this in Saudi Arabia, in Egypt and in the Gulf states."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/962239.html