Was Olmert's peace proposal a political maneuver?
Evidence introduced in the trial of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recalls his hurried peace proposal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2008, shedding a new light on the possible motives behind it.
In January 2011, the news media released sections from a memoir written by former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The publicized text — the book was never published — dealt with the advanced negotiations Olmert held with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, in series of secret tête-à-têtes that were held in Olmert’s Jerusalem home.
The year was 2008. Olmert was an unpopular prime minister after the Winograd Commission’s report pointed out his failures in the Second Lebanon War, and the police investigation in the Talansky affair and associated envelopes of money lent him the aura of someone involved in corruption. But behind closed doors, Olmert advanced a peace agreement with the Palestinians in a way that no previous Israeli prime minister had ever done. He was focused, he was adamant and he was determined to go the whole nine yards.
Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice describes in her 2011 memoir "No Higher Honor” how she almost fell off her chair when Olmert talked to her privately in his home about partitioning Jerusalem and sketched a coherent plan for her. She described how surprised she was when he said, “Tzipi Livni is a hard worker, and she has my complete confidence. … The problem is that the process with Abu Alaa [Ahmed Qurei, head of the Palestinian negotiating team] isn't going to get it done on time. Israel needs to get an agreement with the Palestinians before you leave office.” Olmert sent Rice to talk to Abbas, thus starting a covert negotiation behind Livni's back.
Segments of Olmert's book that were published by the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth in 2011 reveal part of his secret conversations with Abbas. Thus, for example, he describes the conversation that took place after the Palestinians asked Israel to release their tax monies that had been frozen: “‘How much money do you need?’ I asked President Mahmoud Abbas. ‘We need 50 million shekels [about $13 million],’ answered the chair of the Palestinian Authority. ‘According to our calculations, you need $100 million and we are willing to send you this sum immediately.’ Silence descended on the room.”
