Word: israelism
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...Ehud Olmert - whose government spent its final year in office negotiating indirectly with Syria and directly with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Lieberman rejected the Bush Administration's Annapolis peace initiative, under which Olmert and Abbas had talked about the parameters of a Palestinian state. And he insisted that Israel would never withdraw from the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967. "Whoever thinks that he will achieve something by way of concessions - no, he will only invite more pressure and more wars," Lieberman said. "If you want peace, prepare for war." (See pictures from Israel's recent...
Despite his hard-line inflammatory rhetoric, however, Lieberman may be a pragmatist. Unlike many on Israel's right - including Netanyahu - Lieberman supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a Ha'aretz interview after taking office, Lieberman said Israel should abide by the 2002 Roadmap, which calls for a Palestinian state. The Roadmap obliges the Palestinians to cease violence, dismantle the capabilities of terrorist organizations and reform their political institutions before any movement toward the creation of a Palestinian state. But it also obliges Israel to freeze settlement construction and dismantle all settlement outposts built since March...
...remains to be seen whether Lieberman is willing to accept a truly independent Palestinian state - Netanyahu has indicated that he won't, insisting, in the name of the Jewish state's security, that Israel control the air space and borders of such an entity and have veto power over its military and foreign policies. Netanyahu's track record, however, is more pragmatic than ideological. Despite his open loathing of Yasser Arafat, Netanyahu and his previous government signed a deal in 1998 with the late PLO leader for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of the West Bank, including...
...Still, Netanyahu is experienced enough to know that his success as a leader of Israel will depend substantially on his ability to manage the peace process - and to at least appear to be making progress. And that may make him more open to pursuing the Syria option...
...return if Syria is truly ready for a peace deal. Syrian President Assad, having established firm control of the often opaque regime he inherited from his late father Hafez al-Assad, appears to be willing to pick up where his father left off in seeking a deal with Israel. Assad was instrumental in starting indirect, Turkey-mediated talks with Israel despite initial opposition by the Bush Administration. In the past, two former Labor Prime Ministers, the late Yitzhak Rabin and Barak, had been ready to withdraw from almost all of the Golan Heights. Netanyahu himself may have been, too: during...