Word: olmert
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...domestic political damage to Israel's government may be more enduring. With every escalation of the current crisis, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plans to make a unilateral withdrawal from parts of the West Bank along the same lines that Israel quit Gaza last year look less realistic. Opinion polls show as much as half the population is now opposed to going ahead with the plan that had been the centerpiece of Olmert's election campaign...
...moment that seems likely. Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah says that the group would only release the Israeli solders as part of a negotiated prisoner exchange. But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is holding the Lebanese government accountable. Thus Lebanese are bracing for what one Beirut newspaper is calling Israel's signature strategy of collective punishment...
...escalation of Middle East tensions is also boosting the fortunes of hard-liners over moderates, at least for now. Jordan's Abdullah II last month nudged Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas toward starting peace talks, but now that appears off the table. Other moderates, including Egypt's Mubarak and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, also seem eclipsed. In contrast, it is Khaled Meshal, the militant leader of Hamas in exile, and Hassan Nasrallah, Hizballah's chief in Lebanon, both backed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran and Assad in Syria, who are driving current developments...
...missile strike at the Northern Israeli city of Haifa on Thursday in another move that risked severe Israeli retaliation. Such an escalation would only further reduce the already slim odds that Hizballah, Hamas and other militant groups are likely to release their captives unconditionally as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has demanded. So with the battle lines drawn, from Baghdad to Beirut, the summer in the Middle East may yet get a lot, lot hotter...
...Hizballah"- the current strong support could evaporate. Some opinion polls taken during the Gaza soldier kidnapping standoff, but before the Hizballah attack, had already shown that Israelis want the government to negotiate some sort of solution, releasing prisoners if need be, as it has done in the past. Olmert has vowed determination and perseverance, but he will also need flexibility and creativity. Otherwise he will learn , as his predecessors did, that getting into Lebanon is relatively easy. Getting out is the hard part...