He had been Mayor of Jerusalem and Prime Minister of Israel. He led the country into the last war in Lebanon where Israel had hoped to overrun the Hezbollah within three days.

But it turned out to be a long drawn out war with horrific killings and a reality that the mighty Israel could not defeat what had seemed a rag tag army. To worsen matters, Israel ’s primary goal of securing the release of two of its soldiers became a mirage.

The Israeli army withdrew from Lebanon in disgrace trailed by unprecedented international criticism for its bombing civilian targets leading to a huge waste of human lives.

After the withdrawal, peace negotiations produced what Israel had staked lots of lives; the release of the corpses of the two Israeli soldiers. 

It seems that the lesson of the invasion and the results of the post-invasion negotiations were not lost on Olmert.

Having resigned as Prime Minister with no need for political support or votes, Olmert stood before his fellow countrymen to tell them the truth. First, he says they have to reach agreements with their Palestinian neigbours.

This is of course a basic truth. While Israel had won all wars and most skirmishes with the Palestinians since 1948, it cannot defeat their spirit nor their demand for an homeland free of their powerful neigbour’s incursions or threats.

A second truth he told them is that they have to give up most of the Palestinian lands they have occupied for decades. It is clear that no people would give up their ancestral lands and accept to become refugees or internally displaced people.

So return of Palestinian lands is a key to peace. A third reality is that there must be an independent Palestinian state. The irony is that the Israelis for centuries hoped for an homeland.  But when they finally got it, they thought the best thing was to deny their neigbours an homeland.

A fourth truth he told them is that Israel alone cannot have Jerusalem. The Holy City can therefore not be the undivided capital of the Israeli State.

Jerusalem is an holy city to three main religions.  The Jews see it as the City of David where King Solomon built a footstool for God. 

What is left of that building is the Wailing Wall. To Christians, Jerusalem is the city Jesus entered in his eternal journey to being sacrificed for humanity and his resurrection. To Muslims, the City was where prophet Mohammed (SAW) left the human flesh and ascended to heaven.

So how can any one religion or people claim it. In any case those who championed Zionism and led Jews back to the Biblical homeland were mainly atheists; they were not Judaists, Christians or Muslims. There is also the reality that there are Palestinians and Arabs who are indigenous to Jerusalem.

Another truth is that Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem was Israel’s capital, and until the 1967 war, East Jerusalem was not only indigenous to Palestinian Arabs but was also firmly under their control. It was also internationally recognized.

In one word, Olmert told his people that they cannot steal and keep other peoples lands and hope to live in peace.  Perhaps one other truth Olmert should have told Israelis is that they cannot insist that exiled Palestinians cannot return to their homelands.  This was one of the points that truncated the Rabin-Arafat peace deal.

What Olmert has said is not new; it has been the reality for long but most Israelis have refused to accept it. What is significant therefore is the personality voicing these truths.

He has held the highest office in the land and his patriotism and commitment to the Israeli cause is not in doubt.  But he also realizes that what he is asking for is a fundamental shift in age old Israeli beliefs. This was why he argued that “A decision has to be made.

This decision is difficult, terrible, a decision that contradicts our natural instincts, our innermost desires, our collective memories, the prayers of the Jewish people for 2,000 years.”

I am not sure Olmert’s advice would yield immediate results, but it will help to shapen Israel ’s focus. The reality is that Israel for its sixty years of existence has been at war or war footing with desperate adversaries resorting to the use of terror tactics. It cannot go on this way. It is not as if peace is a cheap alternative, but war is far costlier, and its consequences cannot be positive.

Beyond its immediate neigbours, Israel has to broker peace with others including the Syrians. In this case, it has to give up Syrian lands like the Golan Heights.

The prospects of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal would be brighter if Israel’s traditional allies in the industrialized world buy into the process. This cannot be taken for granted because one of its major supporters see Israel as a weapon with which it can whip the Arab nations into line and guarantee oil flow to its industries and people.

Since 1948, the Israeli—Palestinian—Arab conflicts have been the main cause of instability in the world. A peace deal will therefore reduce insecurity in the universe.

Olment, like his former boss Ariel Sharon, has in the twilight of his political career tried to be on the side of reality and history. It is coming a bit late in the day for him.

But the hope is that Israelis who are in a position to change the thought pattern of their people and thereby the cause of human history as it relates to the Middle East will pluck the necessary courage to fight for peace.

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