Key points
- Trump can “make a difference”: Ehud Olmert
- US remains Israel’s key ally
- Olmert spent over a year in prison from 2016-2017
ISLAMABAD: United States (US) President Donald Trump should tell Israel’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, “enough is enough”, a former Israeli prime minister told AFP in an interview, denouncing the continuation of the war in Gaza as a “crime” and insisting a two-state solution is the only way to end the conflict.
Ehud Olmert, prime minister between 2006-2009, said in an interview in Paris that the United States has more influence on the Israeli government “than all the other powers put together” and that Trump can “make a difference”.
He said that while the international community accepted Israel’s right to self-defence after October 7, this changed when Netanyahu spurned chances to end the war in March and instead ramped up operations.
Netanyahu “has his personal interests which are prioritised over what may be the national interests,” Olmert charged.
Possible government collapse
Analysts say Netanyahu fears that if he halts the war, hardline members of his coalition will walk out, collapsing the government and forcing elections he could lose.
“If there is a war which is not going to save hostages, which cannot really eradicate more of what they did already against Hamas and if, as a result of this, soldiers are getting killed, hostages maybe get killed and innocent Palestinians are killed, then to my mind this is a crime,” said Olmert.
“And this is something that should be condemned and not accepted,” he said.
“Bibi: enough is enough”
Trump should summon Netanyahu to the White House Oval Office and facing cameras, tell the Israeli leader: “‘Bibi: enough is enough'”, Olmert said, using the premier’s nickname.
“This is it. I hope he (Trump) will do it. There is nothing that cannot happen with Trump. I don’t know if this will happen. We have to hope and we have to encourage him,” said Olmert.
US-Israeli alliance
Despite occasional expressions of concern about the situation in Gaza, the US remains Israel’s key ally, using its veto at the UN Security Council and approving billions of dollars in arms sales.
Israel’s offensive has killed 54,880 people, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, figures the United Nations deems reliable.
Along with former Palestinian foreign minister Nasser Al-Qidwa, Olmert is promoting a plan to end decades of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to create a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.
Land swap plan
Both sides would swap 4.4 per cent of each other’s land to the other, according to the plan, with Israeli receiving some West Bank territory occupied by Israeli settlers and a future Palestinian state territory that is currently part of Israel.
According to AFP, ahead of a meeting this month in New York co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia on steps towards recognising a Palestinian state, Olmert said that such a plan is “practical, is doable, is relevant, is valid and is real.”
“Criminal gang”
In a piece for Haaretz, titled, “Enough Is Enough. Israel Is Committing War Crimes,” Olmert referred to the current government as a “criminal gang” led by Netanyahu.
“What is it if not a war crime?” Olmert asked rhetorically in an interview with CNN. He said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right members of his government are “committing actions which can’t be interpreted any other way.”
Imprisonment
According to AFP, Olmert spent over a year in prison from 2016-2017 after being convicted in corruption scandals that ended his political career and efforts to forge peace.
A longtime political rival of Netanyahu even though they both emerged from the same Likud right-wing party, he also faces an uphill struggle to convince Israeli society where support for a Palestinian state, let alone land swaps, is at a low ebb after October 7.
“It requires a leadership on both sides,” said Olmert. “We are trying to raise international awareness and the awareness of our own societies that this is not something lost but offers a future of hope.”
Conference in Paris
Al-Qidwa, who is due to promote the plan alongside Olmert at a conference organised by the Jean-Jaures Foundation think tank in Paris on Tuesday, told AFP the blueprint was the “only game in town and the only doable solution”.
But he said societies in Israel and the Palestinian territories still had to be convinced, partly due to the continuation of the war.
“The moment the war comes to an end we will see a different kind of thinking. We have to go forward with acceptance of the co-existence of the two sides.”
But he added there could be no hope of “serious progress with the current Israeli government and current Palestinian leadership” under the aging president Mahmud Abbas, in office now for two decades.
“You have to get rid of both. And that is going to happen,” he said, alleging the Palestinian leadership as “corrupt and inept”.
