Dr. Aaron Lerner is co-founder of IMRA, Independent Media Review and Analysis, an Israel-based news organization which provides an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events relating to the Israeli-Arab conflict. imra@netvision.net.il
Surreality: Olmert praises himself as Gaza border crumbles
By Dr. Aaron Lerner
January 25, 2008 Bookmark to del.icio.us
As TV vehicles representing news bureaus from around the world lining the street next to the Daniel Hotel last night transmitted satellite feeds of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Herzliya Conference Speech in which he praised himself for the simply fantastic situation in the neighborhood, their colleagues at the Gaza-Egypt border beamed up images of the chaos that has engulfed the area.
Botched job is a generous way to describe how the Olmert team handled events leading up to the destruction of the wall separating Gaza from Egypt. And it has only gone from bad to worse.
It is not clear to what extent the Olmert team actually thought through the sanctions program. Olmert may have PR men working overtime preparing for next week's Winograd Report, but PR for the sanctions has been, at best, a game of catch up. And this with the sanctions initiated by Israel.
The sanctions program itself has been revised several times on the fly as the Olmert team tried to come to grips with Palestinian moves that were anything but a surprise.
The destruction of the wall and the subsequent flood of Gazans into Sinai is at best being partially addressed by stopgap Israeli security measures to protect Israel's soft flank.
The Olmert team appears to have nothing to offer for this most serious challenge than a series of shallow ideas and slogans shot from the hip.
This leaves the playing field open for the Arab actors who know what they want to achieve and have the patience to think through how to get there.
There is an initiative to have elections at the end of the year.
The country can ill-afford extending the Olmert team's "amateur hour" until then.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.