….In Israel of course. Olmert is claiming that he now needs a larger coalition after the criticism of his invasion of Lebanon, but instead of bringing in a more moderate politician, he has chosen instead to bring in the rightist of the right neo cons, Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beitenu and founder of Our Home Israel [http://en.wikipedia.org/...]. Lieberman represents a party that believes in further expansions in the west bank, then annexing all settlements into Israel and removing Palestinians from Israel proper. He has also been put in charge of a very sensitive area, Iran Strategic Defense. Olmert has been unsuccessful getting support for his aggression against Iran during his world tour, and since he has totally disregarded Bush’s Roadmap to Peace by continuing to build more and more settlements in the west bank, what makes anyone believe Israel cares one bit what the United States of America says. They seem to have both parties in their pockets anyway. UPDATED that is a very snarky comment, but I am leaving it to give context to comments down stream.
How do you Stir Iran anger and Palestinian anger on cue:
Olmert brings in far right
Olmert has reached a deal to broaden his shaky coalition by adding a far-right party that seeks to annex parts of the West Bank and reduce Israel’s Arab population.
The move is seen as an attempt to stabilise the faltering coalition Government, which has been struggling for months. But the new partner — Israel Beiteinu, or Israel Is Our Home — strongly opposes concessions to the Palestinians.
The deal signals that Mr Olmert is now more concerned with internal Israeli politics than with initiatives to deal with the Palestinians.
The agreement changes the complexion of the Government, which previously presented itself as centrist. The shift has been caused largely by the two military crises in Gaza and Lebanon. Polls suggest Mr Olmert would be heavily defeated in an election now by more traditional, right-wing parties.
The Prime Minister has already indicated that the central theme of his election campaign, a withdrawal from some Jewish settlements in the West Bank, has been put on indefinite hold. The latest development reinforces that notion.
http://www.theage.com.au/….
Hawkish Israeli party to join Olmert’s coalition
Far-right leader to take charge of dealing with ‘strategic threats’
(10-24) 04:00 PDT Jerusalem — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert moved Monday to shore up his unpopular center-left coalition by adding a far-right party whose leader has advocated annexing parts of the occupied West Bank.
Avigdor Lieberman, head of the hawkish Yisrael Beiteinu party, announced the deal after meeting with Olmert. “We are joining the government,” he said.
Olmert said Lieberman will be given the rank of deputy prime minister and be put in charge of dealing with “strategic threats” to Israel, including Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
http://www.sfgate.com/….
What party does Leiberman represent?
Out Home Land read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/….
West Bank settlements expanding steadily: report
(AP)
24 October 2006
JERUSALEM – Jewish settlements are expanding in the occupied West Bank despite the building freeze demanded by a U.S.-led peace plan and sometimes in defiance of Israeli law, a paper said on Tuesday citing a government report.
The left-leaning Haaretz daily said the findings came from a secret two-year study that came across what the newspaper called `rampant construction’. The report accused some unnamed Israeli officials of intentionally deleting records from a settlement database in order to conceal the scale of the expansion.
`Construction there has been ongoing for years, in blatant violation of the law,’ the paper quoted the report as saying.
snip
Although Israel says it has the right to continue building inside existing settlements, Haaretz said construction had often been beyond the settlement boundaries and sometimes on privately owned Palestinian land.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/….