OLMERT COMPARES ISRAEL'S STATUS WITH THAT OF WHITE SOUTH AFRICA

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

MARK TRAN, GUARDIAN - Prime minister Ehud Olmert raised the specter of
the disintegration of the state of Israel unless a two-state solution
with the Palestinians could be reached. Drawing a parallel with the last
days of the apartheid regime in South Africa he warned: "If the day
comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South
African-style struggle for equal voting rights (with Palestinians) ...
then, as soon as that happens, the state of Israel is finished." Today's
warning came in an interview with Haaretz newspaper. . .

Israel is sensitive to any comparison to formerly apartheid South
Africa, but Olmert has aired such views before. When he was deputy prime
minister under Ariel Sharon four years ago, he favored a withdrawal from
most of the territories taken in the 1967 war that would leave Israel
with a "maximum" number of Israelis and a "minimum" of Palestinians.

Olmert also warned about the loss of support of the Jewish diaspora once
the question became framed in terms of one man, one vote.

"The Jewish organizations, which were our power base in America, will be
the first to come out against us," Olmert told Haaretz, "because they
will say they cannot support a state that does not support democracy and
equal voting rights for all its residents."

Olmert pointed out that he had said similar things in an interview he
gave four years ago. . .

Jews form a solid majority inside Israel proper, making up roughly 80%
of the population of 7 million. However, if the West Bank and Gaza are
included, Arabs already comprise nearly half the population of the
region.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2219066,00.html?gusrc=
rss&feed=networkfront


||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||