By Martin Zeilig
Tribune Correspondent
WINNIPEG – A leading Middle East political insider and strategist maintains that the victory of Hamas – which has been condemned for its terrorism against Israel by Canada, the US and the European Union – in the Palestinian general elections last month reminds him of “a classic line” by the late Israeli politician, diplomat and scholar Abba Eban (1915-2002).
“The Palestinians have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” said Dr. Yossi Olmert, youngest brother of Israel’s acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was recalling Eban’s comment from years ago about the hostility of some Arab nations towards Israel.
“I think that the Israeli position is very clear and my brother has said that any coalition of Hamas in the Palestinian Authority will turn the PA into a terror organization,” Yossi Olmert said in an interview on a recent stop in Winnipeg. “Such a state should be boycotted.”
Olmert, scion to one of the most prominent political families in Israel, is son of the former pioneers and activists, the late Mordechai and Bella Olmert. He is a much published journalist and highly sought after speaker, according to a media release.
Olmert, who holds a PhD from the London School of Economics in Middle East History, was on a cross-Canada speaking tour – with stops in Frederickton, Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Vancouver – that was sponsored in part by the Jewish national Fund (JNF).
The Jewish Federation of Winnipeg and JNF coordinated his visit here on Feb. 1 with the assistance of various local organizations.
Hamas took 74 of 132 seats in the Palestinian Authority in the democratic election on Jan. 25.
While it’s good to have an open and free election, if that vote leads to a terrorist group assuming power then that is a disaster, Olmert emphasized.
“Hamas has said that they’re bent on the destruction of Israel by violence, then that (negotiations) is totally out of the question,” said the former head of the Syria and Lebanon desks at Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Middle East Studies until 1989.
The mood in Israel, nevertheless, is upbeat, he added.
Olmert observed, for example, that the economy grew by slightly more than 5 per cen last year, tourism is up to the level it was in 2000, and German born Robert J. Aumann – who teaches at the Centre for Rationality, Hebrew University of Jerusalem – was co-winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics, among other positive indicators.
“If we can’t do it (reach a lasting peace) with the Palestinians because of terrorists, we’ll do it by ourselves. I don’t expect anything immediate or quick. If we have to do it unilaterally (such as the Gaza disengagement last year), the principle is there,” he said, adding that the response of Canadians to Israel was very friendly, more so than on his previous visits here.
“I’m optimistic and we are always looking out for terrorism,” he said. “Our perspective is to wait and see. But, I hope and pray it won’t happen because it’s always worse for the Palestinians.”
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