Abstract
A revealing memoir by the Israeli leader who almost made peace with the Palestinians
Written almost entirely from inside a prison cell, Searching for Peace is the compelling memoir of former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert.
The child of parents who were members of the Irgun, the paramilitary group that fought for the establishment of Israel, Olmert became the youngest member of the Israeli Knesset in 1973, serving in the right-wing Likud party. He rose quickly in the party, serving in national government before being elected mayor of Jerusalem in 1993.
As mayor he overcame decades of municipal malaise, inertia, and waves of terror attacks to bring huge improvements in the city's infrastructure, education, and welfare. Although a child of the Israeli right, it was during his mayoralty that he realized the inevitability of compromise and the need to divide the city in any future peace agreement with the Palestinians.
Olmert rejoined the national government in 2003 as a top aide to then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. After Sharon suffered a debilitating stroke in 2006, Olmert took over as acting prime minister, then led Sharon's new centrist party Kadima to victory in elections. Heading a coalition government, Olmert led Israel through the war with Lebanon in July 2006 and approved the dramatic strike on Syria's nuclear reactor the following year.
From late 2006 through 2008, Olmert engaged in some three dozen negotiations with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. The talks, Olmert says, came within a hair's breadth of reaching a comprehensive peace deal.
At the same time, Olmert was fighting allegations that he had illegally accepted large sums of money from a well-connected American businessman. He was acquitted of all but a minor charge against him, but in 2014 he was convicted on charges of taking $15,000 in bribes involving the construction of an industrial park while he served as Minister of Industry and Trade. He served 16 months in prison, using his time to write these memoirs.
Searching for Peace offers a riveting political story and an unparalleled window into Israeli history, peacemaking, politics, U.S.-Israel relations, and the future of the Middle East.
Schlagworte
ariel sharon u.s.-israeli relations war with lebanon paletinians mahmoud ababas middle east israel israel's future israeli history israeli knesset israeli-palestinian conflict jerusalem kadima party former israeli prime minister- Kapitel Ausklappen | EinklappenSeiten
- 27–52 In the Beginning 27–52
- 79–105 The Man of Steel 79–105
- 128–171 Jerusalem of Blood 128–171
- 285–314 The Promised Land 285–314
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- „... homes in the conflict. I spoke about this with Abbas. As for Palestinians “returning” into Israel, he ...” „... agree-ment and end the conflict. To close a deal with those Palestinians will-ing and able to reconcile with ...” „... and conciliation.In the last decade, the Israeli government has preferred to weaken the Palestinian ...”
- „... ) and, 281–87; He-zbollah attacks on Israel and, 207; Israeli-Palestinian conflict and, 276, 281, 321 ...” „... ; Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and, 275–79, 321; Israel’s ceding of territories and, 281–88; Olmert as prime ...” „... ; Syrian nuclear reactor and Israeli bombing, 240Peretz, Yitzhak, 86Peri, Yaakov, 131PLA. See Palestinian ...”
- „... frustrated too. The Israeli- Palestinian conflict had been her central project as secretary of state, and she ...” „... Palestinians saw two flags raised above the Prime Minister’s Residence: One Israeli, the other Palestinian ...” „... found that the table, too, was decorated with Israeli and Palestinian flags. Palestinian and Israeli ...”
- „... Israeli and the Palestinian people. This effort came within a hair’s breadth of resolving the world’s most ...” „... Israeli and the Palestinian people. This effort came within a hair’s breadth of resolving the world’s most ...” „... Peace is the revealing memoir of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The child of parents who ...”
- „... days of October 2000, and twelve Israeli Arabs, as well as one Palestinian, lost their lives.The Al ...” „... country since the First Intifada (the violent uprising by Palestinians in the territories) began five ...” „... years earlier: The question of peace with the Palestinians.Within months, secret negotiations with the ...”
- „... the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006, through the peace talks with the Palestinians that began ...” „... Israeli system allows. Every accusation, rumor, media report, and investigation, every trial and every ...” „... tale that shows just how fragile democracy— not just Israeli democracy, but any democracy— can be ...”
- „... beyond recognition. But the bloody conflict with the Palestinians has never ended. It’s time to end ...” „... , I usually brought along five or six prominent Israeli CEOs to make it clear that we hadn’t come just ...” „... Palestinian Presi-dent Mahmoud Abbas a number of times, and invited me to come along. I attended, along with ...”
- „... the West Bank, would never be cut off from Jerusalem in a peace deal with the Palestinians.But the ...” „... con-quered in 1967. Palestinian pressure caused the Canadian company Bombardier, the biggest company in the ...” „... phil-harmonic orchestra and the Israeli opera; there are more museums and art galleries there than anywhere else ...”
- „... the Bank of Israel, a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Abbas, and so on.But then, on the ...” „... wars for us, and we weren’t about to start now. On the other, the reactor wasn’t just an Is-raeli ...” „... accompa-nied me were convinced I was going for talks on the Palestinian issue. President Bush had, in fact ...”
- „... flaws torpedoed his career, and he ended up barely a footnote in Israeli history, and almost completely ...” „... 3:09 PM57From the Backbenches to the Front Pageand so typically Israeli, that no- nonsense, don’t ...” „... - think- twice approach, has disappeared from the Israeli landscape. Yet neither his pedestrian wit nor ...”
- „... . Thousands of Israeli citizens would continue to live within range of light arms fire, and the impossible ...” „... missiles were about to be fired at Israeli cities and towns? It was cru-cial to us not only to limit ...” „... complete confidence in the ability of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) to execute. Meir Dagan, chief of the ...”
- „... aspirations of both the Israeli and the Pales-tinian people. This effort came within a hair’s breadth of ...” „... pursuit of a peace deal with the Palestinians was tantamount to treason, enjoyed endless financing from ...” „... Israeli prisons. Without question, this small, intimate cellblock, with its calm and warm relationships ...”