Olmert Goes to Washington
Reader comment on item: Mr. Olmert Visits Washington

Submitted by Ed Gordon (Israel), May 17, 2006 at 04:13

No truer said regarding the potential dangers of another large unerlateral pullout in the West Bank. Hamas and their 'partners' including "the friendly Jihad" plan to ultimately threaten the Hashemite Kingdom as well, since a large portion of Jordan's population are actually Palestinians. With Amir Peretz as Defense Minister, anything could happen. It's too bad that Olmert, in order to placate his cronies, gave the wrong jobs to the wrong people. Peretz should have been Min. of Labor or similar.

One issue missing form this article is the petition Olmert is taking with him, and signed by more than 60 Knesset members, to try to secure freedom for Jonathan Pollard. Numerous media articles have mentioned this petition particularly since Rafi Eitan, Minister for Pensioner Affairs, and Pollard's alleged 'handler' refused to sign the petition on the grounds that he believes in 'silent diplomacy'.

The only problem with Eitan's version of 'silent diplomacy' is that he has been engaged in this for more than 20 years since Pollard's apprehension, conviction and sentencing to life imprisonment w/o parole. Etain is alleged to be in possession of a certain document that could be very helpful in gaining Pollard's release. Most likely, that document will never be given up by Mr. Eitan, who probably fears that his own position will be put in jeopardy.

Eitan may actually help Pollard's situation by not saying anything detrimental to his involvement in the now infamous "Pollard Affair". I can imagine that only after Eitan leaves this mortal world will the truth finally be known. A lot of heads would surely roll, especially Eitan's, if all the facts become public knowledge.

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