"It's Just a Matter of Time"
A conversation with former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert about the two-state solution
TEL AVIV—“I was considering it, but I reached the conclusion that the best time will be the next time." That was what former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert told me a week after Israel's January election when I asked him why—after surveying a political comeback last fall—he decided not to challenge successor Benjamin Netanyahu. "My assessment," he explained, "[was] that the time was not yet ready for a comeback that will make me prime minister. I was not interested in being minister of defense or minister of foreign affairs. READ MORE >>
One Friday evening last November, Mahmoud Abbas made a rare appearance on the popular Israeli TV station, Channel 2. In his boxy suit and tie, the Palestinian president looked every bit his 77 years, his olive skin tinged with gray, his voice soft and whispery. He shifted in his seat with every answer. READ MORE >>
The Winners and Losers of Israel's Election
The surprising results from Israel's elections capped one of the more eventful campaign seasons in the country's history—a three-month period that featured a mini-war with Gaza, the surprise alliance between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and then-Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu, Lieberman’s indictment and departure from the foreign ministry, the return to politics of former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, the retirement of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the flirtation (and ultimate non-return) of former prime minister Ehud Olm READ MORE >>
Netanyahu's Nightmare: How Israel's Elections Could Surprise Us
Benjamin Netanyahu knows a thing or two about election-night surprises. In 1996, after months in which rival Shimon Peres seemed headed for a landslide, Netanyahu defied the exit polls and squeaked by in one of the great upsets of Israeli electoral history. “Went to bed with Peres, woke up with Netanyahu,” went the saying. READ MORE >>
Netanyahu's New Headache: Avigdor Lieberman Is Dragging Him Down
Don’t Expect Tzipi Livni to Shake Up Israel’s Election
Israel’s Iran and Settlements Switcheroo
Pundits in Israel are still struggling to make sense of Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s surprise announcement yesterday that, at age 70, he is retiring from politics. READ MORE >>
