Ehud Olmert lectures at Wilson School

Ehud Olmert, the 12th prime minister of Israel, discussed his willingness to compromise with Palestine, the threat of a nuclear Iran and the Arab Spring on Wednesday evening.

In her introduction of Olmert, University President Shirley Tilghman described Olmert’s accomplishments during his time as prime minister from April 2006 to March 2009, highlighting the Annapolis Conference of November 2007 between the government of Israel and the Palestinian National Authority, a conference that failed to forge an agreement but came closer than any previous efforts.

“Olmert embraced the thorny plant of compromise,” Tilghman said. “He remains a close observer of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.”

Olmert addressed his willingness to compromise, a stance he adopted after taking up leadership positions.

“You may sometimes look at things in a somewhat different way than what you thought you knew before that,” Olmert said.

Olmert noted that some people were upset with him as prime minister because he was willing to offer Israeli territory for the creation of a Palestinian state.

“The more I had to deal with the issues that were on the agenda of the state of Israel, I came to the conclusion that we really only have two ways,” Olmert said. “There are not more.”

Olmert described the first option as holding onto all the territories that were historically Israel’s, which he recognized as a legitimate dream.

“But then one must understand that if you keep these territories, then in a matter of time the state of Israel will cease to be what it was destined to be. It will be a different country,” Olmert said.

Olmert pointed out the growing Palestinian populations in territories Israel valued and the contradiction between the limited rights of these people and Israel’s fundamental values of democracy and equality.

“We may say OK, we prefer territories, but then we must understand that in those territories there are enough people who will become a majority one day, who may have entirely different ideas of the destiny of the country,” Olmert said.

Olmert then described the next option and the path he took as mayor of Jerusalem, to offer Palestine territory for an independent state.

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“If it’s ours and, in spite of this, we decide to live alongside a Palestinian state in peace and respect and friendship, it gives the concessions a certain significance that makes a difference to all sides,” Olmert said. “These are the two ways; there are no others.”

As prime minister, Olmert offered to pull back to the 1967 boundaries, pointing to the incomplete equality in Jerusalem after 45 years as evidence of the difficulties of the first option. Although the Palestinians neither rejected nor accepted Olmert’s offer, he nonetheless said this specific agreement is inevitable.

“The Palestinians will not agree to anything less than what I proposed, and I don’t see that there is a government in Israel in anytime in the future that will be prepared to offer any more, so there is only one alternative,” Olmert said.

While Olmert sees this agreement as inevitable, he also noted the urgency of agreement to ensure its success.

“I hope that neither us nor the Palestinians will not wait too much because time is critical, and we need to be fully aware that if we will wait sometimes missed opportunities will not return,” Olmert said.

Olmert next spoke on the threat of a nuclear Iran.

“Israel will not tolerate a nuclear Iran; we can’t,” Olmert said.

While he was clear on the need to prevent a nuclear Iran, Olmert stated there were still non-military options that should be favored, including the disengagement of Iran from the world banking system.

“This is one step, but a very dramatic and important step because this is an effective way of cutting the ties of Iran to the rest of the world and influencing the qualities of lives for millions of people that may not remain passive,” Olmert said.

Olmert noted the importance of a united front in addressing Iran, pointing to the example of the Iraq war as evidence that even America could not afford to act unilaterally.

“I suggest something which I know is not easy for Israel, a certain degree of modesty,” Olmert said. “There is not a country in the world, certainly not Israel, which is entirely independent of the world and can do whatever it finds fit to do at a certain time.”

Olmert finally spoke on the Arab Spring and the dangers of it becoming an Arab winter, with respect to the blows it might deal to relationships that Israel had built up over the years. Nonetheless, he said he saw hope in the expressions of democracy.

“I suggest that no one will lose hope that these same expressions of protest that erupted not from organized political bodies but from the hearts of people will be ultimately be enough to force the people, their governments and the leadership to move forward in the direction of reconciliation, of democracy, of peace with the enemies of those countries,” Olmert said.

The event, hosted by the Wilson School, took place in a full McCosh 50.