Newsweek's Kevin Peraino has a classic tale of a deposed, disgruntled leader with a mix of grudges, laments and revelations.
"I'm not dead," former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says in "Olmert's Lament," an insightful profile that includes the first interview with Olmert since he left office in March. "I'm not in power, but my ideas are in power. And my ideals will prevail."
The feature includes a hint of Nixon-esque paranoia: "There were certain people who were out to get me," Olmert told Newsweek. "I know who those people were. They exist, believe me. They know that I know. They spent millions of dollars in order to try to get rid of me. I'm happy they lost most of their money."
It includes some Israeli braggadocio about President Obama's attempts to bring a complete halt to settlement construction: The Americans, one Olmert aide warned, "will look like fools."
Newsweek details how former President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would play good cop-bad cop on settlements: "Tell me," Olmert said Bush would ask. "Does she irritate you?"
Newsweek details an eleventh hour deal Olmert offered to the Palestinians, a proposal that would have returned about 93 percent of the West Bank to the PA and offered a 6 percent land swap, created an international body to oversee the most contentious Jerusalem Old City holy sites at the center of the conflict, and allowed a symbolic return of some Palestinian refugees.
"It's very sad," said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. "He was serious, I have to say."
Erekat said negotiators were studying the proposal when Israel launched its December military offensive in Gaza, which was soon followed by Israeli elections that brought Olmert's tenure to an end.
Erekat said the two sides spent 60 percent of their time arguing over Israel's continued settlement construction
"The complaint comes off as a little disingenuous, a convenient way to shift blame and avoid discussing difficult issues like Jerusalem, security and refugees," Peraino writes. "Yet that is exactly why a settlement freeze—with no exceptions for natural growth—is so important. A freeze may be a symbolic gesture, but it also removes an excuse."
"Olmert and his team never seemed to master the art of diplomatic symbolism," Peraino concludes. "When I met with one of the former prime minister's deputies at a café in Tel Aviv recently, I asked him to respond to Erekat's complaints. The Olmert aide lifted a hand and silently extended his middle finger."
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