He said it (read about it here) a couple weeks ago, but I didn’t get a chance to blog about it until now. It’s just strange to me that world leaders like Olmert and Carter know what needs to happen, but when in office, they tuck-tale and run from what must take place. The significance of his statement is, nonetheless, important because it’s a snub to those Zionist-extremists that blame everything on the Palestinians. They fixate on the militancy without addressing the cause of such militancy. Here, Olmert basically says what is obvious to most people but denied by Zionist extremists, that Israel is an illegally occupying power, that such an occupation breeds resistance, and that if Israel actually wanted peace instead of just talking about it, it would have to leave all the occupied territory, even parts of East Jerusalem. Now, of course, said extremists will say that he’s an illegitimate PM on his way out and they will attack his character, but that will not change the validity of his statement; that if Israel wants peace and security, it has to end its military occupation and ethnic cleansing in the Palestinian territories. Let me be clear, even I despise the man for laying waste to Lebanon two years ago, but his statement is ground-breaking.