TEL AVIV, Dec. 7, 2006

Israel Rejects Iraq Study Group Proposals

PM Doesn't See Link Iraq War-Israel Link, Doesn't Want Talks With Syria

    • Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speaks at to editors in Tel Aviv, Dec. 7, 2006.

      Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speaks at to editors in Tel Aviv, Dec. 7, 2006.  (AP)

    • Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, at his office in Ramallah, Dec. 7, 2006.

      Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, at his office in Ramallah, Dec. 7, 2006.  (AP)

    • White tents, portable latrines and water tanks erected by Hezbollah protesters block an intersection in front of the prime minister's complex in Beirut, Dec. 7, 2006.

      White tents, portable latrines and water tanks erected by Hezbollah protesters block an intersection in front of the prime minister's complex in Beirut, Dec. 7, 2006.  (AP)

    Previous slide Next slide
  • Interactive Mideast Conflict

    Events, key players and a history of the world's most unstable region.

  • Interactive Iraq Study Group Report

    Bipartisan commission warns that situation is "grave and deteriorating."

  • Photo Essay Historic Vote

    Palestinians vote in their first parliamentary election in a decade.

(CBS/AP)  Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday rejected a U.S. advisory group's conclusion that a concerted effort to resolve Israel's conflict with its neighbors will help stabilize the situation in Iraq, saying there is no connection between the two issues.

Olmert also rebuffed the group's recommendation that Israel open negotiations with Syria, but said Israelis want "with all our might" to restart peace talks with the Palestinians.

The Iraq Study Group report, released Wednesday in Washington, calls for direct talks between Israel and its neighbors, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians and says resolving the Israeli-Arab conflict would improve conditions in Iraq.

Olmert rejected that finding. "The attempt to create a linkage between the Iraqi issue and the Mideast issue — we have a different view," Olmert said during the prime minister's annual meeting with Israeli journalists. "To the best of my knowledge, President Bush, throughout the recent years, also had a different view on this."

Most Israelis oppose handing the Golan Heights back to a radical regime like Syria, as the study group recommends, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger. Israel is also concerned about the report's call for the U.S. to open a dialogue with Iran. Israeli officials say the best strategy to stop Iran's nuclear program is isolation, not dialogue.

In other developments:

  • A panel appointed by the Palestine Liberation Organization has recommended that the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas (right), dissolve the militant Hamas-led government and call new elections as early as March, an official close to the president said. Abbas sought the committee's recommendations after declaring last week that his efforts to form a more moderate coalition government with Hamas had reached a dead end. Hamas denounced the notion of early elections.

  • Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition called Thursday for its supporters to take to the streets this weekend in a massive show of force, stepping up the pressure on the U.S.-backed government, which has vowed not to give in to protesters. Street demonstrations by Hezbollah and other pro-Syrian parties, which want to pressure Prime Minister Fuad Saniora into quitting, were in their seventh day with no end in sight to the deepening political crisis that is threatening to tear the country apart.

  • Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said negotiations for the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants are in their final stage, according to a newspaper report. Militants linked to the Islamic militant group Hamas, which leads the Palestinian government, crossed the Gaza border into Israel and captured Cpl. Gilad Shalit in June.

  • Olmert will meet with Pope Benedict XVI during a trip to Europe next week. Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, said the meeting will take place at the Vatican on Wednesday. There were no immediate details on the agenda.

  • Wealthy Israeli businessman Avi Shaked is offering the ruling Islamic militant group Hamas a billion dollars in investments in the Palestinian territories, if it abandons violence and makes peace with Israel, reports Berger. Shaked says Israelis and Palestinians are "cousins" who should be able to talk. It's a high risk investment but Shaked knows all about that. He made his fortune running Internet gambling sites.

    Answering reporters' questions for more than an hour, Olmert said conditions were not ripe to reopen long-dormant talks with Syria and added that he received no indications from Mr. Bush during his recent visit to Washington that the U.S. would push Israel to start such talks.

    Palestinian officials were more receptive to the panel's recommendations.

    "We welcome the Hamilton-Baker report and hope the U.S. administration will translate it into deeds," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. "The region needs peace, the region needs dialogue and we have always stuck to dialogue toward a comprehensive peace."

    Syrian President Bashar Assad has called in recent months for a new round of talks with Israel. Syria is a key backer of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Hezbollah, the Lebanese guerrilla group that battled Israel during an inconclusive month-long war last summer.

    While some top Israeli officials have urged Olmert to accept Assad's offer, the prime minister said he didn't think talks would change Syria's close ties to radical anti-Israel groups.

    "I don't think there is a Syrian desire for war with us. We certainly don't have a desire to fight with them. That doesn't mean conditions are ripe for us to negotiate with them," he said.

    Olmert, however, said that Israel was deeply interested in restarting talks with the Palestinians and said Israel would work "with all our might" to make them happen.

    He also welcomed a peace initiative put forward by Saudi Arabia, saying it contains "interesting innovations that should not be ignored." However, he did not fully endorse the plan, first floated in 2002, which called for Israel to withdraw from all of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, a stipulation Israel rejects.

    Olmert also rejected suggestions that Israel's recent cease-fire with Palestinian militants in Gaza would allow the militants to rearm and regroup for another round of fighting, saying that Israel would not allow that to happen.

    He said that despite occasional rocket attacks by Gaza militants at Israel, "we will continue to show restraint."

    Olmert also addressed the controversy over Iran's nuclear ambitions, reiterating Israel's position that it will not tolerate a nuclear Iran, but will not take unilateral action, preferring that the dispute should be settled by the international community as a whole.

    He also reiterated his support for the U.S. war in Iraq, a position that caused some controversy during his U.S. trip last month.

    "We always felt, like other nations in our region, that the removal of Saddam Hussein was a major, major contribution to stability in our part of the world," he said.


    ©MMVI CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
    Add a Comment See all 51 Comments
    by agnim December 9, 2006 4:52 PM EST
    "And if you are a peaceful nation, then other nations will leave you alone if you have the best (weapons)...hence peace....

    Posted by Gaye5 at 10:34 PM : Dec 08, 2006"

    So by you thinking then, Israel must not be peaceful; because so many are bent on its destruction? LOL

    Same applies to the US; we have to be extra vigilant these days, even more so that most of the other countries on the planet.

    By the way, evil empires don't need to commit genocide to display their oppressive and dictatorial nature.

    So get your thinking straight with respect to the the American empire: Our expansionist and intrusive and domineering influence along with the US MILITARY ARE PLANET-WIDE!
    No, child, we don't need to commit genocide to be domineering. There are too many ways that an evil empire can be destructive besides genocide. Just ask the Iraqis who were invaded UNPROVOKED!
    Reply to this comment
    by agnim December 9, 2006 4:44 PM EST
    Posted by FeelFree1 at 02:33 PM : Dec 08, 2006

    LOL

    Good retort to the ridiculous. LOL
    Reply to this comment
    by gaye5 December 9, 2006 1:34 AM EST
    Agnim, I can see where this weapons of war in the fight for peace comes from...
    Throughout history the nation who was the strongest and the better weapons always won... that is logical. And if you are a peaceful nation, then other nations will leave you alone if you have the best...hence peace....
    The person who unleashed nuclear opened a can of worms, and I would far rather have America keeping a step ahead of other nations who are producing nuclear than being behind. America has had this capability for how many years now?? and they could have taken the world, and committed genicide of many natioins, but on the whole they only go into other countries when asked or if they are a threat to us...Yes America is a long way from Iraq, but the weapons dont discriminate distance when they can go great distances...
    Reply to this comment
    by gaye5 December 9, 2006 1:25 AM EST
    bushrocks1, your letter is very good, but now that it has been on this and other sites ever so many times, couldnt you give it a break, pleeeeeeese....
    It is no better than many other very excellent letters on here...
    Reply to this comment
    by gaye5 December 8, 2006 11:31 PM EST
    FeelFree, I have no doubt that we needed to go to Iraq, and I believe that they DID have weapons of mass distruction, however I cant understand why Mr. Bush warned them that he was coming for 18 months giving them time to transport their weapons either into another country or bury it in the sand as was reported on the August 6, 2003 NewsMax.com which said that NewsMax has obtained exclusive photos of a buried Iraqi jet fighter being recovered by U.S. Air Force troops. The Iraqi jet, an advanced Russian MiG-25 Foxbat, was found buried in he sand after an informant tipped off U.S. troops. The MiG was dug out of a massive sand dune near the Al Taqqadum airfield by U.S. Air Force recovery teams.
    So what else is buried there???
    And yes FeelFree, I knew that America poured some money into Israel, but it is only a drop in the bucket of what goes into Iraq, plus we Australians send billions into Iraq also, along with other countries and with all the sales from oil they still cant make it..
    Reply to this comment
    by feelfree1 December 8, 2006 5:33 PM EST
    hamiltongrad,

    Re: "Many of the writers here are bigots."

    It takes a lot of courage to admit that. I may have given you less credit than you deserve.
    Reply to this comment
    by bushrocks1 December 8, 2006 3:06 PM EST
    Would I send my son to this war? You might ask would I send him to World War II? Or Vietnam? Maybe you would distinguish those conflicts and whether you would send your son to fight in them. But that question is misdirected in a very important way: I can't command my son to go to war. He has to make that choice. So the better question would be: would I volunteer to fight in Iraq, WW II, Vietnam? Would I volunteer to fight in any war? Respond if drafted? I don%u2019t know. I'm not equivocating, only addressing that it is a hypothetical. To a hypothetical, I can answer, sure I'd fight. But I have nightmares of battle (from my past life as a Jacobite). So how do I feel toward those who do volunteer? Impressed and maturely knowing that many things go into their decision. But I do strongly believe that a country that can't find those men is doomed. The fact that we can find them is one reason why I say there is no failure in Iraq. Objectively, I also believe it for other reasons. An attempt to establish democracy in the Middle East is a bold, brilliant, noble effort, facing a high chance of failure. That's why I greatly respect and admire those who have made the attempt--the Bush administration. They have been resolute, something I have not seen in my lifetime. They may not succeed, for reasons outside their control or fault: traitors on the home front being a big one. Now those traitors have apparently occupied the high ground. Yet... we're still in Iraq. Why?...I'm waiting.
    Reply to this comment
    by agnim December 8, 2006 2:24 PM EST
    "During my days in the military I worked along side of Israelis in Florida with Rockwell International developing weapons of war in the fight for peace,

    Posted by ncolsens at 06:15 AM : Dec 08, 2006"

    "weapons of war in the fight for peace"?

    What a stupid and fantastic concept?

    Only an adolescent mind or an overly brainwashed so-called 'military man' would talk such baby talk about 'peace'.

    Unfortunate American minds like yours are precisely the reasons why the insecure and equally delusional Jews (and delusional Arabs too) are not about to give up their own 3,000 year-old fantasy about some 'promise land': The insecure and religiously fanatical Jews are at least smart enough to know that "weapons in the fight for peace" is an even more stupid a position than their own biblical bull position of 'promise land'.

    The Jews are not about to give into such childish understanding of 'peace' and desert their tradition, as mindless and as laughable as the roots of those traditions may be.
    And why should they?

    We know the Jews are smart people.
    Why give up one big load of krap about some delusional 'promise land' for an even bigger load of krap and misunderstanding about 'peace'? LOL
    Reply to this comment
    by kcstan11 December 8, 2006 9:47 AM EST
    SCREW THE JEWS!!! I have seen this *** going on since before 1948. All of the violence in Palastine has been perpetuated by the JEWS.

    DUMBYA has allowed the Jews to "KILL AT WILL" in Gaza, the West Bank and the complete destruction on Lebonon. He will do anything that Olmert wants, the same as he did for that fat pig, Ariel Sharron. He publically backed the Palastinian election, until Hamas won ... now all bets are off, he has financially strangled the Palastinians.

    As far as I am concerned ... give all of that land back to the Arabs so anyone can go there and live/visit in peace ... the way it was prior to 1948.

    The ONLY reason that the US invaded Iraq is ... to save the JEWS from having to do it. The US and our MORON PRESIDENT was the only country that could do that, because if the JEWS tried it, every Arab country in the middle-east would have destroyed the JEWS.

    All of the jews on this planet are not worth even 1 of the 3000 dead GI's in Iraq.
    Reply to this comment
    by December 8, 2006 9:21 AM EST
    When the ISG was taking its sweet time preparing this report for the world to see I envision them sitting around a round table playing the board game "Risk" The game about conquering the world. And just like the game... It makes little attempt to accurately simulate military strategy, the size of the world, the logistics of long campaigns, or real-world luck. In short they wasted their time on this report if not endangered the friendship with other countries, the idea that you can say well we want other countries to talk to their neighbors is just a bit rude. And if the U.S continues on this track it will have no allies, then WWIII can begin. Then we will see who's Bible wins....if their is any winner at all
    Reply to this comment
    by December 8, 2006 9:15 AM EST
    During my days in the military I worked along side of Israelis in Florida with Rockwell International developing weapons of war in the fight for peace, I doubt that you Agnim have ever met anyone outside of the U.S and believe everything you see on television. Its time to wake up and pull your head out of your @ss. And I not laughing out loud, maybe at you for being such an ignorant fool
    Reply to this comment
    by feelfree1 December 8, 2006 4:34 AM EST
    Here is a film highlighting some of the atrocities committed by the Israelis, during their recent rampage against the civilians in Lebanon:

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOpB1x5Qzyg
    Reply to this comment
    by agnim December 8, 2006 3:55 AM EST
    "1. Nationhood and Jerusalem. Although Israel was a nation before 1312B.C, Israel became a nation-state in 1312 B.C, 2,000 years before the rise of Islam.

    Posted by Gaye5 at 12:42 AM : Dec 08, 2006"

    Who gives a rat's arse about the islamic insanity?
    We are concerned about HUMANS, not idiotic ideology!
    Hello!

    And the Jewish own history tells of them ethnically cleansing the land of the HUMANS to build their first Jewrusalem on their way from Egypt.

    And again coming out of Europe, the Jews are savagely repeating bad history by again ethnically cleansing the place of HUMANS to recreate their delusional 'promise land'.

    The Jews don't care about fellow humans.

    The Jews don't care about the cries of fellow humans.
    And the Jews don't give a chit what the world maybe saying; because in their ignorance and arrogance, they think themselves some 'chosen people', special.

    The Jews have blinders on!
    They have one goal, a stupid piece of land, 'promise land'.

    It is insanity to live that way.
    The maniac muslims are not different.

    Americans are making a huge mistake by fueling the fanaticism in the Middle East.

    We shouldn't want to live with generations of vengeance and violence as 'normal living' as ALL the sick Semites have been doing.
    That is worse than beastly living.
    Reply to this comment
    by gaye5 December 8, 2006 3:49 AM EST
    and again...
    11. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, the Arabs are the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples' lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country smaller than the state of New Jersey.

    12. There is only one tiny Jewish nation. The 22 Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost. Israel defended herself each time and won.

    13. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.

    14. The U.N. was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians. Kind of like its silence over the massacres of Algerians or Sudanese by Arab Muslim fascists.

    15. The U.N are silent while Muslim terrorists blew up schools, mall's, bus's, and Synagogues killing babies, children and adults. The media reports are almost non existant in regards to the hundreds of families each year who cry for their dead as they hold their bloodied babies in their arms.. The world tells them to put up with the agression against them and condems Israel trying to protect itself.
    America struck back when 3000 died in the Sep 11th disaster, Jews have disasters happen every day of their lives.
    Reply to this comment
    by gaye5 December 8, 2006 3:45 AM EST
    And also.....
    4. The Arabs Muslims conquered Palestine in 635 AD, stealing it from its legitimate Jewish rulers, Palestine was stolen from the Jews by the Muslims and not the other way around. Arab sovereignty over Palestine ended in 1071 when the area was conquered by Seljuk Turks. Palestinian Arabs never held sovereignty over and cannot even pronounce the name of their supposed homeland.

    5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit.

    6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Qur'an (Koran).

    7. King David founded the Jewish city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.

    8. Arab and Jewish Refugees: In 1948 the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.

    9. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab Muslim lands due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms.

    10. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be between 400,000 and 630,000, many of whom in fact were allowed to return after the Israeli war of Independence ended.. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands was much larger.

    Reply to this comment
    by gaye5 December 8, 2006 3:42 AM EST
    Agnim, I think you need to go a bit further back than that...I dont know of any ethnic cleansing, here is a little bit of history to help your education:

    A FEW UNFASHIONABLE FACTS WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST
    1. Nationhood and Jerusalem. Although Israel was a nation before 1312B.C, Israel became a nation-state in 1312 B.C, 2,000 years before the rise of Islam.

    2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
    When the Jews started returning to their own country in 1948, the land was pretty devoid of permanant occupants, which consisted of some Jews (who had never left) and a few Arab nomads. It was only then that a few poor migrant workers from the surrounding Muslim countries began to flood in to work for the Jews. almost all of the people calling themselves "Palestinians" today are the descendants of those migrant workers.

    3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 B.C., the Jews have had dominion over the land for 1,000 years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years and beyond.



    Reply to this comment
    by agnim December 8, 2006 3:25 AM EST
    "We all know that the media does not tell us the truth, it is slanted the way that they want us to behave, so I suggest we learn our details from other sources...

    Posted by Gaye5 at 10:23 PM : Dec 07, 2006"

    My 'source' is the history on the ground independent of your 'media'.

    The people are ethnically cleansed by the Jews to create their delusional 'promise land'. That IS NOT media story. The refugees are there as proof!

    Is that how you would show that you 'care' for fellow humans by ethnically cleansing them and making them refugees in foreign camps?

    One can clearly observe a certain Israeli pattern: Every time there it seems like there could be a bit of peace progress, there are some devilish groups in Israel who will ALWAYS do something to derail any progress, and why?

    Because the only 'peace' the Jews have ALWAYS been interested in is 'piece' of delusional 'promise land'!

    This Israeli leader is throwing cold water on the carefully thought out recommendations; because our mundane peace IS NOT of importance to Jews, 'piece' of 'promise land' IS! And the Jews want want it ALL and not to give any ground!
    Reply to this comment
    by gaye5 December 8, 2006 1:23 AM EST
    Agnim, if Jews didnt care about others then why do they help those who come to their hospitals. They help all who are injured even though they might have been Muslims trying to destroy them, and why when they have the means to totally destroyed Muslim neighbours did they not do so when terrorists blew themselves up sitting beside Jewish children, in buses, in shopping centers, and synogues, why did they offer millions when there was the massive earth quake, to a nation which was trying to destroy Israel and they wanted to not only give millions but they wanted to help, (which was refused by the Muslims of course)... We all know that the media does not tell us the truth, it is slanted the way that they want us to behave, so I suggest we learn our details from other sources... we are being manipulated to think a certian way...as has happened in other recent wars..Germany is a good example, the lies that were told about Isreal then we discovered later were to make the world hate them and was not true, and are we going to repeat the same mistake again... Since the beginning of time such things have happened...
    Reply to this comment
    by feelfree1 December 8, 2006 12:54 AM EST
    'grazinggoat' is right.

    Olmert really DOES have a turtle-face.
    Reply to this comment
    by agnim December 8, 2006 12:28 AM EST
    Posted by ncolsens at 08:41 PM : Dec 07, 2006

    In the same way a vile vampire is repelled by the brilliant light of the Sun, your little mind likewise is repelled in disarray by the searing insights of my posts, right?

    Isn't that the reason you are forced to make Agnim the topic? LOL

    You are having as much time wrapping a warp mind about the truths spoken, as the Israelis are having a hard time wrapping their insecure and vengeful and non-peace minds around a recommendation for peace with her neighbors, and less body bags of Americans for nothing.
    Reply to this comment
    See all 51 Comments
  • Exclusive Webshow

    Michelle Obama tells how her role as the First Lady has changed her perspective. Watch Now

    Latest News
    News in Pictures
    Scroll Left Scroll Right
    • The Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall

      Photographer Peter Turnley Captures the Fall

    • The Fall Of The Berlin Wall The Fall Of The Berlin Wall

      Looking Back at the Wall that Once Divided Germany On the 20th Anniversary of Its Collapse

    • Patricia Clarkson Patricia Clarkson

      Television and Film Actress, Yale School of Drama Graduate and Academy Award Nominee

    • Day in Pictures Day in Pictures

      A Glimpse at the Day's News as Seen Through a Camera Lens

    • Andre Agassi Andre Agassi

      Former Top-Seeded Tennis Star, Gossip Column Favorite and Philanthropist

    • Yankees Victory Parade Yankees Victory Parade

      The Yankees Celebrate Their 27th World Series Championship with a Ticker-Tape Parade Up Broadway

    Connect with CBS News

    Stay connected with the CBS News using your favorite social networks and online news applications: