Haggling & Deals

Treppenwitz has an excellent post about what should concern us all with the secret dealing going on in Israel regarding what Olmert is perfectly happy to give away to the Palestinians.

I predict that Olmert will chose the next 24 - 48 hours to launch a large-scale ground offensive into Gaza. He won't have any more idea what he wants to accomplish in this offensive than he did when he ordered the opening of hostilities in Lebanon. But in this case his motives will be far less trustworthy. Simply put, he needs a national crisis to save his political career.

You see, once Israel is involved in a shooting war - and make no mistake, a ground incursion into Gaza will quickly escalate into a war - the 'we can't bring down the government during a time of national crisis' crowd will suddenly start to sound sane, and will give Shas the excuse it needs to remain in the government.

On a related note, this post on haggling by Ze'ev was rather amusing.