Ehud Olmert: "Most of Israeli society wants to end the war"

Ehud Olmert was Prime Minister of Israel between January 2006 and March 2009. During his term there were heavy clashes with Hezbollah and Hamas, such as the controversial Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, but there were also approaches to the Palestinian National Authority in an attempt to move toward the two-state solution. Now, just days before taking part in the La Toja Forum alongside Palestinian pacifist Samer Sinijlawi, he calls for an end to the war and once again backs "understanding" between Israel and Palestine.
 
In a conversation with Agenda Pública, he is critical of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Government, laments the death of innocents, and calls for the start of "a process that allows the immediate return of the hostages and the release of the Palestinian prisoners," within "an agreement that creates a security force that takes charge of Gaza and allows Israel to withdraw completely." "Hamas is more or less destroyed. And now we have to bring back all the hostages. The general consensus in Israel, even in the army, is that there is nothing we can do now militarily that will bring the hostages back. The only way to achieve it is to end the war," he adds.
 
What do you expect from the La Toja Forum?
 
I hope it will be a good opportunity to discuss the current situation in the Middle East in general and, in particular, the war in Gaza and how we can put an end to it right now. We must begin a process that allows the immediate return of the hostages and the release of the Palestinian prisoners as part of an agreement that creates a security force that takes charge of Gaza and allows Israel to pull out completely. Gaza must be controlled by a security force that does not allow Hamas to re-emerge as a terrorist organization, creating violence between them and us.
 
Here in Spain the debate is a bit Manichean. For some people, even certain political leaders, if one criticizes the massacre that Israel is committing in Gaza, what Netanyahu is doing, it seems as if one is questioning the existence of Israel or even supporting Hamas…
 
I do not support Hamas. I have never supported Hamas. I believe that Hamas must be completely eliminated and I have no problem with eliminating Hamas fighters. I criticize the continuation of the military operation in Gaza because Hamas is more or less destroyed. And now we have to bring back all the hostages. The general consensus in Israel, including the army, is that there is nothing we can do now militarily that will bring the hostages back. The only way to achieve it is to end the war.
 

"There must be a security force of Palestinians and soldiers from moderate Arab countries that ensures that Hamas is in no position to dominate Gaza again"

Then there must be a security force of Palestinians and soldiers from moderate Arab countries that ensures that Hamas is in no position to dominate Gaza again. Hamas has to be completely disarmed and, hopefully, expelled from Gaza so that we can establish a new process of rapprochement between us and Gaza. But not, of course, with Hamas.
 
It is possible to condemn Hamas terrorism and, at the same time, condemn the killing of civilians in Gaza…
 
Of course I am not in favor of killing. There is no such policy. I criticize the Israeli government, but I never say that there is a policy of Israel to kill innocent people. Unfortunately, in the course of the military action, in order to reach Hamas and the murderers of Hamas, many innocent people were killed and that has to stop. The only way to stop it is to end the war and bring back all the hostages.
 
Is Israeli society divided?
 
Of course, because most of Israeli society wants to end the war now. It has to stop. And all the Israeli people want the hostages to be freed. The attitude of all Israelis is that the military operation will not bring them back, so we have to end the military operation.
 
And what do you think of the response of some European countries to break all relations with Israel and to demand, for example, that it not be present in Eurovision or in sports competitions?
 
I think it is a mistake. I will tell you why: I met a couple of times with the Spanish foreign minister in the last year, and I have no problem if the Spanish Government criticizes the Israeli Government and takes measures against it.
 

"I am against the Israeli government, so I cannot expect the Spanish Government to be in favor of Netanyahu. But I ask that it not be against the Israeli people"

I am against the Israeli Government, so I cannot expect the Spanish Government to be in favor of Netanyahu. But I ask that it not be against the Israeli people, that it not be against the State of Israel. Most Israelis are in favor of ending the war, so if the people of Israel are punished, you do not help punish the Israeli Government.
 
You call for an end to the war, the presence of peace forces in Gaza and the return of the hostages. What do you think of Trump’s peace plan?
 
I do not know what Trump’s position will be in the next hour. The twenty-one points proposed by President Trump seem reasonable and are a good basis for an agreement that stops the war and that perhaps also establishes the beginning of a process that goes beyond the war. It may encourage the two sides to begin negotiations for a comprehensive peace based on two states. This is what I propose.
 
Together with Nasser al-Kidwa, former Foreign Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, you signed a proposal in which you advocate precisely for the two-state solution.
 
Yes, that is what I signed together with Doctor Nasser al-Kidwa. He is the former foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority and former ambassador to the United Nations, and he is a representative of many Palestinians. We both want the same thing: to end the war and begin negotiations for a solution based on two states and on the ’67 borders, which is what I proposed to the president of the Palestinians back in 2008, when I was prime minister.
 
Do you consider that these days, with the war underway and with how the situation in the Middle East and the balance of forces have changed, it is more difficult than ever to achieve the two-state solution?
 
Of course it is more difficult, but when something is difficult, you have to work hard and you have to fight to achieve it, because there is no alternative solution. We can continue the war forever, but if we want to stop the war, if we want to establish a different direction that puts an end to wars once and for all, the only possible way to do it is with a comprehensive understanding about the two states. And that is what I am fighting and campaigning for.
 
In some way, with the actions of recent months, Israel has lost allies in public opinion and among the Arab states and is in a worse position in this negotiation…
 
The war was inevitable and unavoidable, since the massacre of October 7 required a counteroffensive of the most energetic kind. Certainly, if Spain had been attacked in the same way, Spain would have done the same: try to reach the murderers and kill them.
 
We are not discussing what was right to do two years ago, but what is right to do now, after two years and after so many Palestinians have been killed and after so many Hamas leaders have been eliminated by us. If Hamas has lost its military power, to the extent that we can end the war now, we can bring back all the hostages. And that is what we have to do.

Thank you. See you at La Toja Forum.