Remember July 12th? Remember what Olmert promised?
"No one in the international community is asking us to halt the operation before an implementation of the G8 decision," Olmert said. "In order to implement this, we may have to hold diplomatic negotiations – not with Hizbullah. In any case, starting negotiations will not stop the operation – only the return of the kidnapped soldiers will."
He made it clear that until there is no certainty that Israel is not under threat, the Israel Defense Forces will not stop its operation.
Remember why over 100 Israeli soldiers and dozens of Israeli civilians have been killed and countless others wounded over the past month, not to mention the refugees?
Well, never mind.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz met with the families of kidnapped IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev on Sunday and broke the news to them that the cease-fire in Lebanon would be implemented without their sons returning home.
Diplomatic officials had promised the families in the past that Israel would insist on Goldwasser and Regev returning home from Lebanon along with the rest of the IDF in any agreement to end the fighting. But Olmert said he had to make a difficult decision to allow the war to end.
"I decided that we shouldn't condition the entire cease-fire on getting the kidnapped soldiers back," Olmert said in the cabinet meeting. "We were not willing to remain in the mud of Lebanon and not allow the people in the North to return to their homes, nor were we willing to give Hizbullah the power to veto the cease-fire by refusing to release the soldiers. As difficult as it was, this is what I told the soldiers' families."
Reprehensible. It's little comfort that Olmert is most likely about to be given the boot. Very little comfort, indeed.
