Now Olmert was discovered "coaching" Italian prime minister Romano Prodi "on what to say during their joint press conference," as if Mr. Prodi is a meathead unable to speak intelligently for himself. "It is important that you emphasize the three principles of the Quartet—that they are not negotiated (sic). They are the basis for everything," Reuters quotes Olmert as instructing.

It, of course, makes sense Olmert would push the so-called Quartet on Prodi or, for that matter, anybody else who bothers to listen. Quartet is shorthand for the cooked up plans for the Palestinians by the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations. As if to gauge what is in store, consider the Quartet’s special envoy for Israel’s "disengagement" from Gaza between May 2005 and April 2006 was none other than James Wolfensohn, Bilderberg intimate and former president of the World Loan Sharking Operation, otherwise known as the World Bank.

But even so, Olmert is playing the game for all it is worth. Olmert and the Israelis understand all too well seemingly rational and fair aspects of the Quartet—for instance, down the road, or maybe we should say down the Road Map, a Palestinian state is promised, but before this can happen Israel is expected to honor UN Resolution 242, that is withdrawal to the 1967 border, as the Zionist state promised in the Camp David Accords and the Oslo Agreement.

In other words, the Palestinians may as well wish for a pony. Because the Israelis will never agree to a Palestinian state, not even one comprised of the enfeebled Swiss cheese Bantustans agreed upon at Oslo, subsequently hemmed in by an apartheid wall, reducing the West Bank to a large Warsaw ghetto. In the meantime, the Israeli military will continue to slaughter Palestinians, as dictated by state policy. "We must cause them losses, casualties!" exclaimed Ariel Sharon before he slipped into a coma. "They must first be hit hard…. Only after they are beaten will we be able to hold talks." Indeed, the Israel state, no matter its leader, has "hit hard" since 1948, killing thousands.

In fact, the Israelis like to make "peace" deals with the Palestinians and then set about carving up land and killing school children, as they did handily over the 1993-2000 period of the Oslo accords. "Every major peace proposal, whether from Arab leaders or Western ones, teaches a numbingly familiar lesson: Half-measures and negotiations dominated by Israel and the U.S. only lead to the further entrenchment of Israel’s power and the further disenfranchisement and suffering of Palestinians. In every case, the massive power imbalance between Israel and the Palestinians has determined the outcome," notes the Socialist Review. Interesting how it takes socialists to notice what Democrats and Republicans never notice, as they are too busy following the AIPAC carrot for fear of the stick.

Of course, Romano Prodi, as a "center-left" politician and former president of the European Commission (a "supranational" elite managed by international banksters) fell in line. "As it happened, Prodi did deliver words to that effect. He further endorsed Israel’s vision of remaining a Jewish state—code for ruling out an influx of Palestinian refugees. This, Channel 10 television suggested, was also at Olmert’s prodding," Reuters continues.

Only a bit of translation is in order: Israel intends to remain a racist state, a nation where only Jews enjoy full citizenship (and Israelis are stripped of citizenship if they marry Palestinians), and there will be no right of return, that is to say the violent theft of Palestinian land and the expulsion of Palestinians will remain codified, and Palestinians will continue living in squalid refugee camps, driven there by massacre, rape, and the memories of Dawayima (where the Israelis killed everything that moved) and Deir Yassin (a massacre led by Irgun terrorist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Menachem Begin).

But then, as Israeli historian Benny Morris has stated: "You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs. You have to dirty your hands…. in certain conditions, expulsion is not a war crime. I don’t think that the expulsions of 1948 were war crimes."

"Olmert, a former lawyer and career politician, cuts a suave figure that is dramatically different to that of his predecessor, Ariel Sharon. An ex-general, Sharon was famous—to his foes, notorious—for often preferring action over talk."

In fact, as Chris McGreal of the Guardian suggested earlier this year, Sharon and Olmert are "brothers in arms." Now that Sharon is "out of politics," thanks to a massive stroke and resultant coma, "his successor Ehud Olmert has pledged himself to carrying through the vision of carving out Israel’s final borders deep inside the West Bank and retaining all of Jerusalem for the Jewish state." In short, Olmert will continue stealing as much land as possible, and this is apparently acceptable for Romano Prodi as the representative of the Italian people.

"Sharon recruited into his government men who openly called for wholesale ethnic cleansing that would more than match apartheid’s forced removals. Among them was the tourism minister, Rehavam Ze’evi, who advocated the 'transfer’ of Arabs out of Israel and the occupied territories…. An influential member of the Likud central committee, Uzi Cohen, said Israel and its western allies should demand that a part of Jordan be carved off as a Palestinian state and that Arabs in the occupied territories should be given 20 years to 'leave voluntarily.’ 'In case they don’t leave, plans would have to be drawn up to expel them by force,’ Cohen told Israel radio. 'Many people support the idea but few are willing to speak about it publicly.’ Cohen is among 70 Israeli MPs who have backed a bill to establish a national memorial day for Ze’evi and an institute to perpetuate his ideas" (Ze’evi was shot dead by incensed Palestinians, or so the story has it).

Olmert’s Rehavam Ze’evi is none other than Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Yisrael Beytenu party and deputy prime minister. In response to Palestinians standing up, daring to walk around like humans and defend themselves, Lieberman said: "At 8am we’ll bomb all the commercial centers… at noon we’ll bomb their gas stations… at two we’ll bomb their banks." He also called for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel to be drowned in the Dead Sea and offered to provide the buses to take them there. In May 2004, he said that 90 percent of Israel’s 1.2 million Arabs would "have to find a new Arab entity" in which to live beyond Israel’s borders. "They have no place here. They can take their bundles and get lost" (see Avigdor Lieberman’s Wikipedia entry for the source of these scurrilous quotes).

And yet none of this is consistently mentioned here in the land of blissful ignorance and amnesia, thanks to the corporate media. Rest assured, however, that Michael Richards will be called out for using the "N-word" and Mel Gibson all but crucified for a drunken tirade against Jews.

No, little of substance will change, even as Ehud Olmert whispers in Romano Prodi’s ear as if the latter is some sort of Stepford automaton, nodding with nearly bovine acceptance. Prodi will do as instructed, as will the Americans, especially those in Congress, lest they lose their place at the trough. Israel shall remain a racist state, Palestinians will suffer, and, oh yes, Iran will be attacked, setting the Middle East on fire, as long planned.

As for the attack waged against Iran, guaranteed before Bush exits office, Democrats agree.

It’s all but a done deal.