Olmert: Palestinian referendum plan is 'meaningless'

[Poll_Blind]

From Ha'aretz:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert dismissed as meaningless Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' expected call for a referendum on establishing a Palestinian state, Britain's Independent newspaper reported Friday.

Olmert travels to Europe Sunday for a visit aimed at drumming up international support for his highly contentious plan to withdraw from parts of the West Bank and unilaterally draw Israel's borders with the Palestinians.

He meets British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London on Monday and then flies to Paris for talks with President Jacques Chirac and others.

--snip--

"The referendum is an internal game between one faction and the other," Olmert said. "It is meaningless in terms of the broad picture of chances towards some kind of dialogue between us and the Palestinians. It's meaningless."

--snip--

Meaningless? Oh, ok, just know, Mr. Olmert, that when you travel to Europe to peddle your opinion those pictures of the dead on the Gaza beach are going to be following you around everywhere you go. Good luck with that, BTW.

PB

[Tom Joad]

1. For decades, many of these beaches were off-limits to Palestinians.

Still they are being terrorized from the skies.

[Englander]

2. And the sea.

'Beach strike shakes Hamas cease-fire

Seven Palestinians die while picnicking on beach

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- An Israeli navy gunboat fired shells onto a northern Gaza beach Friday, killing at least seven people and prompting the military wing of Hamas to call off a 16-month-old cease-fire with Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was firing on rocket-launching areas in Gaza after a militant attack earlier in the day. The target areas were believed to be uninhabited, a representative said.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/09/mideast/