Former Israeli Prime Minister Endorses Palestinian U.N. Bid
Israel’s former leader, Ehud Olmert, today endorsed the Palestinian campaign for being recognized as a “non-member observer state” by the United Nations General Assembly. Olmert told Bernard Avishai, an Israeli writer and contributor to the Daily Beast’s Open Zion blog, that “I believe that the Palestinian request from the United Nations is congruent with the basic concept of the two-state solution…It is time to give a hand to, and encourage, the moderate forces amongst the Palestinians. Abu-Mazen and Salam Fayyad [Palestinian National Authority President and Prime Minister, respectively] need our help. It’s time to give it.”