{"id":4736,"date":"2007-07-19T23:13:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-19T20:13:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-03-21T13:43:58","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T11:43:58","slug":"epalestine-interview-james-d-wolfensohn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/2007\/07\/epalestine-interview-james-d-wolfensohn\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW: James D. Wolfensohn: &#8216;All the dreams we had are now gone&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> www.haaretz.com<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Last update &#8211; 18:31 19\/07\/2007<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"4\"> <span style=\" font-size:14pt\"> <strong>&#8216;All the dreams we had are now gone&#8217;<\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> By Shahar Smooha \/ Photo by Tomer Appelbaum \/ BauBau<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> NEW YORK &#8211; Even on a steaming hot day such as descended on New York last Monday, the  Middle East looks very far away from the office of James D. Wolfensohn, 29 stories above  Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. Construction staff in work boots, wearing hip- hugging tool belts,  are still working industriously to complete the renovations &#8211; Wolfensohn is renting the entire  floor. That will happen very soon, at which time Wolfensohn, 73, who was president of the  World Bank for 10 years (1995-2005) and then spent 11 months as the Middle East envoy of  the Quartet (the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations), will  launch his new adventure. His sons are now working to raise $500 million to develop  alternative fuel sources, and he will head up the vast new fund.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Wolfensohn&#8217;s period in the Middle East has left its mark on him. He may have left Israel and  the Palestinian territories at the end of April 2006, but Israel and the territories have not yet  left him. Which is understandable.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> An Australian-born American Jew, Wolfensohn arrived in the region three months before the  Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, brimming with good intentions. His decade as head of  the World Bank, his relaxed temperament and his intimate acquaintance with the leaders of  the Quartet made him an ideal candidate for the post of special envoy. His father, who served  with the Jewish Battalions in World War I, planted emotional ties to Zionism and the region in  his heart.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Wolfensohn landed in the Middle East in May 2005 in order to monitor the Israeli  disengagement from Gaza and to help heal the badly ailing Palestinian economy. In the  beginning he was full of hope: He was able to raise $9 billion ($3 billion a year for three  years) to bolster the Palestinian economy, and in November 2005, three months after the  disengagement, he served as the mediator between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in  negotiations on transit routes and on access to and from the Gaza Strip. He also donated  money of his own to help the Palestinians buy Israeli-owned greenhouses in Gaza.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> However, the departure of Ariel Sharon from the political arena in January 2006, the fact that  Wolfensohn&#8217;s efforts were constantly undermined by none other than the U.S. administration,  and the rise of Hamas to power combined to derail his mission. At the end of April 2006, fed  up with both the Israelis and the Palestinians, and after understanding that he would not get  backing from the Quartet, he decided to pack it in. He returned to the United States, where  he divides his time between Manhattan and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and tried to leave the  failed mission behind him.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> For more than a year, Wolfensohn kept his feelings about his year in the Middle East to  himself. He watched, appalled, as the disengagement plan failed and as violence continued  to rage in the region. It was only after the recent takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas and  the appointment of former British prime minister Tony Blair to the post he held that  Wolfensohn agreed to speak on the record. Indeed, the impression is that he considers it his  duty to do so.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> <strong>Lost dreams&#160; <\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Even before he is asked about his reaction to Blair&#8217;s appointment as the Quartet&#8217;s emissary,  Wolfensohn opens the conversation with something of a self-justification: &quot;I don&#8217;t think that  when negotiations are going on at various different levels &#8211; and I&#8217;m reasonably well informed  about what&#8217;s going on &#8211; that intervention by a third party really adds much.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> The current situation in the Middle East leaves him in despair. &quot;I think it was certainly easier  in that glowing moment when there appeared to be an agreement that would give hope to the  Palestinians and security to the Israelis &#8211; and you need to have both. You need to have a  secure Israel, which is very clear, and you need to have a Palestinian community that feels it  can have hope. The polls show that Israelis and Palestinians have such a balance &#8211; they&#8217;d  like to come to a deal on borders, they&#8217;d like to reach a situation in which each can get on  with their lives and live side by side for centuries. I think the average person, whether it be  Hamas or Fatah, or religious or not religious, would love to settle down and live.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;I think that there was a framework for that in the agreement that Condi [Condoleezza] Rice  announced in my presence and in the presence of the European representative Javier  Solana,&quot; Wolfensohn continues. &quot;But in the months following, every aspect of the agreement  was abrogated. In fact, the sadness of it is that the last remaining aspect &#8211; the opening to  Egypt [via the border crossing] &#8211; has seen the international observers reducing their  representation because of non-usage [of the terminal]. So all the dreams that we had then  have now gone, and beyond that you now have an elected Hamas government and a split  with Fatah and [PA Chairman] Abu Mazen, with a new prime minister, and you&#8217;ve got Hamas  in Gaza. So we have an added difficulty in that we don&#8217;t have two parties now, we have three.  And one with whom neither of the other two wishes to deal.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> However, in Wolfensohn&#8217;s view, none of the sides can allow itself to observe from afar the  new reality that has emerged in the region and to wait for it to change. &quot;The reality is that you  have 1.4 million Palestinians living in Gaza and you can&#8217;t wish them away, you can&#8217;t leave  Gaza as a place where the rich and the intellectuals and the powerful can get out, and leave  just the people who can&#8217;t make a living &#8211; or can make a living if they could, but have no  leadership. And military use or subjugation doesn&#8217;t solve the problem, it seems to me.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> It is Wolfensohn&#8217;s view that &quot;in the interest of Israel, in the interest of the Palestinians, there  is a need to get things back to a situation where there is representation of all the Palestinian  people in an entity that can deal with Israel to bring about, if Israel wishes, a two-state  solution, which appears to be a thing Secretary [of State] Rice is now committed to.&quot; The  situation, he says, cannot simply &quot;be allowed to lie there, because just pretending that 1.4  million people can live in a sort of prison is not a solution at all. So I think it&#8217;s going to require,  on the part of Tony Blair or someone, some real negotiations to try and get this started.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Asked about another possible way out of the deadlock &#8211; with Israel taking the initiative and  exerting pressure on the Palestinian population to rid itself of the Hamas leadership, or  assassinating the organization&#8217;s leaders in order to pave the way for Fatah to take control  again &#8211; Wolfensohn shrugs his shoulders. &quot;I&#8217;m not at all sure that Israel can determine what  happens in Palestine, the Palestinian territories. There&#8217;s been no evidence up to now that a  decision taken by the Israelis will determine what the Palestinians do. I don&#8217;t think personally  that a military solution is a solution,&quot; he says dryly.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> <strong>Corruption at <\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> <strong>the crossings&#160; <\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Wolfensohn sounds hurt and disappointed as he describes the slide into violence after the  disengagement from Gaza. &quot;Part of the reason it happened, in my view, is that the conditions  in Gaza deteriorated so terribly,&quot; he explains. &quot;If you recall, in the time of the withdrawal there  was a day or two of people looting, but within 48 hours it was under control. Things were  peaceful in Gaza, and this was not because of a military presence of the Israelis. It was  because the Palestinians recognized that if they want to have any hope, they need to be in a  more peaceful mode.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> He toured the Gaza Strip with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen)  immediately after the PA asserted its authority there, and recalls a euphoric atmosphere that  dissipated very quickly.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;I remember seeing the greenhouses with the chairman and looking at the fruits and  everything, and there was a joyous atmosphere: &#8216;Boy, we&#8217;re about to get this going and we&#8217;re  going to have hotels by the beaches and we&#8217;re going to have tourism and it&#8217;s going to be  fantastic, and the Palestinians really know how to be hosts.&#8217; But in the months afterward, first  of all Arik [Sharon] became ill and the current prime minister came in, and there was a clear  change of view.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> At that time, Wolfensohn recalls, powerful forces in the U.S. administration worked behind his  back: They did not believe in the border terminals agreement and wanted to undermine his  status as the Quartet&#8217;s emissary. The official behind this development, he says, was Elliot  Abrams, the neoconservative who was appointed deputy national security adviser in charge  of disseminating democracy in the Middle East &#8211; &quot;and every aspect of that agreement was  abrogated.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> The non-implementation of the agreement naturally had serious economic consequences.  According to Wolfensohn, the shattering of the great hope of normality, which the  Palestinians experienced so deeply when the Israel Defense Forces and the settlers left the  Gaza Strip, brought about the rise of Hamas. &quot;Instead of hope, the Palestinians saw that they  were put back in prison. And with 50 percent unemployment, you would have conflict. This is  not just a Palestinian issue. If you have 50 percent of your people with no work, chances are  they will become annoyed. So it&#8217;s not, in my opinion, that Palestinians are so terrible; it is that  they were in a situation where a modulation of views between one and the other became  impossible.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;And you can blame the Palestinians because there were those among them who were firing  rockets or you can blame the Israelis for overreacting,&quot; he continues. &quot;But either way &#8211;  whichever side you take &#8211; the situation that emerged was that you had 50 percent of the  population frustrated, no resources, and a border which was corrupt on both sides. I saw it  with my own eyes: Israelis and Palestinians, arm in arm, walking off together and clearly  pricing how you could get your truck to the top of the line or get it through at all. It was an  absolutely transparently corrupt system at the border &#8211; you had to buy your truck&#8217;s way  across. I thought it was a disgrace.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> The issue of the greenhouses is especially painful to Wolfensohn because of his personal  contribution to them. &quot;Everything was rotting because you couldn&#8217;t get the fruit. And if you  went to the border, as I did many times, and saw tomatoes and fruit just being dumped on  the side of the road, you would have to say that if you were a Palestinian farmer you&#8217;d be  pretty upset. So my view is to try and not demonize the Palestinians. I&#8217;m not denying that  there are Palestinians who fire rockets and do terrible things; I know that that happens. But to  get a fundamental solution, you have to have hope on both sides.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Wolfensohn is not naive. He knows that the Hamas election victory in January 2006 did not  derive only from the collapse of the border-crossings agreement after the disengagement,  but also from the years-long corruption of the Fatah leadership. He says he cautioned Fatah  representatives with whom he was in contact about this danger, but they ignored him.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;Fatah wasn&#8217;t that popular at the time. A lot of people thought that the Fatah leadership was  overpaid. The Palestinians, at least, did. They thought they had a dishonest leadership &#8211; not, I  think, at the level of Abu Mazen, but at a ministerial level. They felt that there was an elite  class that was taking advantage of the situation, and that the only way they could get some  improvement was by electing a group that, at least at the time, was perceived as  straightforward. My own opinion is that the decision to move to Hamas was partly ideological,  but partly because of the failure of the Fatah leadership. I know that to be the case and so  does everybody who was there.&quot; Wolfensohn had discussions with the Fatah leadership, he  says, &quot;but at the time they were pretty self-confident. If you look at [Mohammed] Dahlan, the  people who were there, the informal leaders &#8211; there wasn&#8217;t a lot of talk about Hamas ousting  them.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Didn&#8217;t they think it was a problem for them to drive their shiny Mercedes through refugee  camps?&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Wolfensohn: &quot;I thought it was and said so many times. It&#8217;s not only that, it&#8217;s also the building  of the big houses, the private armies. They said their polls showed that they&#8217;d win. What can  you do? I&#8217;m an outsider. For any outsider there&#8217;s a level to which you cannot penetrate.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Even though Wolfensohn identified the danger already then &#8211; in contrast to many observers  and commentators, who see America&#8217;s insistence on holding democratic elections in the PA  as the factor that enabled Hamas to become so strong &#8211; he does not view this as a mistake.  &quot;I think that&#8217;s a very hard question to answer, because although it&#8217;s pretty clear that the tide  had turned in terms of support for Hamas, there had been a promise of elections. I think  probably that I, too, would have taken the position to press on, in the hope that the outcome  might have been different.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> <strong>Surprised by Bush&#160; <\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> James Wolfensohn was born in Sydney, Australia in 1933. He is a graduate of the faculty of  law of the University of Sydney, was the captain of the Australian fencing team at the 1956  Olympic Games in Melbourne, and served as an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force.  After the Olympics he entered Harvard Business School, emerging with an MBA. He was  then employed briefly by the Swiss-based cement company Holderbank (now Holcim), before  returning to Australia and working in a number of banking firms, specializing in investments.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> His principal employer in this period was the investment bank J. Henry Schroders. He served  as a senior executive in the institution&#8217;s London headquarters before becoming the managing  director of its New York branch, a post he held from 1970 until 1976. Afterward Wolfensohn  held a senior position with Salomon Brothers, the Wall Street investment bank.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> In the 1970s, he became friends with the cellist Jacqueline du Pre and began to study the  instrument with her when he was 41. He continues to take this hobby seriously and performs  on various occasions. Wolfensohn says that if peace is ever attained between Israel and the  Palestinians, he has an agreement in principle with Ehud Barak (&quot;I like Ehud Barak, but that&#8217;s  largely because he&#8217;s a pianist&quot;) and with a Palestinian violinist to give a joint concert.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Wolfensohn became an American citizen in 1980 and was already then considered a  candidate to head the World Bank, after the tenure of Robert McNamara. When this did not  happen, he established an investment firm bearing his name, and devoted much of his time  to philanthropic activity. Among other public service activities, he was chairman of Carnegie  Hall in New York and of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> In 1995, he was nominated by then-U.S. president Bill Clinton to be president of the World  Bank, and won the unreserved support of the bank&#8217;s board. His term was unanimously  extended for another five years in 2005, making him the third person to hold the presidency  for two consecutive terms (after Eugene Black and McNamara). During his term of office,  Wolfensohn placed the emphasis on changing the institution&#8217;s organizational culture,  focusing attention not only on making loans, but also on creating economic growth in the  Third World and reducing the rate of poverty throughout the world. He was surprised, he  says, that President George Bush let him continue as president of the World Bank, instead of  appointing one of his people to the post.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;No Democratic appointee kept his job, and he wanted to put in [Paul] Wolfowitz, so it was  clear to me that I couldn&#8217;t stay a day longer at the World Bank,&quot; he reveals. &quot;It was very clear  that it wasn&#8217;t personal. It was practice. But they then asked me if I&#8217;d take on this other term,  which was hugely unusual and I have no I idea why it happened. I was very surprised, and  delighted.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> <strong>&#8216;Small print&#8217;&#160; <\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> According to James Wolfensohn, the major blame for the failure of his Middle East mission  lies with him. &quot;I feel that if anything, I was stupid for not reading the small print,&quot; he admits. &quot;I  was never given the mandate to negotiate the peace.&quot; The mandate he received, he says &#8211;  which is identical to the one Tony Blair has now been given &#8211; was solely to try to improve the  economic situation in the territories and to improve the Palestinians&#8217; situation in general,  whereas he naively thought that this included intervention to advance peace.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;To be quite honest with you, I was so anxious to try to help. I was getting out of the World  Bank, and I thought, you know, this is a good place to start. I was full of ideas and good  intent, and everybody would see me and they would all discuss the peace process with me. I  was given enough rope so that I could go to the G7 [meetings of finance ministers from  seven industrialized nations] and see any leader that I wanted, and when I got out of the bank  I just continued, not because of the need to see them, but because I thought this job was  pretty good, because I was really helping to do something that I was keenly interested in.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> In 2005, Wolfensohn&#8217;s access to the G7 leaders may have made it easier for him to extract  from them a commitment for a $9-billion package to ameliorate the situation of the  Palestinian economy. However, he says, afterward Condoleezza Rice and Elliot Abrams  made it very clear to him that intervention in peace negotiations was not within his purview. &quot;I  had to fight my way into the November [2005] meeting when Secretary Rice announced the  six-point plan. I was there with Javier Solana when it was announced, and what I didn&#8217;t  realize was that that was the death penalty, because after that the Israelis and the Americans  took apart that agreement one by one, and I knew less and less what was happening. And  my team of 18 people was fired. So I was left with no office and no people, and even though  they asked me to stay on, it was pretty clear to me that the only thing to do was to get out.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Asked whether the disengagement plan was not one big mistake, because of its unilateral  character and because Israel has been attacked relentlessly from the Gaza Strip since its  implementation, Wolfensohn waxes nostalgic for Ariel Sharon. &quot;I don&#8217;t think it was a mistake,  if it had been followed by the second part of the disengagement &#8211; to create a self-sustaining  entity that could be the first step to Palestinian statehood that could allow the Palestinians to  live their lives and develop a sense of national integrity. That was an opportunity that was  missed, and at the heart of it was Arik [Sharon]. He was an unlikely negotiator of peace  because of his record, but I have to say that personally I found him very pragmatic. I can&#8217;t say  that he was fond of Palestinians, but he knew that for the future, you couldn&#8217;t have an Israel  full of Palestinians. That demographic imperative made it essential that there would be some  kind of two-state solution.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Sharon, Wolfensohn continues, &quot;was hugely suspicious of me, as he was of the Quartet, but  in the end he accepted me and I think I knew what was in his mind. I think he saw the Gaza  withdrawal as a very positive thing. When Condi [Rice] came over for those meetings in  November [2005], he and I at that stage were becoming pretty good friends. He got up from  the table where he was sitting with Condi &#8211; and that&#8217;s something he never did &#8211; came across  to my table and gave me a hug. He was prime minister, so it was for me to [rise to] greet him,  but he did it in a very obvious way. I think personally that he had the strength and the  standing, and in my opinion the determination to move through with the two-state solution.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;I don&#8217;t blame [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert. He doesn&#8217;t have the strength or the leadership  that Arik had. Arik, as you remember, confronted the nation and said, &#8216;If you want to attack  someone, attack me.&#8217; Ehud [Olmert] has not had the standing and his popularity is quite low,&quot;  Wolfensohn adds, smiling.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;I have no doubts that I may have made tactical, strategic mistakes, but the basic problem  was that I didn&#8217;t have the authority. The Quartet had the authority, and within the Quartet it  was the Americans who had the authority. It was not a Quartet decision to close the office,&quot;  he explains, in a very unsubtle hint. &quot;There was never a desire on the part of the Americans  to give up control of the negotiations, and I would doubt that in the eyes of Elliot Abrams and  the State Department team, I was ever anything but a nuisance.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> <strong>Not such a big deal&#160; <\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Wolfensohn is convinced that he was also perceived as a nuisance by Olmert and by Dov  Weissglas, Sharon&#8217;s close adviser, who stayed on in the initial period after Sharon was  incapacitated by a stroke. Wolfensohn feels that he may have been able to wield influence in  matters of little importance, but that he did not have access to the real decision makers after  Sharon&#8217;s departure. &quot;I was mature enough to understand that at the main gate, I had no  position,&quot; he says.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;My worry for Tony Blair is that if you read the mandate he has &#8211; it&#8217;s exactly the same as  mine. It talks about helping both sides, helping the Palestinians, but there&#8217;s nothing there  about negotiating peace. I would only hope that there&#8217;s a greater mandate given to him,  because even with the superior standing that he has over the standing I had, if he doesn&#8217;t  have a mandate &#8230; If halfway through the negotiations your office is closed and someone  takes over the negotiations, you have to say you failed,&quot; Wolfensohn says, breaking into loud,  bitter laughter.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Did you speak with Blair after his appointment?&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;I have no comment on that.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> How do you assess his chances?&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;Better than mine were. He is closer to George Bush. He was prime minister. I do not believe  there&#8217;s much time. I think it is difficult. But we&#8217;re fortunate to have somebody with  experience.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Precisely because he views himself as an analyst who observes the global arena from a  bird&#8217;s-eye view, Wolfensohn is convinced that the Palestinians &#8211; and even more, the Israelis &#8211;  cannot allow themselves to waste time. He also disputes the prevailing concept in the region,  which holds that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is central to the future of the world.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;In the end, both sides have to recognize that they are 11 million people in a sea of 350  million Arabs,&quot; Wolfensohn says, and goes on to illustrate the proportions numerically: &quot;Over  the last four years, the war in Israel and Palestine has cost the international community &#8211;  including military expenditure &#8211; somewhere between $10 and $20 billion. The Iraq war has  cost $600 billion. The Afghanistan war has cost between $50 billion and $100 billion. You  have a nuclear threat in Iran, you have the issue of Syria and which way it goes, and you  have a doubling of the Arab population in something like between 10 and 15 years. So  instead of 350 million, there will be 700 million. Israel may grow from six million to eight  million, if they&#8217;re lucky, or nine million.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;There has to be a moment when Israelis and Palestinians understand that they are a  sideshow,&quot; Wolfensohn continues. &quot;The real global politics is the politics of war and the  politics of nuclear weaponry and the weight of the population. In the Western press the  Israeli-Palestinian conflict gets a lot of coverage, but you should see the press in the  developing countries, as I did when I visited more than 140 countries: It&#8217;s not such a big deal  there. I don&#8217;t see any way to argue that Israel&#8217;s position is improving.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Wolfensohn carefully avoids giving a reply to the question of whether the continuation of the  conflict and the worsening of Israel&#8217;s situation are liable to produce a regime with apartheid  characteristics. At the same time, he notes that Israel has for some time been suffering from  a brain drain, and adds that when the country reaches junctures of major decisions, the  strength of the security establishment always overcomes that of the civil forces in society.&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;The expenses on military and intelligence in Israel are probably greater than in any  democracy I know of, and I can understand that, given the situation, but as a continuing  characteristic of the country, I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s hopeful. To me it is so bloody sad that all the  creativity you have in Israeli youth has to go through this experience in the army, risking their  lives,&quot; Wolfensohn says, casting his gaze far beyond Central Park. &quot;Israeli youth finish high  school and spend two-three years in the army, and then go to Thailand and other places and  smoke pot to get over it, then come back and start their lives when they&#8217;re 24. I don&#8217;t think  that&#8217;s an ideal way for the next generation of Israel to live their lives.&quot;&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Did your mission in Israel change the way you perceive Zionism and Israel?&#160; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &quot;No. I still believe in that. But Israelis and Palestinians really should get over thinking that  they&#8217;re a show on Broadway. They are a show in the Village, off-off-off-off Broadway. I hope I  don&#8217;t get into too much trouble for saying this, but what the hell, that&#8217;s what I believe, and I&#8217;m  73.&quot; W<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/2007-07-19\/ty-article\/all-the-dreams-we-had-are-now-gone\/0000017f-df03-df7c-a5ff-df7b30140000\">https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/2007-07-19\/ty-article\/all-the-dreams-we-had-are-now-gone\/0000017f-df03-df7c-a5ff-df7b30140000<\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> &#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> Everything about this list:<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> http:\/\/lists.riseup.net\/www\/info\/epalestine<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> To unsubscribe, send mail to:<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> epalestine-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">  <\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> To subscribe, send mail to:<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"> <span style=\" font-size:10pt\"> epalestine-subscribe@lists.riseup.net<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>www.haaretz.com Last update &#8211; 18:31 19\/07\/2007 &#8216;All the dreams we had are now gone&#8217; By Shahar Smooha \/ Photo by Tomer Appelbaum \/ BauBau NEW YORK &#8211; Even on a steaming hot day such as descended on New York last Monday, the Middle East looks very far away from the office of James D. Wolfensohn, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","iawp_total_views":5,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1401],"ppma_author":[936],"class_list":["post-4736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-hamas"],"authors":[{"term_id":936,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"sambahour","display_name":"Sam Bahour","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bca109c333bf6d8ae807746dd512adde46265d37c923f6cd0fc4aab437f8e9aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4736"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9375,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4736\/revisions\/9375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4736"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=4736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}