The past decade's major policies: the withdrawal from Gaza, the construction of the security fence, the acceptance of the road map peace plan, the Annapolis Conference, Operation Defensive Shield, the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead all shared one central feature.
When one compares Olmert's management of the current crisis with former prime minister Ariel Sharon's management of Operation Defensive Shield in April 2002, the fact that this operation is not serious becomes manifestly clear.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Olmert's response to Palestinian violence
On March 29, 2002 Sharon announced the cabinet's decision that precipitated Operation Defensive Shield.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Olmert's response to Palestinian violence
That in turn paved the way for Israel's launch of Operation Defensive Shield three months later.
Operation Defensive Shield was a textbook example of what you get when you mix weak politicians with a strong society.
Israel defeated the Palestinians when in the wake of Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, it retained security control over Judea and Samaria.
In just one notable example, in April 2002, Erekat claimed in multiple television appearances that the IDF killed more than 500 people at Jenin refugee camp during Operation Defensive Shield.
In Israel, counterparts to Code Pink like Uri Avineri's Gush Shalom acted as human shields to protect Yasser Arafat and his fellow terrorists from the IDF during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.
With Israel's rejection of the plan, and with the documents the IDF secured during Operation Defensive Shield proving definitively that Arafat was a terrorist, the Saudi plan was laid to the side.
As foreign minister in Ariel Sharon's government during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, Shimon Peres did not prevent the international Left in Europe and the US from accusing Israel of committing war crimes.
Such a move would involve compromising all of the IDF's military achievements in the areas since 2002 when it first targeted the Palestinian terror factories from Hebron to Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield.
Since the IDF reasserted its control over the areas in 2002 during Operation Defensive Shield, the Israeli military has managed to largely prevent the Palestinians from rebuilding terror infrastructures capable of carrying out major or sustained attacks against Israel.
It was only after Operation Defensive Shield returned our soldiers to the streets of Ramallah, Beit Lehem, Shehem, Jenin, Kalkilya and Hebron, and vastly curtailed the powers of the Palestinian armed forces, that we could feel safe going out to dinner and riding the bus again.
But US Secretary of State Colin Powell defended the airport operation as a "defensive action" to stop weapons falling into the hands of Israel's neighbours.
Because the Left was in the government in 2002, 2006 and 2009, the media supported Defensive Shield, the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead.
The military thinking behind a cruiser such as the Ticonderoga class is to create an offensive warship that will also provide defensive firepower for a carrier group or amphibious operation under air or sea attack.
"The deployment will be defensive only and will not support a no-fly zone or any offensive operation, " it added.
But while Defensive Shield's goal was to "defeat the terror infrastructure, " the current Operation Summer Rains in Gaza has set as its goal returning Cpl.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Olmert's response to Palestinian violence
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