Someone at Arutz 7 had a little too much coffee this morning:

The issue of "Arab refugees" has long been a matter of widespread consensus in Israel, with even left-wing parties declaring that allowing them into Israel would endanger its very existence as a Jewish state. Nevertheless, the subject does not appear to be going away. Reports are that Prime Minister Olmert has now agreed to allow 50,000 Arabs who left Israel in 1948 - or are descendants of those who did - to enter and live in Israel. Channel Ten reported Thursday night that in a private meeting between Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen, the two agreed that in the final-status agreement, Israel would withdraw from 92% of Judea and Samaria, including all the non-Jewish neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem. It was also agreed that 50,000 "refugees from 1948" would enter and live in the State of Israel.

Barring the possibility that Olmert is the cleverest right-wing politician in Israeli history, it strains credulity to assume that he put a poison pill in a comprehensive peace agreement. The point is presumably to get people to sign off on the deal, not to lose his coalition and get him banished him to the political wilderness because he turned out to be clinically insane.

On the other hand, we're agnostic about whether this is unilateral right-wing panic or whether it was genuinely helped along by a leak or two from the PMO. This is Sharon's old strategy - leak that you're going to make massive and unacceptable concessions, then watch the right burn their energy fighting to keep something you never really intended to give away (Sharon, by the by, was much better at it than Olmert). When Bush and the State Department brought up the so-called Right of Return last week, it may have been the State Department pulling the same nonsense on Olmert himself - suggest that the US is looking for massive concessions, then watch him burn his energy fighting to keep something that they never really expected him to give up.

Pro-Israel activists should keep their eyes on the ball: Jerusalem, the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank (because the Palestinians won't allow Jews in their new democratic state), and the proposed dismantling of Israel so the Palestinians can have a contiguous state between two politically distinct territories. While 50,000 of the world's most fanatic anti-Semites will not be flooding into Israel as a result of this round of negotiations, all of those proposals are actually on the table. Panicking about anything else is a distraction that does the far left's work for them.

References:
* Report: Olmert Agrees to Allow in 50,000 Arab 'Refugees' [INN]
* Bush: Let's Put The Palestinian Right Of Return On The Table [MR]

Previously:
* Islamists: Jews Not Good Enough to Be Lied To
* It's Official: State Department Positions More Anti-Israel Than What Palestinians Demand
* Holocaust Denier Complains to Israeli Traitors about Israelis