How many goals can a player score against his own team at the end of a game? You should ask our prime minister, who knows something about soccer. How much damage will he be causing the team, that is, to us, in order to somehow turn into a star despite all?

Has he decided to insist on finalizing an agreement with Mahmoud Abbas (another lowly bench player) this year just for the sake of being remembered as someone who did something? Is he trying to forcefully get a foothold in the annals of history, as the gates are closing?

The Palestinians want the Dead Sea? No problem. Take it. It is so salty anyways. There are no fish there, and soon there will be no water left there either. The Palestinians want the Jordan Rift Valley? Please, go ahead. Just between us, it’s so hot there, who needs it anyway.

The Palestinians want to bring thousands of the descendents of the 1948 refugees into Israel? Why not? There are so many Arabs in the Middle East anyway; it doesn’t matter if they live there or here.

As long as we finalize a deal, this year.

Mahmoud Abbas has loudly declared, at every platform, that the above-mentioned clauses have been promised to him. The Prime Minister’s Office has issued a weak denial, if at all.

More than 100 years of conflict with the Palestinians will be ending this year, not because Olmert came up with an amazing solution that nobody thought of before, and not because the Palestinians have decided to compromise on some of their exaggerated demands. Not at all. The only reason for this is that Olmert senses he has no time left.

Is this good for the country? That’s only a secondary consideration for Olmert. Instead of acting responsibly and exercising good judgment, look at what he is doing. He was given a precious deposit and was supposed to safeguard it and return it in better condition. In any case, he wasn’t supposed to return it in worse condition. That’s your job, Olmert.

Olmert’s calculations
Yet Olmert possesses plenty of political slyness. He is already making all sorts of calculations: Whoever wins the Kadima primaries will be given 28 days to form a government. Should they fail, they could be given another 14 days. If there is still no government, and no other premiership candidate, another 90 days shall pass until general elections are held and someone else is able to form a government. And there, with a little luck Olmert will gain another six months in power.

If the ticking clock brings such wonderful results when it comes to resolving such complex problems, why doesn’t the prime minister focus on solving the energy crisis, for example? He can go ahead and develop cheap clean energy by using solar power, winds, or the sea. Perhaps he can develop a cure for a currently incurable disease.

That way, he will gain a place in the annals of history, and we won’t have to deal with the mess that he’s preparing for us now