Not surprisingly the Washington Post’s coverage of Olmert’s announcement that he would step down after the Kadima primaries, focuses on the peace process.
Palestinian officials reacted cautiously, with Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki saying that Olmert’s decision would not change much, the Associated Press reported. “It’s true that Olmert was enthusiastic about the peace process and he spoke about this process with great attention, but it has not achieved any progress or breakthrough,” Maliki said.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority, whose influence is limited to the West Bank, renewed peace talks at a U.S.-sponsored conference in Annapolis, Md., in November, after a seven-year hiatus. More recently, Israel has renewed indirect peace talks with Syria, with the latest round, mediated by Turkey, concluding Thursday.
Olmert said he would continue to push for peace as long as he is in office, but it appears unlikely that Israel will make any major decisions on concessions to either Syria or the Palestinians until a new government is formed.
Surprisingly though, the reporter failed to mention that Shaul Mofaz is also contending to succeed Olmert as head of Kadima, and mentions only Tzipi Livni as the frontrunner.
At the end of the article Kadima’s viability was questioned:
Gerald Steinberg, a professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, said the most likely scenario was that Israel would go to new elections. That would pit Livni against former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the opposition Likud Party. Polls show Netanyahu with a 10-point lead over Livni if the elections were held today.
“She will have a hard time convincing voters that she has the necessary security experience,” Steinberg said. “We’re talking about issues like a possible war with Iran or Hamas in Gaza. These are difficult situations.”
Thursday’s announcement could also bode ill for Kadima. The party was founded by former prime minister Ariel Sharon in November 2005 to advocate for a Palestinian state in the West Bank. Olmert was thrust into the leadership of Kadima in January 2006 after Sharon suffered a massive stroke.
“Kadima is a very fragile structure that Sharon put together, and it could well shatter after the primary,” Steinberg said.
Daniel Pipes said the same thing, two years ago.
I was skeptical of Kadima from the very start, dismissing it just one week after it came into existence as an escapist venture that “will (1) fall about as abruptly as it has arisen and (2) leave behind a meager legacy.” If Sharon’s career is now over, so is Kadima’s. He created it, he ran it, he decided its policies, and none else can now control its fissiparous elements. Without Sharon, Kadima’s constituent elements will drift back to their old homes in Labour, Likud, and elsewhere. With a thud, Israeli politics return to normal.
Well that didn’t happen as Olmert proved to be able to keep Kadima afloat. However, I suspect that that’s because he’s an excellent political operator. Losing a half to two thirds of the party’s Knesset representation will likely turn it into a circular firing squad.
While focusing largely on the peace process, the NY Times’s report is a lot more comprehensive than the Washington Post (and doesn’t ignore Mofaz. It also brought this quote:
Mr. Olmert’s drive for diplomatic achievements “might frighten some,†said Abraham Diskin, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. There are Israelis who do not believe in agreements, and others who support the peace effort but do not feel comfortable having their leader negotiate desperately with an eye on the clock. “I belong to that second category,†Mr. Diskin said.
While the NY Times mentions that the PA claims that the announcement is an internal Israeli matter, the doctor of Holocaust denial has thrown an tantrum and declared that he will go home if no one pays attention to him. No one noticed.
Still neither the Times nor the Post seem much concerned with the threats Israel faces from Iran and its proxies, just the peace process, which I suppose is reflective of the American view.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad
