Israel fears rise of attacks from East Jerusalemites by Jean-Luc Renaudie
SEPT 23,08
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli media on Tuesday raised fears of a growing trend of attacks by Palestinians from east Jerusalem after a man rammed his car into a group of soldiers, injuring 13 people before being shot dead. Monday's was the latest incident involving vehicle attacks in the Holy City by Palestinians, sparking calls for stepped-up security and harsher punitive measures.The incident took place near Tzahal Square, just outside the 400-year-old walls of Jerusalem's Old City and a few hundred metres (yards) from Jaffa Gate, a major tourist thoroughfare.There aren't any intelligence warnings, there isn't any deterrence and, worst of all, the security establishment doesn't have any solutions, read an editorial in Israel's mass-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper.Demolishing murderers' homes and punishing their families is cruel and inhuman. But does anyone have a better solution for stopping this wave? Paraphrasing remarks by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after previous attacks, the Haaretz daily said: Anyone who thinks Israel's occupation in east Jerusalem must continue will have to take into account more bulldozer attacks.
Police identified the driver of the car as Qasem Mughrabi, a 19-year-old from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jebel Mukaber, and said he carried out the attack after his cousin refused to marry him.Security forces surrounded the man's family home to prevent any reprisal attacks and forbade the family from erecting a funeral tent.Grieving family members said they were shocked by what they called the accident, and said that Mughrabi, who had no known connection to any Palestinian political group, had stolen the car from his brother.Police have meanwhile boosted security across the city ahead of the Jewish high holidays in October, when large numbers of people are expected to visit Jerusalem and its holy sites.The incident late came just hours after President Shimon Peres asked Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to form a new government following the resignation of Olmert, who has been dogged by corruption allegations.Defence Minister Ehud Barak, the Labour party chief and a crucial coalition ally, said the attacker's home must be destroyed as soon as possible to dissuade others from launching similar acts.Exactly two months ago, a Palestinian wounded 16 people when he turned an earth mover on passers-by and vehicles in Jerusalem.That incident mimicked one 10 days earlier in which another Palestinian, also driving an earth mover, killed three Israelis and injured more than 45.On March 6, a Palestinian shot dead eight Israeli students at a Jewish religious school in the worst attack the city had seen in years.All three were shot dead in the immediate aftermath, and were all from east Jerusalem, prompting widespread calls for the revival of a policy of demolishing the family homes of those who launch deadly attacks.The practice, used widely in the first years of the 2000 Palestinian uprising, stopped in 2005 after then military chief of staff Lieutenant General Moshe Yaalon said in a report it was ineffective as a deterrent.
More than 250,000 Palestinians live in east Jerusalem. They hold special ID cards that allow them to travel and work in Israel, but are not Israeli citizens.
Iranian president blames US for market collapse By KRISTA LARSON, Associated Press Writer SEPT 23,08
UNITED NATIONS - Iran's president blamed U.S. military interventions around the world in part for the collapse of global financial markets and said the campaign against his country's nuclear program was solely due to the Bush administration and a couple of their European friends.The interviews of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, before his speech to the United Nations on Tuesday, came after the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned that he could not determine whether Iran is hiding some nuclear activities.Last year, thousands rallied at the United Nations to protest Ahmadinejad's speech. When Ahmadinejad was ushered to the podium of the General Assembly to speak, the U.S. delegation walked out, leaving only a low-ranking note-taker to listen to his speech.In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Ahmadinejad said the collapse of global financial markets was due in large part to U.S. military interventions abroad.Problems do not arise suddenly, he said. The U.S. government has made a series of mistakes in the past few decades. The imposition on the U.S. economy of the years of heavy military engagement and involvement around the world . . . the war in Iraq, for example. These are heavy costs imposed on the U.S. economy.The world economy can no longer tolerate the budgetary deficit and the financial pressures occurring from markets here in the United States, and by the U.S. government, he added.In a separate interview with National Public Radio, Ahmadinejad said he does not want confrontation with the United States. He said he wants diplomatic relations to develop between the two countries and was willing, for example, to cooperate on upholding security in Iraq.
We do not have confrontations with anyone, he said. The U.S. administration interferes, and we defend ourselves.Despite U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, Ahmadinejad claimed vast international support for his position and said the campaign consisted of only three or four countries, led by the United States and with a couple of their European friends.The Iranian leader warned over the weekend that the military would strike back against anyone targeting his country's nuclear facilities.If anyone allows himself to commit even a tiny offense against Iran's legitimate interests, borders and sacred land, our armed forces will break his hand before he pulls the trigger, Ahmadinejad said during a military parade Sunday.Iran insists its nuclear activities are geared only toward generating power. But Israel says the Islamic Republic could have enough nuclear material to make its first bomb within a year. The U.S. estimates Tehran is at least two years away from that stage.Ahmadinejad's speech will come just hours after President Bush makes his final address to the General Assembly. After seven years of criticizing the U.N. for its huge, costly bureaucracy and indecisiveness in the face of grave problems, Bush is expected to stress the need for multinational diplomacy in a 15-minute speech.Bush also is to meet Tuesday with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. Topping their talks will be the series of suspected U.S. missile attacks and an American-led cross-border ground assault in Pakistan's volatile northwest that have angered public opinion.The vice president of Sudan and leaders from Georgia, Lebanon, Kenya, Somalia, France, Liberia and Argentina are also among those addressing the General Assembly on Tuesday.On Monday, leaders gathered for a high-level meeting on Africa's development needs. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world's rich nations to spend $72 billion a year to help Africa achieve U.N. goals to fight poverty, improve health and ensure universal primary education.A new report from the secretary-general said not a single African country is likely to achieve all the U.N. Millennium Development Goals by the target date of 2015.Ban said last week he was deeply concerned that the current economic slowdown and turmoil on Wall Street could have a very serious negative impact on the ability of rich nations to help achieve the targets, first and foremost to cut extreme poverty by half.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who heads the African Union, added his concern, warning Monday that if the crisis is to continue, it will certainly have serious, serious implications. But he was hopeful that the financial turmoil will be short-lived. There may not be easy answers, but I believe the U.S. will overcome, and the world will overcome this unfortunate situation, he said. Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report.
New Jeruslem vehicle attack as Livni seeks govt By Adam Entous
Tue Sep 23, 1:55 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian rammed his car into a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem on Monday, hours after Foreign Minster Tzipi Livni agreed to try to form a new government that can avert an election and forge a peace deal. The man, who neighbors said lived in Jerusalem, was shot dead after injuring 15 of the soldiers and four others, under the walls of the Old City on a road that marks the dividing Green Line between Arab East Jerusalem and the Jewish west.Police described it as a terrorist attack, the third of its kind using vehicles against Israelis in the city since July. There was no immediately credible claim of responsibility.It highlighted the security problems Livni faces as she seeks to build a workable government following the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over a corruption scandal.It is far from certain she will succeed in building a new coalition and failure may well mean a parliamentary election, which polls indicate would favor the right-wing opposition.Two of those hurt were in a serious condition, medics said.
A police spokesman said a soldier and then a policeman fired at the driver. He lay dead in the road by his black BMW car.It was a terror attack, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, adding that a soldier and a policeman shot the driver.The soldiers were on a late-night educational tour of the city ahead of next week's celebration of the Jewish New Year.Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews gathered nearby. Some chanted Death to Arabs. Police fired tear gas to disperse them.Twice in July, Palestinian construction workers using earthmoving equipment attacked Israelis in Jerusalem, in one case killing three. Both were shot dead.
JERUSALEM DISPUTE
In both those incidents, the drivers were Palestinians with Israeli identity documents giving them free access to Israel and Jerusalem. Residents in the Arab east of the city identified the man killed on Monday as a neighbor with similar documents.The earlier incidents, as well as a shooting attack in March in which eight Jewish seminary students were killed, prompted calls in Israel for restrictions on Palestinians living on the Israeli side of the barrier Israel is building around the West Bank.Those areas, in East Jerusalem and neighboring parts of the West Bank, were annexed by Israel to Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally, following their occupation by Israeli forces in the Six Day War of 1967.The future status of Jerusalem, where both Israelis and Palestinians want to have their capitals, is a key issue in U.S.-sponsored negotiations that Livni and Olmert have been conducting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.After President Shimon Peres invited her to form a new government, Livni called on her right-wing opponents to join a unity coalition that would embrace the political spectrum.
There was no indication, however, that Benjamin Netanyahu, the former premier who leads the opposition Likud party, would drop his demand for an early parliamentary election instead -- an election which opinion polls suggest he could win with ease.
Livni was elected last week to succeed Olmert as leader of the centrist Kadima party, after he said he would quit to fight accusations of corruption over which he could be indicted.The 50-year-old commercial lawyer and one-time agent of the Mossad spy agency, faces a daunting struggle to build a workable parliamentary majority from among the 13 parties represented in the Knesset. Until she does, Olmert will remain as caretaker. My priorities are to try and form a national unity government and maintain the present coalition, she told a news conference after meeting Peres on Monday evening. Otherwise I will lead the Knesset to new elections as soon as possible.If Livni cannot win parliamentary approval within six weeks, an election is the likely outcome. If she succeeds, she will be Israel's first woman leader since Golda Meir in the 1970s. Livni has been in consultations across the spectrum, notably with Labor party leader Ehud Barak, whose leftist party is the second biggest in the outgoing government, and with the Jewish religious parties which always play a key role in coalitions. The political uncertainty has dimmed even further prospects of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, which the United States had hoped Olmert and Abbas could achieve this year before President George W. Bush leaves office. (Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch, Joseph Nasr and Douglas Hamilton, writing by Alastair Macdonald).
Jerusalem driver wounds 19 in attack: police By Adam Entous
Mon Sep 22, 5:43 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A car slammed into a crowd in central Jerusalem late on Monday, injuring 19 people, nearly all of them Israeli soldiers, in what police described as a terrorist attack. An Israeli soldier and then a policeman fired at the Arab driver, killing him, a police spokesman said.The driver was still lying in the road an hour after being shot.The incident came just three hours after Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was handed the daunting task of forming a new government and revived memories of two previous attacks by Palestinians in vehicles in the city in the past few months.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a number of soldiers had been standing on a pavement and were struck by the car as it careered into them -- deliberately in the view of witnesses.Jerusalem police chief Aharon Franco said almost all the injured were soldiers. Two were seriously hurt, medics said.The black car, its windows shattered, halted when it slammed into a Roman Catholic religious building opposite the walls of Jerusalem's Old City on a road that marks the dividing line between Arab East Jerusalem and the Jewish west.Two of 19 people struck by the car were seriously injured, a spokesman for the Magen David Adom ambulance service said of the incident at Kikar Tzahal -- Israel Defence Forces Square.A man in a vehicle struck a number of people in Kikar Tzahal, police spokesman Rosenfeld said. We can confirm it was a terror attack. The man was shot and killed.The attack bore similarities to two previous incidents in Jerusalem this summer when Palestinians driving construction vehicles attacked Israelis. In July, a digger driver killed three people and wounded dozens, while more than a dozen people were wounded in a similar incident three weeks later.(Editing by Tim Pearce)
Cash-strapped Palestinians get more aid pledges By Sue Pleming and Haitham Haddadin Mon Sep 22, 4:34 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The cash-strapped Palestinian government on Monday received pledges of nearly $300 million in new aid on top of more than $7 billion promised last year, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said. We are grateful for the expressions of additional support over and beyond the Paris pledges, Fayyad told a news conference following a meeting that discussed aid to the Palestinians on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.The new aid includes $150 million from the United States, $115 from the European Union and $15 million from Norway, chair of the committee that organized the meeting, the premier said.At a Paris conference last December, donors pledged $7.7 billion in aid over the next three years, but the Palestinians say only a fraction of that money has been paid.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who attended the meeting, urged donor nations to follow through on their aid pledges to the Palestinian Authority.We need to make certain that everyone is paying attention to their Paris commitments to the Palestinians, Rice told reporters before the meeting.EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also urged countries to deliver on their aid pledges.Arab nations, in particular, have been reticent to hand over aid money to the Palestinians but Rice said they had been very attentive of late.Last month, Saudi Arabia promised a $100-million cash boost to help Fayyad pay public sector salaries to the Palestinians.Fayyad is pushing for more allocations of the funding to budget support to help him to pay government workers, something he has been struggling to do in recent months.
EMBARRASSING DELAYS
Delays in paying salaries are embarrassing for Fayyad, who was appointed with Western backing last year when President Mahmoud Abbas fired a Hamas government after the militants routed his forces and took over the Gaza Strip.Of the $7.7 billion earmarked, the Palestinians have so far received a total of $1.36 billion for budget support, Fayyad said, but added this figure was set to rise by year end.
The new aid pledged on Monday was expected soon. This will help in dealing with the liquidity problem. We're talking about a financing gap that must be bridged ... Fayyad said.Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said a budget gap of $320 million in 2008 remains, but noted the Palestinian government has been able to pay salaries and reimburse the bulk of its arrears.Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's external relations commissioner, said improvements on the ground for Palestinians are needed if the money is to be used effectively.It is most important that there is a change and betterment of access of movement, there should not be Israeli settlements and incursions, she said, adding that the EU would give 540 million euros ($791 million) this year to the Palestinians.Fayyad said Israel needs to do more to ease restrictions on Palestinian trade and travel and stop settlement activity. The misery index is extremely high, in Gaza, Fayyad said, noting there were virtually no exports from the Gaza Strip and the few imports were not enough to support economic activity. Aaron Abramovich, Director General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said Israel is lifting as many roadblocks as it can. But we need to protect against terror attacks, he said. (Editing by Chris Wilson)
Israel's Livni asked to form new government by Marius Schattner
Mon Sep 22, 2:29 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli President Shimon Peres asked Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Monday to form a new government, a day after scandal-plagued Prime Minister Ehud Olmert officially stepped down. Livni, 50, a former Mossad spy who replaced Olmert as head of the centrist Kadima party in a leadership vote on Wednesday, is hoping to become Israel's second woman prime minister after Golda Meir, who served from 1969 to 1974.After consultations with the political parties, the president has asked Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni to form a government, public radio quoted an official statement as saying.Livni now has 42 days to form a governing coalition in order to avert snap elections that polls indicate would bring the right-wing Likud party of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to power.Livni called on Netanyahu to join her in a government of national unity, although the opposition leader has repeatedly ruled out becoming a junior partner in a new coalition and has demanded early elections.Livni warned that Israel risked a long period of political uncertainty if other parties did not rally to a new government.She has already begun talks with parliamentary factions that could be included in a future coalition, while at the same time pressing members of her own party to close ranks.But in the rough and tumble of shifting allegiances in Israeli politics, there is no guarantee that she will be able to muster a parliamentary majority.
The Labour party, the main partner in the current coalition, has sent mixed signals, having met Netanyahu over the weekend and called for either early elections or a national emergency government.Livni met Labour chief Defence Minister Ehud Barak hours after Olmert formally submitted his resignation and offered to make the party a full partner in a new coalition, according to the Haaretz newspaper quoting unnamed Livni aides.Meanwhile the ultra-Orthodox party Shas -- which has frequently played the role of kingmaker -- has vowed to leave any government that negotiates the future of Jerusalem, a key issue in efforts to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians.Livni also faces tough challenges in seeking to unify Kadima after new rifts emerged in the wake of her narrow victory over transport minister and former army chief Shaul Mofaz.Formed less than three years ago, the centrist party has been dogged by allegations of corruption.Olmert's decision to resign after just 32 months in office followed months of pressure from supporters and rivals alike in the face of a string of graft allegations against him.Police have recommended criminal charges against the 62-year-old in two cases in which he is accused of accepting large sums in cash from a US financier and multiple-billing foreign trips.
He has denied any wrongdoing.
The continuing political turmoil has cast a shadow over Israeli peace talks with the Palestinians which were revived only in November, further denting hopes of a deal by the end of this year.Both sides remain deeply divided on core issues, including final borders, Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the fate of 4.6 million Palestinian refugees and the future status of Jerusalem. Shas's refusal to negotiate the fate of Jerusalem could prove particularly tough for Livni, who is currently the lead negotiator for Israel. The Palestinians want Arab east Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 Six Day War, as the capital of their future state. Israel, however, considers the entire city to be its eternal, undivided capital, a claim not recognised by the international community.
Bernanke says global markets under extraordinary stress By John Poirier
SEPT 23,08
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the U.S. Congress Tuesday that financial markets are under severe stress and urged immediate action to buy up hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tainted mortgage assets. Despite the efforts of the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, and other agencies, global financial markets remain under extraordinary stress, Bernanke said in remarks prepared for delivery to the Senate Banking Committee that were obtained by Reuters.Action by Congress is urgently required to stabilize the situation and avert what could otherwise be very serious consequences for our financial markets and our economy, he said.Bernanke was testifying days after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson proposed a $700 billion rescue fund to absorb impaired credits that have clogged financial markets and brought to the brink of insolvency one major financial institution after another.Market stress has accelerated recently and could be seriously damaging if it is not reversed, Bernanke said.If financial conditions fail to improve for a protracted period, the implications for the broader economy could be quite adverse, he said.The Fed chairman said regulatory overhaul was necessary but would take longer to accomplish.At this juncture, in light of the fast-moving developments, it is essential to deal with the crisis at hand, he said. Development of a comprehensive proposal for reform would require careful and extensive analysis that would be difficult to compress, he added.(Writing by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)
What Olmert's Resignation Means for Israel By TIM MCGIRK / JERUSALEM
Mon Sep 22, 1:00 PM ET
Hounded by allegations of corruption, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned on Sept. 21 after 33 months in office, but he will remain as head of an interim government until a new ruling coalition is formed by the country's quarrelsome parties.The onerous task of forging a new coalition from among the 13 parties in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, will be taken on by Tzipi Livni, Olmert's foreign minister and his replacement as the newly elected head of the centrist Kadima party.
Olmert's departure, though long awaited, has plunged Israeli politics into turmoil. One Haaretz columnist joked that Livni would have an easier time recruiting enemy Syria to her side than in trying to woo over rebellious Knesset members. His remarks come after a Damascus daily glowingly referred to her as a Mossad beauty because Livni, now 50, had served as a junior Israeli spy in Europe during the 1980s. Even before Olmert handed in his terse, two-sentence resignation to President Shimon Peres on Sunday night, Livni was trying to shore up support over the weekend for a new government. She already faces one handicap: she emerged as Kadima chairman after a bruising leadership battle that has left her party divided. Livni has 42 days to form a new coalition representing 61 of the 120 Knesset seats. If she fails, under Israeli law, President Peres will turn to another politician - most likely Benyamin Netanyahu of Likud, the conservative opposition party - to see if he fares any better. If not, Israel could face general elections within 90 days.First, Livni will try to glue back together the coalition fabricated by Olmert with the Labor Party along with smaller parties representing pensioners and the ultra-orthodox lobby. She is trying to bring Labor on board again by offering them a real partnership - making key concessions that Olmert would not. She will have to contend with the ego of Labor leader Ehud Barak, a be-medaled ex-general and former prime minister, who finds it difficult to take orders from Livni, a relative newcomer to Israeli politics. Experts say that Barak wants Livni to give Labor better cabinet posts and may want Olmert's 2009 budget re-written. Livni has one advantage: polls show that in an early general election, Labor under Barak would take a beating, so he is likely to sign up with her.
Next, Livni will turn her brusque charm on Shas, the ultra-orthodox party that was the most problematic member of Olmert's coalition. Shas was the main obstacle in Olmert's attempts to make peace with the Palestinians, and its ultra-orthodox leaders have already warned Livni that they will not join a coalition that divides Jerusalem into a capital for both Israelis and Palestinians. This will leave Livni as hamstrung as Olmert was in trying to abide by the U.S.-sponsored road map for peace.Still, the White House's peace plan has a better chance under Livni than with the more conservative Likud. Netanyahu says he opposes Israel's current peace talks with Palestinians and, through indirect channels, with Syria. Polls show that his hawkish party could scoop up many more Knesset seats if the President calls early elections. So it is likely, say political advisers, that Netanyahu will make it tough for Livni to cobble a coalition together. Right now, Netanyahu lacks support from other parties that would make it possible for him to form a coalition if she fails.Olmert's last official cabinet meeting on Sunday had a touch of the surreal: at first, the premier chatted about Wall Street's woes and Israel's basketball win over the Czech team before announcing, off-handedly, that he was resigning. Several hours later, he dropped his resignation letter off at the President's residence. The normally loquacious Olmert summed up his resignation in two sentences. Peres later said, I respect the dignified manner in which [Olmert] is transferring authority.
The Israeli press was less charitable. The left-leaning Haaretz daily opined that Israel, in its 60 years, had never known a worse government than Olmert's. Its balance sheet comes very close to zero, the editorial stated. Many Israelis blame Olmert for bungling the 2006 war in Lebanon against Hizballah, and then his popularity plunged even deeper when police said that they had uncovered evidence to indict Olmert for suspected fraud and bribery. The attorney general has yet to issue the indictment, and Olmert's lawyers say he is innocent. Nevertheless, his long career in politics, from Jerusalem mayor to cabinet minister to prime minister, appears to be finished. As Haaretz editorialized: His personal conduct, which reflected his hedonism and greed, shadowed his performance as prime minister. It's now up to Livni to see if she can create a new government from the remains of Olmert's tattered legacy.Time.com
Peres asks Livni to form new Israel government: radio Mon Sep 22, 12:52 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's President Shimon Peres on Monday charged Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni with forming a new government, a day after scandal-plagued Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stepped down, public radio said. After consultations with the political parties, the president has asked Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni to form a government, the radio quoted an official statement as saying.
With Olmert gone, clock starts on Israel coalition By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer Sun Sep 21, 5:53 PM ET
JERUSALEM - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni wasted no time Sunday working to put together a new government, meeting with potential coalition partners even as outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert formally resigned. Her ability to move fast in her first task could have far-reaching effects on Mideast peace talks. Livni, who has gained respect for favoring peace deals with the Palestinians and Syria while distancing herself from the unpopular Olmert, would become Israel's second female prime minister after Golda Meir, who served from 1969-1974.A former lawyer and one-time agent in the Mossad spy agency, Livni has 42 days to form a government.Olmert remains in office until a new government is approved by the parliament, and he has pledged to press ahead with peace efforts as long as he is premier. That in itself might push reluctant Israeli politicians to deal quickly with Livni.Olmert's dismal approval ratings approach single figures, and both those who favor an accord with the Palestinians and those who oppose it don't want him to be the one who presents an agreement to the people.She met leaders from the pivotal Shas Party Thursday, hours after she won a primary election to succeed Olmert as head of their Kadima Party. Over the weekend, she sat with leaders of several other factions, and later Sunday, she met with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, head of the Labor Party, Olmert's main partner.
Formal steps were overtaken by events, and the two unfolded in parallel universes.
Olmert told his Cabinet on Sunday morning that he would resign and followed that with a visit to the official Jerusalem residence of President Shimon Peres — both formalities in a process that began in late July, when Olmert caved under the pressure of multiple corruption probes and announced he would step down after the Kadima primary election.This decision was not easy, it was not simple, and it was not taken in an offhanded way, Olmert said before the start of the Sunday Cabinet meeting. He pledged to help Livni, a longtime rival, form a new government.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented to me this evening his resignation as head of the government, Peres said after the two met. Peres thanked him for his service. Olmert did not talk to reporters.At stake is political stability in Israel as the clock winds down on a January target date for a peace accord with the Palestinians, set by Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a U.S.-sponsored peace conference last November.Livni favors negotiations and making concessions to forge a peace agreement, but if she fails to form a coalition, elections would be called, and Israel might not have a new government until next spring. That could freeze peace efforts for months.Olmert succeeded the popular and respected Ariel Sharon, who was felled by a stroke, and weeks later Olmert led Israel into a war with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. The decision to go to war and its inconclusive outcome, along with the damage wrought by almost 4,000 rockets fired at Israel by Hezbollah, decimated Olmert's popular support.Then old corruption allegations caught up with him. Police began pressing their investigations, and a key witness testified in a "trial" against Olmert though no charges had been filed. That led Olmert to step down, setting the search for a new leader in motion.On Sunday, Peres consulted with the parties over who should join the new government. Peres faced a shorter deadline than the week allotted him by law — he was due to leave for the United Nations on Monday to address the General Assembly session the next day. Peres said he would announce his decision before leaving for New York.It was a foregone conclusion that Livni would be his choice, so even before receiving the formal title of prime minister-designate, Livni was sounding out the parties about their demands for remaining on or joining her team.Livni won the Kadima primary by a small margin over hawkish former Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, who announced he would not serve in her government. With Kadima already holding only 29 seats in the 120-member parliament, a split in her party could doom her efforts to forge a majority coalition.Shas has already demanded additional funds to help needy Israelis, the party's main constituency.
Barak's Labor is in a difficult position. On the one hand, Labor does not want to continue in its subordinate position as a junior partner to Kadima. But polls show that if an election were held now, Labor would win only a dozen or so seats, a drastic comedown for the party that ruled Israel practically unchallenged for its first three decades. Analysts believe that after an initial show of reluctance, Labor will join along with Shas and the Pensioners party, the other member of the outgoing government. Livni would like to add others to the team to increase its stability. The main opposition leader, Benjamin Netanyahu of the hawkish Likud, is calling for new elections. Likud stalwarts are ridiculing Kadima, Livni and Olmert, saying they have failed the country and must all be replaced. Polls show Kadima and Likud virtually tied if an election were held now. Livni has 28 days to form a government after she is formally tapped by Peres and can receive an extra two weeks if necessary. Israeli political historians point out that in every case in the past, the politician chosen to form a government here has succeeded.
