| Friday, January 19, 2007 |
| Israel's Prime Minister, Defence Minister under pressure to quit |
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz are under renewed pressure to resign after the Israeli Army Chief of Staff stepped down in the wake of the flawed Lebanon war.
Israel went to war with the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas just hours after they killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others in a July 12, 2006, cross-border raid.
Pressure on Olmert and Peretz is likely to increase ahead of the release of a wide-ranging government inquiry into the war. The investigative panel, focusing on the performance of military and political leaders, is likely to announce its findings in the coming weeks.
An opinion poll published last week showed Olmert's approval rating at just 14%, and his Kadima Party losing if new elections were held.
Army Chief Dan Halutz quit after a series of investigations found that the military mishandled last summer's war – it came to light that the army was unprepared for the war, enabling Hezbollah to escape unscathed.
Three army generals have now lost their jobs because of the war.
The sudden resignation of Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, Israel's top military official, was yet another blow to the Prime Minister, whose popularity has plunged after last summer's war and a series of political scandals.
The anti-fraud unit of the Israeli police has initiated a criminal investigation into Olmert's role in the sale of one of Israel's largest banks. Prosecutors suspect that Olmert intervened in the sale on behalf of two business associates.
Meanwhile, renewed coalition negotiations between Palestine's rival Fatah and Hamas movements have hit a new roadblock – raising the possibility of a new round of political violence.
A poll conducted recently shows that, if Palestinian elections were held now, the Fatah party, led by moderate President Mahmoud Abbas, would oust Hamas from power. The survey shows Fatah winning 40% of the vote for parliament, with just 23% for Hamas.
International sanctions against the Hamas-led government have crippled the Palestinian economy. In fact, a year after its spectacular election victory, Hamas has reportedly fallen from grace.
On Wednesday, the Israeli army had postponed implementing its latest restriction on Palestinian movement – that is, banning riding in cars with Israeli licence-plates in the West Bank. The proposed ban was to prevent suicide bombers, who have entered Israel in recent years, from using Israeli licence-plates that would allow them to cross army roadblocks without being checked.
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is not in favour of the Israeli proposal to recognise a Palestinian state within temporary borders, leaving the final borders to be negotiated later. Israel had floated this idea as a way of boosting the stalled peace process.
Palestinians, however, reject the Israeli proposal as a non-starter, saying that temporary borders would be too hard to redraw and that Israel might possess large areas of the West Bank.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 10:22 AM |
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