Jul 31, 2008, 14:59 GMT
Tel Aviv/Ramallah - Israelis and Palestinians will continue their peace negotiations, despite Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's intention to resign in some seven weeks, officials from both sides said Thursday.
But his dramatic announcement of Wednesday night, that the 62-year-old premier would not run in a leadership contest for his Kadima party, and would step down once a new party head had been chosen, has nonetheless created new uncertainty for the peace talks.
The winner of the September 17 Kadima primaries may try to form a new governing coalition within the up to six weeks allocated by Israeli law.
If he or she fails, Olmert can nonetheless in theory continue to govern at the head of a caretaker government until new elections, possibly in early 2009, a year ahead of schedule. That would mean until after an ambitious deadline set by himself and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for achieving a written framework peace agreement.
Olmert's intention to quit in the midst of a corruption investigation against him, 'will not affect Palestinian efforts to reach a peace deal with Israel,' senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.
The Israeli premier's decision is 'an internal affair,' he told Voice of Palestine Radio.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Palestinians would work with any Israeli premier 'because what matters to us is to keep the peace process going.'
Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa that 'we are committed to continuing the peace process.'
The United States, the leading sponsor of the negotiations launched late last year at an international conference in Annapolis, Maryland, which ended a seven-year freeze in the peace process, too vowed to push forward.
'If you wait for the perfect moment to try to help bring the two parties together in a final agreement, you're going to be waiting forever,' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said late Wednesday.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice chaired a three-way meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams only Wednesday, and she was expected to return to Israel and the Palestinian territories as soon as next month.
Erekat said Rice, expected to arrive on August 20, would meet separately with both sides and would another three-way meeting.
Despite the pledges to push on, it remains unclear how the resignation will affect Olmert's and Abbas' ability and motivation to make the difficult concessions needed for a breakthrough in the already troubled negotiations.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the front-runner to replace Olmert as Kadima leader, is Israel's chief negotiator and a staunch believer in the process, which she is likely to continue if she succeeds him.
But she is closely followed by Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, a former defence minister and army chief of staff who is considered far more hawkish and has said he would form a unity government with the hardline Likud party, a move likely to stagnate the peace talks.
Politicians speculated in the Israeli media Thursday that whoever succeeds Olmert would have a hard time forming a new government, and the country would be forced to go to new elections.
These would then take place 90 days after the six-week period allocated to form a a new government ends. With a possible second round for the Kadima primaries scheduled for September 24, that would mean early February.
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who surveys show triumphing in any poll, called Thursday morning for a new elections even before Kadima chooses its new leader.
The current government, he said, had come to the end of the road, and it did not matter who stood at its head. He said that if elected he would form a unity government.
Olmert's announcement on Wednesday night came after growing pressure on him to quit after he was suspected of being involved in a slew of alleged corruption allegations stemming from his time as mayor of Jerusalem and as minister of finance and minister of trade and industry.
The suspicions against the unpopular premier include bribe-taking, favours for friends and suspicious money and property transactions from which he personally gained. Under the latest allegations, he also he also submitted multiple bills for single trips to a variety of public agencies and institutions.
Police have not completed their investigations and no indictment has yet been filed. Israeli's anti-corruption unit has said Olmert's decision to quit would not affect the ongoing probe. Police are due to question Olmert for a fourth time on Friday on some of the allegations.
Olmert denies any wrongdoing. 'As prime minister, I have been denied the basic right to the presumption of innocence,' he said in his late Wednesday announcement.
Details in the investigation and documents submitted as evidence have been regularly leaked to the media, leading to a very public spat between Olmert's office on the one hand and the police and state prosecutor's office on the other.
Elected to the premiership in March 2006, Olmert's popularity plummeted after the war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, which erupted less than two months later. Many blamed him and his government for failing to conduct the war in a decisive, conclusive manner.
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