NEWS ANALYSIS

Kadima Changeover

Olmert resigns with signature policy initiatives unfinished.

Uriel Heilman
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jerusalem

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day after Ehud Olmert formally
submitted his resignation as
prime minister, Israeli President
Shimon Peres officially tapped his Kadima
Party successor, Tzipi Livni, to form a new
government.
Livni now has 42 days to put together a
coalition government. Though Olmert still
heads the interim government until Livni
is sworn in, Sunday's resignation effec-
tively spelled the end of the Olmert era.
Before meeting with Peres on Sunday
evening, Olmert informed his Cabinet of
his intention to resign.
"I must say that this was not an easy
or simple decision:' Olmert said. "I think
that I have acted properly and responsibly,
as I promised the Israeli public from the
beginning!'
Olmert congratulated Livni and said he
would help her form a coalition govern-
ment, and the two shook hands.
It was an ignominious end to a premier-
ship marked by multiple corruption scan-
dals, a failed war in Lebanon and unfin-
ished business on the Palestinian, Syrian
and Iranian fronts.

The Backdrop
At first an accidental prime minister fol-
lowing Ariel Sharon's crippling stroke in
early 2006, Olmert won his first election
as Kadima leader a couple of months later
under the banner of maintaining the path
of unilateral disengagement Sharon had
begun. Olmert would do in the West Bank
what Sharon had done in Gaza: unilater-
ally extricate Israel from its adversaries,
even if those adversaries were unready or
unwilling to make peace.
But the shortcomings of Israel's unilat-
eral approach became evident early on in
his premiership. The 2006 summer war
with Hezbollah exposed the deficiencies
of Israel's unilateral withdrawal from
Southern Lebanon in 2000 under Ehud
Barak, and the increasing rockets attacks
from Gaza and llamas' takeover of the
strip in June 2007 exposed the limitations
of Sharon's pullout.
The violence shattered Olmert's plans
for unilateral withdrawals in the West
Bank.

Olmert adjusted his approach, but
his responses to Israel's challenges were
seen as inadequate. The prime minister's
approval ratings plummeted as each crisis
seemed to be shadowed by one corruption
scandal or another.

Hezbollah Effect
After Hezbollah launched a cross-border
raid in July 2006, the Olmert government
launched a war to recover the two soldiers
taken captive in the raid and neutralize
the threat to Israel from Hezbollah. But the
war failed to recover the soldiers or deliver
a mortal blow to the Shi'ite terrorist group
in Lebanon.
Rather, Hezbollah rallied as a political
force in Lebanon after the war and became
a veto-wielding presence in the Lebanon
Cabinet. Hezbollah also rebuilt its forces
and missile arsenal to three times its pre-
war size, according to Israeli estimates.
In Gaza, Olmert watched as llamas
routed the more moderate Fatah faction
from power and took over the strip in
June 2006. llamas kept up daily barrages
of Kassam rockets into southern Israel,
and the Israeli army was unable to impose
quiet.
Unwilling to risk the same approach in
Gaza that had failed in 2006 in Lebanon,
Olmert held off on ordering a major inva-
sion of the strip.
The need to isolate Hezbollah, Hamas
and especially their backer, Iran, drove
Olmert to push harder for peace. It led to
the re-launching last year of peace talks
with the Palestinians at Annapolis, Md.,
and to this year's renewed talks with Syria
under Turkish auspices, but Olmert ended
his abbreviated term with those major
policy initiatives unfinished.

Livni's Role
Now it will be up to Livni, who led the
Olmert administration's talks with the
Palestinians, to see the process through
— assuming she succeeds in assembling a
governing coalition.
Israel's next prime minister also will
inherit an unsolved Iranian problem.
Iran's suspected march toward nuclear
weapons has been Israel's central foreign
preoccupation during Olmert's term, but
Olmert did not manage to rally sufficient
international pressure on the Islamic
Republic to bring its uranium enrichment
activities to a halt.

Throughout his 21-
year term, Olmert was
dogged by corruption
allegations that cast
a shadow over nearly
everything he did.
Even his decision to
re-launch the indirect
peace talks with Syria
and sign a cease-fire deal
with llamas in Gaza in
June finally bringing
quiet to southern Israel,
with the exception of
Tzipi Livni
the occasional violation
— were viewed with sus-
picion by some who derided the moves as
ploys to ensure his political survival.
The major corruption scandal that
erupted in May, in which American Jewish
businessman Morris Talansky said he gave
Olmert $150,000 in cash over the course
of the decade and a half before Olmert
became prime minister, crippled Olmert's
ability to govern.
Calls for his resignation accelerated
several weeks later with the revelation
by police that Olmert was suspected of
double-billing overseas trips to various
Jewish charities.
Though he always denied any wrongdo-
ing, Olmert acknowledged at the end of
July that it had become impossible for
him to continue as prime minister, and he
announced that he would resign as soon

Ehud Olmert

as his party, Kadima, chose a new leader
in September.

Peres Weighs In
After Olmert handed his resignation letter
to Peres on Sunday, the president offered a
few solemn words.
"This is not an easy decision, and I am
convinced that this is a difficult evening
for him:' Peres said. "I wish to take this
opportunity to thank the prime minister
for his service to the people and the state
over the course of many years of public
activities — as the mayor of Jerusalem, as
a minister in the government and as the
prime minister of Israel." ❑

Ron Kampeas in Washington and Marcy Oster
in Israel contributed to this report.

Walk In Foosteps Of Jesus

Israel has inaugurated the new Pilgrim's Route, a trail enabling travelers to
hike to its Christian holy places. Along the route leading from Jerusalem to the
Dead Sea, tourists can visit the site that recalls the New Testament parable
of the Good Samaritan, the Qumran caves and the point in the Jordan River
believed to be where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.
The Good Samaritan site, located just off the highway leading from
Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, is home to a Byzantine church built approximately
1,700 years ago. The mosaic floor of the church was recently reconstructed by
archaeologists. In addition, the baptismal site, located near Jericho, is consid-
ered the third most important site for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land, and
also holds significance in the Jewish tradition as the place where the Children
of Israel crossed the Jordan River when they entered Canaan.
"The new Pilgrim's Route will add some additional inspiration for Christian
visitors to Israel," said Arie Sommer, tourism commissioner for Israel, North
and South America. "With tourism to Israel at an all-time high in 2008, we can
anticipate an even greater influx of visitors hoping to follow this historic trail."
The first stage of the baptismal site's development includes setting up shad-
ed areas and making it wheelchair-accessible and will be completed this month.
For more information: contact Julie Cooper, Israel Ministry of Tourism
Midwest Region, juliec@imot.org or call (312) 803-7077.

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September 25 • 2008

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