August 01, 2008	Friday	Rajab 28, 1429

JERUSALEM: Israel entered a months-long season of political uncertainty on Wednesday as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s decision to resign in September cast the country into a leadership struggle that could complicate efforts to make peace with its neighbours.

Weakened by corruption scandals, Olmert announced that he would not run in his centrist Kadima party’s Sept17 leadership primary and would step down afterward to give the new party chairman a chance to form a different government.

That means Israel, which has been negotiating with two Palestinian factions and Syria while grappling with how to confront Iran’s nuclear ambitions, will be without effective leadership at least until October.

The power vacuum could last as late as February, overlapping the change of US presidential administrations, if a new Israeli government cannot be formed without general elections.

Olmert’s decision was not unexpected. A shrewd, affable political survivor who once called himself “indestructible”, the 62-year-old leader had battled longer than expected to cling to his job, even as he worked to engage some of Israel’s adversaries in peace talks.

Those peace initiatives are likely to undergo fierce debate in the race to succeed him.

The leading candidates to head his party are Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Israel’s chief negotiator with the Palestinian Authority, and Shaul Mofaz, a more hawkish former defence minister.

Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads in polls as Israel’s most popular candidate, has voiced strong reservations about Israel’s peace initiatives.

At stake are US-backed negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority over terms for a future Palestinian state. Israel is also talking indirectly with the more militant Palestinian group Hamas about a prisoner exchange and with Syria, through Turkish mediators, about a peace treaty.

Israel’s succession struggle also comes amid sensitive discussions among its military and civilian leaders over how to confront what they believe is Iran’s rush to develop a nuclear weapon. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, also a former prime minister, told US officials in Washington this week that Israel will not rule out military action against Iran in the coming months.

Olmert will serve as a caretaker prime minister until his successor is chosen. He is likely to lean more heavily on his defence minister and Israel’s military leaders in decisions about Iran, Israeli analysts said.

The prime minister said on Wednesday he would not “ease up” on peace efforts with Syria and the Palestinians “as long as I remain in office”.

Uncertainty over Israel’s political direction, however, could make it hard for him to close deals that have eluded Israeli leaders for decades or win their approval by parliament.

American and Palestinian officials insisted that Olmert’s departure would not slow the US-backed peace talks. The latest round, held on Wednesday in Washington, brought together Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Livni and chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei.

“The Israelis will work out their own politics,” US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. “We’re going to look forward to working with all responsible Israeli leaders in the government, whether it’s this government or some future government.”—Dawn/ The LAT-WP News Service (c) Los Angeles Times