Middle East Politics.Net » olmert http://middleeastpolitics.net Facts, News, Trends, Analysis Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:56:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Israel Releases Fatah Prisoners http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/11/30/palestinians-approve-of-israels-release-of-fatah-prisoners/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/11/30/palestinians-approve-of-israels-release-of-fatah-prisoners/#comments Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:03:10 +0000 rooparad http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=3101 Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat praised Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s decision to release 250 Fatah prisoners for the Eid-Al-Adha Muslim holiday. The Israeli Cabinet voted 13-4 in favor of the release, enabling Olmert to keep a promose made recently to Palestinian Authority President Muhammad Abbas.

This much anticipated release was also appreciated by a Hamas official, who recalled that the prisoners were the result of Israel’s policy of “crime and terror.” Hamas followed with a statement asking for the release all Palestinian prisoners.

Apparently, the reason that Israel did not fear releasing the prisoners was because they were not on Hamas’s list of individuals they wish to be freed.

Some say the move is designed to strategically weaken Hamas, because families of Hamas prisoners will see Fatah prisoners go free and start to inquire why their family members are not being released.

Roopa Radhakrishnan

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/11/30/palestinians-approve-of-israels-release-of-fatah-prisoners/feed/ 0 Israel’s Olmert To Be Indicted http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/11/27/olmert-to-be-indicted/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/11/27/olmert-to-be-indicted/#comments Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:41:49 +0000 jbhughes http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=2913

Israel’s Attorney General, Menachem Mazuz, announced Wednesday that he was preparing to charge Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with crimes including fraud and breach of trust over accusations of double-billing for plane tickets.  The Prime Minister will be granted a judicial hearing before Mazuz makes a decision about an indictment.

Olmert is accused of fraudulently billing multiple entities, including charities and the state, for the same flights, when he traveled abroad from 2002 to 2006. He is suspected of having used the money for personal and family trips and for upgrades.  According to the Justice Ministry, his travel agency sent fictitious invoices, sometimes to multiple parties for the same trips and charging more than the price of the flight, and then stashed about $85,000 dollars in a private account for him.

Olmert’s lawyers call the announcement “puzzling and even unreasonable”, as they were never brought up  in any interrogation.

Olmert’s time as prime minister has been dogged by repeated corruption investigations, but he has denied any wrongdoing and has never been charged. He was also accused of taking bribes from a Long Island businessman, Morris Talansky. It was during this investigation that the current double-billing was found.

Jamie Hughes

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/11/27/olmert-to-be-indicted/feed/ 0 Israeli Security Chief Warns of Assassination http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/11/04/israeli-security-chief-warns-of-assassination/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/11/04/israeli-security-chief-warns-of-assassination/#comments Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:23:40 +0000 jbhughes http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=1979 Israel’s domestic security agency is “very concerned” that extremists in the country might attempt to assassinate an Israeli leader to disrupt peace talks with the Palestinians. Yuval Diskin, head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service, released the news to the Israeli Cabinet, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.  His comments came just two days before the 13th anniversary of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Rabin was shot by an Israeli who opposed the signing of the Oslo Accords, which set the framework for the Israeli and Palestinian peace talks.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni gave up efforts to form a new coalition government last month and is now working on February’s general election. Ehud Olmert will continue as Israel’s interim prime minister until a successor assumes power or a coalition is formed. However, it is not clear whether he will be able to arrive at a deal with Palestine before he leaves office.
Jamie Hughes
]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/11/04/israeli-security-chief-warns-of-assassination/feed/ 0 Olmert: Continue Syria Talks http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/10/31/olmert-continue-syria-talks/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/10/31/olmert-continue-syria-talks/#comments Fri, 31 Oct 2008 23:55:38 +0000 Joshua Bark http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=1935 Outgoing Israeli PM Olmert has expressed his desire to continue indirect talks with Syria before he leaves office.  He has stated that he is interested in talks, not necessarily in reaching an agreement by the time he leaves.  How much good the talks will do is in serious question, however: he was already supposed to have left office, but incoming Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni has as yet failed to form a ruling coalition.  Critics in his country have accused Olmert of overstepping his ‘caretaker’ bounds, and his political power is very limited at this time.

The international stage is a problem for these talks as well, as Syria has already stated it is unlikely to reach a deal until the new U.S. presidential administration has taken office.  However, Olmert’s desire for talks for the anticipated three remaining months of his rule can further the process with Syria, and the American elections are coming soon.  A main sticking point on the Syrian side in the memo they sent to Israel is of course regarding the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 War.  The Israelis hope to discuss Syrian support for Iran and Hezbollah.

Joshua Bark

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/10/31/olmert-continue-syria-talks/feed/ 0 Olmert Flies to Moscow, Wants to Prevent Sale of Air Defenses to Iran http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/10/06/olmert-flies-to-moscow-wants-to-prevent-sale-of-air-defenses-to-iran/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/10/06/olmert-flies-to-moscow-wants-to-prevent-sale-of-air-defenses-to-iran/#comments Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:13:26 +0000 stevencc http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=1243 Amid further deteriorating relations between his government and Russia, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert flew to Moscow to press for the cancellation of the proposed sale of a new Russian surface-to-air missile system to Iran. The S-300 missile system is “considered at least as sophisticated as the American Patriot” and would greatly increase Iran’s defensive capabilities.  The proposed sale comes as a response to Israel’s threat of an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities–the Jewish state has been staunchly opposed to Iran’s nuclear ambitions and has stated it would attack preemptively if the Islamic state does not halt its programs.  The new system would make a preemptive attack on Iran much more difficult as the missile defense “can simultaneously track 100 different targets and is capable of shooting down aircraft over a range of over 90 miles and altitudes of up to 90,000 feet.”  Dan Goure, a Pentagon adviser, stated that the installation of a defense system like this in Iran could potentially prompt Israel to attack even sooner, before the system could be put into place.

Steven Craig

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/10/06/olmert-flies-to-moscow-wants-to-prevent-sale-of-air-defenses-to-iran/feed/ 0 Olmert Says Israel Should Pull Out of West Bank http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/09/30/olmert-says-israel-should-pull-out-of-west-bank/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/09/30/olmert-says-israel-should-pull-out-of-west-bank/#comments Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:45:26 +0000 rooparad http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=1030 The New York Times reports Ehud Olmert’s announcement that in order to foster peace with the Palestinian people, Israel has to withdraw from land in the West Bank. If Israel chooses otherwise, then it is only fair that Palestine will have to get the same size land granted.

Olmert also announced that in no way will Israel attack Iran over its pursuit of nuclear technology.

As the prime minister begins to step down, he says that Israeli ideals must be changed. He speaks about the massive use of tanks, controlled land, and military power that Israel is so used to having and says these things must be changed in order to progress socially. Olmert admits that in order to have
peace with the Palestinians, they will need to “withdraw from almost all the territories, if not all the territories”. He says that the Israelis will need to give a percentage of their land to the Palestinians so as to be fair when dividing up controlled territories.

Some Israeli groups do not agree with the resolution tactics Olmert has recently been voicing. Some also say that he should have taken this position while he was still in office, since he had never given a detailed explanation of Israel’s next moves to integrate the border with Palestine and Israel. Because he has stepped down from position, skeptics say that Olmert will now be unable to finish the peace negotiation process between Israel and Palestine.

Roopa Radhakrishnan
]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/09/30/olmert-says-israel-should-pull-out-of-west-bank/feed/ 0 Livni Invited to Form Government http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/09/25/livni-invited-to-form-government/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/09/25/livni-invited-to-form-government/#comments Fri, 26 Sep 2008 06:04:45 +0000 rooparad http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=951 Tzipi Livni has been invited by Ehud Olmert to form a new government. The request came after Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister and leader of the Kadima Party, asked to resign from office. It is claimed that he had been involved in several financial scandals. Livni is now the leader of the Kadima Party, the largest political party in Israel. She has been asked to form a coalition (to fill 61 seats in the 120 seat Knesset) within the next forty-two days. She has already begun to establish a cabinet into which she has invited Likud party leader Binyamin Netanyahu; he has not yet accepted or refused. The news report stresses that if she succeeds in building a successful administration, then she will be the leader until the election in 2010. Olmert has accepted a caretaker role as Prime Minister until Livni is done forming the new governmental platform. Though there are several parties that reject the idea that Livni will form a stable government, she has been proactive in asking major parties such a the Labour Party to form a partnership with Kadima.

Roopa Radhakrishnan

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/09/25/livni-invited-to-form-government/feed/ 0 With Olmert’s Resignation, What Next for Israel and Lebanon? http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/09/21/with-olmerts-resignation-what-comes-next-for-israel-and-lebanon/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/09/21/with-olmerts-resignation-what-comes-next-for-israel-and-lebanon/#comments Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:43:13 +0000 Samantha Foley http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=773 With Ehud Olmert’s resignation finalized, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni began forming her new government immediately in hopes of becoming Israel’s second female prime minister. Mark Lavie writing in in the Washington Post, mentions that Olmert was suffering from terrible approval ratings that almost reached single digits and Israelis did not want him representing their interests in dealing with the Palestinians. Livni is a proponent of negotiations and concessions to come to a peace agreement and could be just what Israel needs to make peace with its neighbors in the Middle East.

Olmert came into power after Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke. Only weeks after taking control, he led Israel into a war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Olmert lost much of his popular support after this war because there was extensive damage in Israel and Lebanon and there was no real victor.

Livni wants to increase stability in Israel and to do that, peace in the region is required. With this new leader in place, Lebanon could possibly reach a peace agreement with Israel and prevent further fighting on that border. It would benefit Lebanon greatly to make peace with Israel, with all of the conflicts going on within the country between various sectarian groups, and all the violence that comes from being the middle-man for various other neighbors in the region.

Samantha Foley

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/09/21/with-olmerts-resignation-what-comes-next-for-israel-and-lebanon/feed/ 0 Livni Wins Party Vote to Succeed Olmert in Israel http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/09/18/israel/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/09/18/israel/#comments Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:59:17 +0000 jbhughes http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=681 Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won a vote to become the leader of the Kadima party and is on her way to becoming the next Israeli prime minister. She won the vote by 1.1%. Voter turnout for this primary was very low. Before Livni can be named prime minister, she must get a governing coalition together in a little over a month. Livni supporters say she is “clean” and honest, which is what the party needs right now. Olmert is stepping down amidst pressure over allegations of fraud and bribery. He has had single digit approval ratings since 2006.

Jamie Hughes

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