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By Quitting His Post Olmert Leaves Old Problems Unsolved

Politics Materials 31 July 2008 20:27 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, 31 July/ Trend , corr U. Sadigova, R. Abdullayev/ The change in the post of the Israeli Premier that will take place soon will leave the peace talks with Palestine on the previous level given the continuation of the former foreign policy of Jerusalem toward the peace process with Palestine.

"The fact that Olmert will leave his post will not change the situation of the Palestinian-Israeli dialogue and will leave everything as before" Hisham Ahmad, the professor of political science of Birzeit University said to Trend .

On 30 July, the Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert said in the press conference he would not take part in September elections of the chairman of the ruling Kadima party and promised to hand-over the post of head of government to the winner of the elections and announced his resignation.

According to the Palestinian political scientist Ahmad, this change in the Israeli government will probably change the internal, rather than foreign policy.

"The process of peace talks will remain on the same level even after new Premier takes office," Ahmad said to Trend by telephone from Jerusalem.

He said that every time when the parties come closer to reach peace, changes usually take place within the Israeli government which hinders this process.

The competent Israeli source willing to remain anonymous said to Trend on 31 July that the Israeli government will continue peace talks with head of the Palestinian Autonomy Mahmoud Abbas in spite of the quit of Ehud Olmert. The key aim of Israel is to reach peace, combating terror, preventing terror and establishing new relations with neighbors. US support by George Bush helps Israel to reach these aims, a source said.

According to Ahmad, even if a peace is reached, it will depend on the influence of US and Great Britain to Israel. The expert said that the Palestinian government recognizes Israel as a state and it is craving for peace, but disrespect of Israel toward the rights of the Palestinians complicates the peace.

Even if the ruling Kadima remains in power with new Premier, Jerusalem will be committed to the previous position in talks with PA. Chris Doyle, director of Council for Arab-British Understanding said that the successor of Ehud Olmert will play a great role if the government keeps previous foreign policy.

"It has to be said that nine months after Annapolis nothing of any substance has been achieved. There has been an attempt to keep this process going to fill a vacuum," Doyle said to Trend by electronic mail.

In November 2007, the peace talks between Israel and Palestine were restored in Annapolis. The conference aimed at seeking new ways of resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Both parties expressed their wish to reach peace accord by the end of 2008.

"Even if the governments of both parties will change or will resign, the peace accord will be discussed on international level," Doyle said.

According to the Israeli source, any agreement with the Palestinians or other Arab countries which will be reached by Ehud Olmert, will not be his personal agreement. He intends to make sure that new head of Kadima are aware of the small nuances of the agreement and he will be able to continue the former policy, a source added.

"It is not worth to expect truce with Palestine until Israel does not want to refrain from the old principles," the Arab expert Ahmad said.

The correspondent can be contacted at - [email protected]

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