PM Ehud Olmert's visit to the Mediterranean Union summit in Paris had the appearance of a swan song for a has-been who could very well be forced from office in weeks. The media focused on the "handshake that wasn't" as he and Syria's President Assad stood back to back a few feet from each other. But what is likely on Olmert's mind is the legal and political hell that he'll be returning to in Israel.
The scenes shown on all the Israeli TV channels Monday evening was the diplomatic dance of European and Mideast leaders standing together, shaking hands and embracing each other -- all, that is, except Olmert and Assad, who studiously avoided coming face to face with each other, like bashful wallflowers at the high school prom. The Syrians insisted on seating arrangements that would minimize the chance of an accidental encounter, and sure enough -- the two did not meet, nor did they have what to say to each other, despite the public pre-negotiations being conducted with Turkish mediators in the previous months.
Assad walked out of the auditorium before Olmert's speech, and the two kept their distance from each other, or at least tried. And even when they were back to back, they seemed to have radar turned on to ensure that no chance encounter occurred. Syrian government media said the snub was not accidental and that the noble Assad Junior had little time for his weak Israeli opposite.
Olmert could be forgiven for indulging in the empty Parisian follies, filled with pomp and circumstance, fireworks and aerial displays, but precious little substance, at least in terms of progress in what is sometimes called the Mideast peace process.
Little wonder that all the best laid plan of Livni and Rice went ignored, when all of Israel was a-titter over the weekend with the sordid details of Olmert's corruption case. Among other charges, it was revealed that a travel agency in the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon Lezion had for years provided "special arrangements" to the Olmert family, taking in funds paid by as many as five or six organizations to cover Olmert's business travel as minister. The problem was, at least as far as the police were concerned, that the organizations were paying in full for the same flight, with the excess payment going into a slush fund that Olmert used to pay for pleasure flights for his wife and daughter.
In Israel, the word for such a "special arrangement" is combina -- a combination -- to gain financial, social or political advantage. It seems that Olmert was an expert at creating such combinations -- pundits joked that "Olmertours" could have opened a travel agency -- but it seems that his luck, and his combinations, were running out.
Late in the days, his Labor party coalition partners pulled a surprising parliamentary stunt, voting no confidence in the government of which they were an essential part in protest for what party officials considered a betrayal in the appointment of Kadima and Labor officials. The vote itself was of little consequence -- the weakened Prime Minister is not likely to consider dismissing Labor from his government -- but it was one more sign that the current government's days were numbered, and that Olmert's coalition will be hard-pressed to survive the coming months as legal and poltical pressures mount.
His party is scheduled to hold primary elections in September, and before the weekend he agreed with his foreign minister and party rival Tzipi Livni that the winner of the Kadima primaries will be entitled to try and form the next government. The general expectation is that Olmert's chances of winning his party's primary vote is somewhere between slim and none, but Olmert has proved himself time and time again to be a survivor, and it is a long summer ahead.
In the meantime, he had a relaxing and festive Bastille day, rubbing shoulders and elbows with friendly world leaders and also rubbing the backside of his Syrian counterpart. But when he return to Israel, he will be facing the depressing prospect of botched prisoner swap deals with Hezbollah and Hamas as well as more allegations from the latest corruption investigations against him. Not only that, it seems that from now on his wife and family will need to pay for their own airfare, upgrades, and luxury accommodations.
Syrian strongman Bashar Assad confounded some Israelis' hopes that he would sit next to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert or perhaps even talk to him in the Paris Mediterranean Union summit. Assad walked out of the auditorium before Olmert's speech at the Union of the Mediterranean summit in Paris. The two did not shake hands and sat at a distance from each other.
Earlier in the day, Olmert used Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to relay a message to Assad. Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said that the Prime Minister asked Erdogan to tell Assad that he was "completely serious about the progress in the contacts with Syria." Erdogan later met with Assad.
Et tu, Tzipi?
Assad was not the only one giving Olmert the cold shoulder in Paris: Olmert's own foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, reportedly did not speak to Olmert on the flight to Paris and even sat at a distance from him when they were received by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Livni hinted Sunday that she believed Olmert was on his way out of the Prime Minister's Office. Asked by reporters at the summit if she agreed with Olmert's claim that the law enforcement branches had gone too far in their handling of accusations against him, Livni stated: "I did not need the latest scandal to determine m
Livni did not speak to Olmert on the flight to Paris and even sat at a distance from him when they were received by Sarkozy.
y position. As you know, we have begun to operate and the change has begun," she added.
"Peace closer than ever"
Olmert put a brave face on matters despite the investigations which threaten to put and end to his premiership, and stated at a joint news conference with Sarkozy and PA-Fatah chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "It seems to me that we have never been as close to the possibility of reaching an accord as we are today."
"It seems that we have reached the time when the Palestinian authorities and the Israelis have to take serious and important decisions that will finally take us to where we have never been before," Olmert added.
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