Via the Jerusalem Post comes the news that an Israeli official ‘close to [Israeli]
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the
prime minister will keep working towards a peace
agreement with the Palestinians until he leaves office.’

“Any agreement he reaches with the Palestinians won’t be a personal
agreement and he will make sure that the (new) Kadima leadership is briefed and on board,” the official told Reuters.

The comments followed Olmert’s Wednesday night announcement that he would not contend in the upcoming Kadima primary and would resign when a new leader of the party is chosen…

In his speech, the prime minister referred to negotiations with both the Palestinians and the Syrians, and vowed to continue with efforts to come to agreements with Abbas and Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“We are closer than ever to firm understandings that can serve as a basis for agreements on two [diplomatic] tracks: The Palestinian and the Syrian… As long as I serve as
prime minister, I will not desist from the effort to bring the negotiations between us and our neighbors to a successful conclusion that offers hope,” he said.

On Wednesday night, Syrian Ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja’afari said that Olmert’s resignation could affect Turkish-brokered talks between Israel and Syria.

When questioned about whether or not the Israeli prime minister’s would impact the talks, Ja’afari said, “It could happen. I hope not,” Reuters reported.

Israel and Syria wrapped up a fourth round of indirect talks in Istanbul on Wednesday. AP quoted a Turkish official as saying that the two sides have decided to hold more indirect talks in the coming months. There has been no decision yet on when direct talks will begin.

While neither Israel nor Syria has divulged the content of the indirect negotiations, it is widely believed that the sides are talking about security, border and water issues. The Turkish source said that after four rounds of talks, it seemed clear that the sides were addressing substantive, and not only procedural, issues.

 One could very well argue that the time for negotiations are right; Olmert and Abbas are both threatened by others, which may very well encourage them to compromise more than they normally would have done. Abbas has two options; to radicalize more than Hamas, or to become more moderate, hoping that this will result in something his people have not had for decades; peace and calmness. The same goes, of course, for Abbas, who wants to safe his legacy.