According to aides to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the prime minister may be planning to submit his resignation to President Shimon Peres if Wednesday’s Knesset vote to dissolve the coalition passes. Mr. Olmert realizes in such a situation, the government will be a transition body and will not have the authority or the mandate from the electorate for any major policy decisions. If he dismisses cabinet ministers who support the vote as threatened, then it will be a minority government, lacking the support to govern effectively.

In the meantime, the prime minister is yet to discuss the possibility at length with his advisors, and he has not yet abandoned efforts to persuade the Shas party to change its vote, realizing without Shas, the bill cannot pass.

The prime minister on Monday met with Shas leader Minister Eli Yishai, making grandiose promises but to no avail. Yishai is well-aware that while the prime minister may promise a great deal, he is not in a position to deliver the goods with his finance minister adamantly opposed to an increase in the monthly child allowance payments, which Shas has repeatedly stated is a deal-breaker.

Mr. Olmert on Tuesday is expected to continue working in earnest to create new facts on the ground by turning Shas around, a move that would buy him additional time as he continues working towards signing agreements on all fronts.

Wednesday’s vote aside, many feel that Olmert can no longer operate as the nation’s leader due to his inability to enlist support among his own Kadima Party colleagues. This in addition to the ethical issues involved with his continuing in office as police and the prosecutor’s office continue amassing evidence against him in preparation for a multi-count criminal indictment.

What has Kadima faction members frustrated is the party’s charter, designed by party founder former prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who went to great lengths to protect himself, designing a system that places all of the party’s power and authority in the leader’s hands, leaving the Kadima ministers and MKs unable to oust Olmert as the party leader.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)