Olmert - dividing the land - faces unprecedented 3rd criminal probe

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By Stan Goodenough
October 15, 2007

Israel's attorney-general triggered a bomb shell Sunday when he announced that Ehud Olmert was under criminal investigation for an unprecedented third time since becoming prime minister.

The allegations at the center of this latest affair are reportedly graver than any made in the previous two investigations that are still ongoing against the premier.

News of the new probe came as Olmert's ministers were meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss the increasingly desperate US-pushed effort to create conditions for the birth of a Palestinian state. (See separate report.)

According to reports, the new investigation will look into suspicions of cronyism, conflicts of interest and political appointments made by Olmert while serving as Trade and Industry Minister in the government of Ariel Sharon.

Right-wing and leftist politicians clamored for "the most-ever-investigated prime minister in the history of Israel" to immediately step down.

But political analysts believe it unlikely the prime minister - who wants to go down in history as having made peace with the Palestinian Arabs - will bow out anytime soon.

"Olmert is a tough politician who, throughout his career, has never been inhibited by moral considerations or public opinion from exploiting his authority to the hilt...," wrote Dan Izenberg in Monday's edition of The Jerusalem Post.

While the Knesset - in which Olmert has some serious political foes - could force him to resign, this was an unlikely option because too many MKs preferred holding on to their seats to seeing a disgraced prime minister face justice.

Concluded Izenberg, Olmert's "popularity might continue to plummet - if, indeed, it can go any lower than it already is - but the odds are that not only will he continue to govern, but he will do so without displaying even the smallest degree of inhibition in using his powers."

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