US/Middle East: system fails

President George Bush heads to the Middle East again this week, for the second time in five months. 

Apart from attending 60th anniversary celebrations in Israel, he will be trying to inject some life into the Israeli-Palestinian 'peace process' which he sees as part of his regional legacy.  Perhaps sensibly, he is, according to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino "under no illusions that things are going to happen immediately", but in her immortal words,  "moments like when the president is going to go and travel to the region can create opportunity to push this system a little bit further". 

Unfortunately for Bush and Israel -- not to mention the 'system' -– the celebrations could be overshadowed by calls for Bush's Israeli host, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, to step down as a result of his latest police investigation.  Details are held back by a court gagging order, and Olmert, who is already embroiled in several corruption scandals, denies any wrongdoing, but some commentators are arguing that the sheer weight of investigations could force him to resign. If Olmert does have to step down, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who is also Israel's chief peace negotiator, could take over as caretaker.  Otherwise elections are inevitable.  None of this will help Bush's efforts to breathe life into the moribund 'system', but at least he could use Olmert's departure as the rationale for the likely breakdown of his initiative, which has in reality always been doomed to probable failure through its own flaws.