MIDDLE EAST:In the wake of a corruption scandal, an early election rather than a peace deal with Syria is on the cards, writes Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem
ISRAELI AND Syrian officials have concluded a second round of indirect contacts in Turkey and Israeli officials have begun talking about a possible direct meeting by next month.
On the Palestinian front, Israeli leaders have ruled out a major military operation in Gaza for now and appear on the verge of agreeing a truce with Hamas.
Sounds like a new era of calm is descending on the troubled Middle East, that rapprochement beckons.
Hardly. With prime minister Ehud Olmert's government unravelling, as he faces corruption charges over accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from an American businessman, and early elections looking increasingly likely, Israelis respond to talk of progress on the Syrian track with a mixture of dismissal and amusement.
The cabinet's procrastination over whether to accept an Egyptian-mediated truce proposal with Hamas in Gaza is seen as yet another sign of the government's inevitable demise.
Aides to the prime minister have reportedly told Syrian officials they do not believe the corruption charges against Mr Olmert will affect the negotiations, which were renewed last month after an eight-year hiatus. There has even been talk of a possible handshake between the Israeli leader and Syrian president Bashar Assad when the two attend a summit in Paris next month on a new union of Mediterranean states.
However with Mr Olmert's political condition considered terminal - his public approval ratings are a little over 10 per cent - it's hard to see how he could negotiate a peace deal with Syria and sell it to Israelis. He will need a lot more than a handshake with Mr Assad.
Just two weeks ago, both Mr Olmert and defence minister Ehud Barak, who heads the Labour Party, warned that Israel was on the verge of launching a major military operation in Gaza aimed at stopping Islamic militants from firing rockets into Israel.
Last week the security cabinet decided to hold off on a Gaza invasion and to give the Egyptians more time to broker a truce.
This indecision has left Mr Olmert and Mr Barak at each other's throats. In a barb aimed directly at the prime minister, Mr Barak said last Friday that political considerations were holding up a decision on whether to accept a truce with Hamas.
The government, he said, was "incapable of making decisions in regard to Hamas, Syria, Lebanon, Iran or the United States. All the Cabinet discussions are directed at the media."
Mr Barak has called on Mr Olmert to step down in the face of the corruption charges and has said that if the ruling Kadima party does not hold primaries to replace the prime minister, he will vote in favour of early elections.
With the scent of elections in the air, other political leaders have also not hesitated to exploit key strategic issues to promote their own political interests. Earlier this month, deputy prime minister Shaul Mofaz, who wants to succeed Mr Olmert as Kadima leader, said an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities was "unavoidable".
The comment sparked a record 9 per cent spike in the price of oil in a single day, but in Israel the comment was seen merely as an attempt by Mr Mofaz to paint himself as tough on security ahead of a possible leadership battle.
The chatter over movement in talks with the Syrians and the open sniping between Mr Olmert and Mr Barak are signs that the government's days are numbered and that barring some dramatic, unforeseen development, an election, not a peace treaty with Syria, is approaching fast.