Any peace deal with Israel would be delayed if the police investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert forces him to resign and hold elections," senior Arab negotiator for the Fatah/PA Saeb Erikat said Wednesday.
Erikat said that the investigation against Olmert is an internal Israeli matter, but noted that the "Palestinians" are following the developments attentively. "If they decide to call new elections, then we will be delayed by another year," he estimated. "If [Foreign Minister Tzipi] Livni becomes Prime Minister, we will remain in the same situation," he added.
Another Fatah/PA negotiator, Yasser Abed-Rabbo, said that the talk about Olmert's possible resignation "does not bother us in any way. In any case there is no progress [in the peace talks]," he said.