French President Nicholas Sarkozy is seen here with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Elysee Palace in Paris on  Sunday. [Isranet photo]

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is currently in Paris to attend President Nicholas Sarkozy’s conference of Mediterranean countries.  With France now wishing to become a major player on the world diplomatic stage, the French President is trying in the first instance to encourage harmony between countries in the region to avoid conflict and foster good relations and trade.
 
There is no question that Israel and her more belligerent Arab neighbors are the focus of Sarkozy’s initiative. However the position of Prime Minister Olmert at home, with the threat of further investigations and possible legal action, makes his position untenable.  Reports state that Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni "made a point of keeping her distance from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during the (Paris) conference".   It is difficult to give credibility to the Israel government delegation when the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister are at odds with each other in the public arena and will not talk to each other.
 
It is clear that major personalities in the government are maneuvering themselves for the inevitable time when Ehud Olmert will either step down due to the ever increasing pressure of the investigations against him, or his removal in a party vote.
 
Israeli political life can be well described as being politics in a fish bowl.  The politicians, the fish, are going round and round in circles oblivious to the spectators looking into the bowl.  Occasionally scraps of food are thrown into the bowl as the more dominant residents of the bowl rise to the surface to snatch the crumbs of food, only to quickly swallow the scraps before resuming their circular, predictable and rather aimless lives.
 
Politics in Israel today seems to have no direction and no leadership.  A proliferation of pointless political slogans can be seen around the country, in part to promote the local municipal election to be held in about four month’s time and secondly to create the mood for a new political leader that will appear from the political fishbowl to steer the country hopefully away from another war.  In truth the outlook is bleak, as there seems to be no leader on the horizon who can stand up to the machinations of the Arabs leaders.  
 
Perhaps after the U.S. presidential elections Israeli politics will take a more pragmatic turn for the better.