Israeli ambassador Meridor ...resigns, before "the hurricane hits"...

The Cable, here

“The bigger story of Sallai resigning may portend that he wants to get out of the ship before the hurricane hits,” said one Washington Middle East policy analyst informed of the news. “I think that these are two governments on a collision course.”

“You have an American administration which for the first time in eight years wants to accelerate the peace process, while in Israel you have a new administration that wants to turn it around,” he added. “That’s a sure fire formula for collision.”

Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported Thursday that Israeli prime minister designate Benjamin Netanyahu asked Meridor to leave the room during a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell.

Meridor had already offered his resignation in advance of that meeting, a Washington source said. He suggested it was normal for the ambassador appointed by the outgoing Israeli prime minister to offer his resignation when a new prime minister comes in.

Some analysts in Israel and Washington also thought Meridor might have wanted to resign in advance of the possibility that Netanyahu could offer the foreign minister job to Avigdor Lieberman..."