Acting PM Unveils Sweeping Plan for Israel

AP on Yahoo ^ | 3/10/06 | Ravi Nessman - ap

[NormsRevenge]

JERUSALEM - Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented a sweeping vision for Israel's future in interviews published Friday, saying he will dismantle most West Bank settlements, fortify remaining settlement blocs and set the nation's borders by 2010.

The blueprint presented by Olmert, the frontrunner in March 28 elections, is the most detailed proposal for Israel's borders ever presented to voters by an Israeli leader, and it represents a major electoral gamble.

Previous candidates for prime minister remained intentionally vague about their plans for the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War, for fear of alienating the public.

But with polls showing his Kadima Party slowly losing support — though still maintaining a strong lead over its rivals — Olmert gave detailed interviews to every major Israeli newspaper about his post-election plans.

Olmert said he intended to solve Israel's main security problems and to preserve its status as a democracy with a Jewish majority, taking drastic unilateral action if need be.

"I believe with my whole heart that we have a window of opportunity that we must utilize in the coming four years. We must carry out historic steps," he told the Yediot Ahronot daily.

The plan follows Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip last summer. Olmert became acting prime minister after Sharon suffered a devastating stroke Jan. 4.

Under Olmert's outline, Israel would uproot many of its West Bank settlements and pull back to a border that would largely follow the separation barrier it is building in the West Bank, though the route would be adjusted, he said.

"There won't remain a single Jew that we will need to defend beyond the fence," Olmert told the Maariv daily.

He said Israel would retain control over the large settlement blocs, where the majority of the 253,000 West Bank settlers live. He would try to persuade settler leaders to agree to the border, and planned to move displaced settlers into the large blocs, he said.

Israel also would keep most of Jerusalem, including its disputed holy sites, which Palestinians claims as part of the capital of their future state. However, Olmert said he was prepared to give up some outlying Arab neighborhoods of the city.

Palestinian officials rejected Olmert's plan, insisting final borders between Israel and a Palestinian state must be determined by negotiations.

"This is a recipe for continuing the conflict, and this is a message of an unwillingness to resume the political process," said Ghassan Khatib, the Palestinians' former planning minister.

However, hopes of renewing peace talks were quashed with Hamas' victory in Jan. 25 Palestinian parliamentary elections. The Islamic militant group does not recognize Israel's right to exist, and Israel has rejected dealing with the Palestinian Authority once Hamas forms a Cabinet.

Ismail Haniyeh, the incoming Palestinian prime minister, said Friday that Hamas will need several more weeks to name his Cabinet but that the Islamic movement plans to stick to its "vision," signaling that Hamas has no plans to back down from its refusal to recognize Israel or renounce violence.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Haniyeh met Friday and said they agreed to extend the deadline by two weeks, until the end of March.

Haniyeh said Hamas wants to carry out its vision. "God willing, it will be a vision that constitutes a common denominator and a platform for understanding between us and the president." he said.

Hamas legislator, Mushir al-Masri, also said the group would oppose Olmert's plan "by all available means."

"The world must act to compel Israel not to draw the borders according to its own vision and agenda, which is far from giving the Palestinians their minimum rights," he said.

The European Union threatened Friday to cut off aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian government "unless it seeks peace by peaceful means." The EU foreign ministers reviewed financial aid to Palestinians but announced no immediate halt to funds.

Olmert told Yediot he would consult with world leaders to win recognition for the new border after a West Bank pullout.

In earlier interviews, Olmert said he would keep Gush Etzion and Maaleh Adumim, near Jerusalem, and Ariel, deep in the West Bank, as well as maintain control over the Jordan River Valley, between Jordan and the West Bank.

President Bush has backed Israel's claims to keep some settlement blocs, but U.S. officials have reacted coolly to Israeli claims on Ariel and control of the Jordan Valley.

Uzi Landau, a politician from the hawkish Likud, said Olmert's plan threatened Israel's security and compared Olmert to "a little boy playing with matches."

"Olmert will relinquish territory in exchange for absolutely nothing in return," Landau told Israel Radio.

[NormsRevenge]

An international activist is carried by Israeli Border Police after being detained during a demonstration at the construction site of Israel's separation barrier in the village of Bil'in, near the West Bank town of Ramallah, Friday March 10, 2006. In the absence of negotiations with the Palestinians, Israel plans to impose a border in the West Bank, build a new wall and move all Jewish settlers to the Israeli side, all with backing from the international community, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in interviews published Friday. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

[El Gato]

Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented a sweeping vision for Israel's future

With that sort of vision, I don't imagine he'll be acting as PM for long. He might, if he's lucky, still be acting as a member of the Israeli Legislature.

[jra]

I'll admit that I sorta stopped reading halfway through, but when the writer has the gall to refer to a 'future Palestinian state' with Jerusalem as its capital, red flags go up for me.

To even think that 'Palestine' is/will be viable as a state any time soon is laughable.

[Slings and Arrows]

Pretty far-reaching for a schmuck with as much of a mandate as Gerald Ford

[Tzimisce]

Hamas will see this as weakness.