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Israel to hold on to main West Bank settlement blocs
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-08 10:15
Israel will retain its main West Bank settlement blocs and all of Jerusalem
when its permanent borders are drawn, but it will give up parts of the West Bank
where most Palestinians live, said acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in
his clearest statement of Israel's future.
Olmert's interview on Channel 2 TV was his first since taking power a month
ago, replacing Ariel Sharon, who is still in a coma after suffering a massive
stroke January 4. Olmert staked out the center ahead of Israel's general
election on March 28, with the Kadima Party he inherited from Sharon holding a
solid lead in the polls.
"We will disengage from most of the Palestinian population that lives in
Judea and Samaria," Olmert said, using the biblical names for the West Bank.
"That will obligate us to leave territories under Israeli control today."
Olmert indicated Israel might set its own borders if no agreement can be
reached with the Palestinians.
Olmert told Channel 2 that Israel would retain "united Jerusalem," a term
understood as encompassing the eastern section claimed by the Palestinians for
the capital of the state they hope to create. On Tuesday, Olmert toured
construction sites of the separation barrier Israel is building in the Jerusalem
area and said its completion is "the highest priority."
The barrier is to extend along the length of the West Bank, dipping into the
territory to encircle the settlements Olmert listed and others. Israel says the
barrier is necessary to keep suicide bombers out, but Palestinians denounce it
as a land grab.
About three-fourths of Israel's 244,000 West Bank settlers live in the areas
Olmert delineated in the TV interview, according to government figures and
estimates by the Peace Now settlement watchdog group.
The bloc of settlements around Ariel is about 17 kilometers (10 miles) inside
the West Bank, the farthest from the line. Gush Etzion and Maaleh Adumim are
near Jerusalem.
While stating specifically that the three blocs would remain in Israel, he
used a different formula for the Jordan River valley: "It is impossible to
abandon control of the eastern border of Israel," he said, without referring to
Israeli sovereignty or the string of small settlements there. He refused to give
more details.
Olmert also hinted that Israel might carry out further unilateral withdrawals
from lands the Palestinians want for a state, like its summer pullout from the
Gaza Strip _ especially now that Hamas militants sworn to Israel's destruction
have swept Palestinian elections.
"We are going toward separation from the Palestinians," he said. "We are
going toward determining a permanent border for the state of Israel."
Olmert said he is "not giving up" on the internationally backed "road map"
peace plan, which calls for negotiations toward a Palestinian state. Pressed
about whether he would move unilaterally if there are no talks, Olmert said,
"Let's not talk hypotheticals."
Negotiations aimed at a peace treaty and a permanent border between Israel
and the West Bank have been frozen for years. The Palestinians claim the whole
territory, but Israel says the border is defined only by a cease-fire line and
is negotiable.
Sharon created Kadima as a centrist alternative to the hard-line Likud Party
he quit and parties on Israel's left that advocate leaving all or most of the
West Bank and the part of Jerusalem the Palestinians claim.
Israel left Gaza in the summer, but violence continued there on Tuesday. Two
Palestinian militants were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
The Israeli military said it targeted a car in Gaza City carrying Al Aqsa
Martyears' Brigades militants involved in producing rockets to be fired at
Israel. Earlier Israeli artillery and aircraft pounded northern Gaza, where
militants have been launching rockets. Four landed in Israel on Tuesday, causing
some damage.
Al Aqsa identified the dead as senior commanders and threatened revenge.
Since Thursday, Israel has killed nine Gaza militants in
airstrikes.
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