Posted on 03/09/2006 10:09:33 PM PST by NormsRevenge
JERUSALEM - Israel will determine its border with the West Bank in the absence of talks with the Palestinians, and then build a wall and move all settlers to the Israeli side, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an interview published Friday.
On Thursday Olmert said Israel will draw its final borders by 2010, for the first time setting a deadline for what is expected to be a unilateral large-scale West Bank pullback.
Olmert, in comments carried by the Yediot Ahronot daily Friday, also threatened to assassinate incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas if he is involved in terrorism — a threat made Tuesday by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.
The acting prime minister, whose Kadima Party is the front-runner in March 28 elections, has been increasingly forthcoming about his agenda in recent days to stop a gradual slide in the polls.
He said that if there are no peace talks and the Palestinians resume major attacks against Israelis, then the Jewish state will change the path of its security fences that separates Israeli from Palestinian areas. He said that new fence would become Israel's border with the West Bank.
Negotiations with the Palestinians have long been stalled. With Hamas about to present a new Palestinian government, resumption of stalled peace negotiations appears unlikely.
He told the paper that he would enter into dialogue with settler leaders to try to get them to agree to the new line, moving settlers from outlying areas into settlement blocs he plans to incorporate into Israel.
Olmert told Yediot Ahronot he would consult world powers to get support for the new border, which would annex parts of the West Bank to Israel. "First of all I will talk to President Bush." Up to now, the U.S. has opposed unilateral moves.
Olmert's agenda also includes a plan for an expanded Jerusalem that alarms Palestinians, connecting the West Bank's largest settlement to the disputed city with new Jewish housing — a plan the U.S. opposes.
Opinion polls published Thursday, less than three weeks before the vote, showed Kadima with a wide lead over its two main rivals, the moderate Labor and hawkish Likud. But since Kadima's founder, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, suffered a massive stroke Jan. 4, its numbers have been slowly dropping.
Polls show Kadima winning about 38 seats of the 120 in the parliament, while Labor would win about 19 and Likud 17.
Trying to shore up the center — a new concept in traditionally polarized Israeli politics — Olmert has been outlining a policy that would appeal to dovish Israelis who believe in evacuating much of the West Bank, as well as hawks who favor retaining the Jewish settlements there.
Olmert told The Jerusalem Post daily that within four years, he intends to "get to Israel's permanent borders, whereby we will completely separate from the majority of the Palestinian population and preserve a large and stable Jewish majority in Israel."
Olmert said his broad guidelines for Israel's borders included incorporating its three major settlement blocs — Maaleh Adumim and Gush Etzion outside Jerusalem, and Ariel, deep inside the West Bank. Residents of isolated settlements could be moved into the major blocs, he told the Haaretz daily. Most of the 253,000 Jewish settlers already live in the main blocs.
With the militant group Hamas about to present a new Palestinian government, resumption of stalled peace negotiations appears unlikely. Hamas, which has sent dozens of suicide bombers into Israel, does not accept the presence of a Jewish state in the Middle East, and Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group and refuses to talk to its leaders.
Hamas leaders met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza late Thursday. Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said Hamas has not completed formation of its government and the president offered an extra two weeks, as Palestinian law provides.
A meeting between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah Party, which was trounced by the militant group in the January parliamentary vote, also failed to achieve agreement on a joint government, participants said.
In the absence of peace talks, Olmert's unilateral approach is meant as a bold initiative to solve Israel's main security problems, in the image of Israel's unilateral pullout from Gaza last summer under Sharon, but he has been criticized by Israeli hawks and doves, as well as Palestinians.
Labor and other dovish parties are sniping at Olmert for undermining efforts to restart peace negotiations, while Likud and other hawks charge that unilateral Israeli pullbacks amount to a reward for Palestinian violence.
Abbas — who was elected separately and has almost three years left in his term — rejected any further unilateral Israeli steps, demanding that future moves should be the result of negotiations.
But Olmert told The Jerusalem Post he had no intention of meeting Abbas after Israel's elections because he sees him as part and parcel of a Palestinian Authority dominated by Hamas.
In this photo made available by the Government Press Office, acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speaks at his house in Jerusalem Tuesday, March 7, 2006. Olmert expects to draw Israel's permanent borders by 2010, and as part of that effort, will build a controversial settlement outside Jerusalem, he said in interviews published Thursday March 9, 2006. (AP Photo/Avi Ohayon, GPO)
A rainbow is seen over the growing Jewish settlement of Maaleh Adumim, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, in this photo taken Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005. Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expects to draw Israel's permanent borders by 2010, and as part of that effort, will build a controversial settlement outside Jerusalem, he said in interviews published Thursday. Olmert, whose Kadima Party is the clear frontrunner ahead of March 28 elections, told The Jerusalem Post daily that within four years, he intends to 'get to Israel's permanent borders, whereby we will completely separate from the majority of the Palestinian population and preserve a large and stable Jewish majority in Israel.' (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
Houses of the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maaleh Adumim overlook a barren hill, five miles (8 kilometers) east of Jerusalem, in this photo taken Thursday, Aug. 25, 2005. Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expects to draw Israel's permanent borders by 2010, and as part of that effort, will build a controversial settlement outside Jerusalem, he said in interviews published Thursday March 9 2006 . ... (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
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I was watching the History Channel (don't usually) today and they had a few tv ads about going Global one said "Think Global, no Borders, the History Channel" or very close to that.
Does that mean anything to anyone?
a few tv ads about going Global one said "Think Global, no Borders, the History Channel" or very close to that.
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I recall hearing similar ads ...
sounds like a bit of global 'conditioning' , perhaps
What's a border? No entiendo...
Bad idea. Because who's going to recognize these "final borders" unilateraly drawn by Israel? Nobody. So they will be just a starting point for demanding further territorial concessions from Israel.
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