Israel To Fix Borders 2010

[Annie]

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Olmert sees final Israeli borders by 2010: report
Thu Mar 9, 2006 6:24 AM ET

By Dean Yates

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to draw permanent Israeli borders by 2010 through pullouts from the West Bank, unless Hamas recognizes the Jewish state and renounces violence, an Israeli daily said on Thursday.

In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Olmert said within the next four years he intended to "get to Israel's permanent borders, whereby we will completely separate from the majority of the Palestinian population".

His centrist Kadima party is expected to win Israel's general election on March 28.

Olmert told the newspaper he would give a Palestinian Authority led by the militant Islamist group Hamas a "reasonable" amount of time to reform, disarm and embrace past interim peace agreements.

Hamas is forming a government after a sweeping win in Palestinian parliamentary elections on January 25.

"We will wait, but I don't intend to wait forever," the newspaper quoted Olmert as saying in excerpts of the interview, which will be published in full on Friday.

"If after a reasonable time passes it becomes clear that the Palestinian Authority is not willing to accept these principles, we will need to begin to act."

Olmert has headed Kadima since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was incapacitated by a stroke on January 4. He has hinted he would evacuate isolated West Bank settlements while cementing Israel's hold on major settlement blocs.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters that unilateralism was not the way forward.

"We urge Mr Olmert to resume permanent status negotiations with us. The road to peace and security in the region is not through unilateralism, the building of walls and settlements, but rather through the resumption of permanent status negotiations," he said.

Israel rules out negotiations with Hamas, which is sworn to the Jewish state's destruction and has carried out nearly 60 suicide bombings against Israelis since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000. Hamas says talks with Israel would be a waste of time.

The final borders would be set following debate in Israel and talks with the international community, the Jerusalem Post quoted Olmert as saying.

Israeli officials see the Hamas victory as reinforcing a need for unilateral action and dimming hopes for a U.S.-backed peace "road map", which calls for both sides to take steps to reach a negotiated settlement.

STEADY IN POLLS

Kadima appears to have consolidated its lead as campaigning for the elections swings into high gear, surveys showed.

Opinion polls published in three Israeli newspapers on Thursday indicated the party had stabilized its position following a drop in support earlier in the month.

The opinion polls gave Kadima 37 to 38 seats in the 120-seat parliament, far ahead of the center-left Labor Party and the right-wing Likud party.

"The question of who will win the elections has already been decided. The test now is whether we will be strong enough to do what we want and for this we need as many seats as possible," Olmert said at a campaign rally on Wednesday.

In Gaza, trucks carrying food entered the strip after Israel reopened the main commercial crossing following a closure of more than two weeks due to what it said were security threats.

The United Nations cautioned last week that stocks of some food in Gaza could begin to run out within days unless Israel reopened the Karni crossing.

Salim Abu Safiyah, director of security at Palestinian crossings with Israel, said trucks were not allowed to leave Gaza for Israel yet, but should be able to from Sunday.

Israel ended its 38-year military rule of Gaza last year, but retains control of all access points for bringing goods in and out of the territory.