JERUSALEM - Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in comments published on Thursday that political rivals must agree to a plan to withdraw from large parts of the West Bank if they want to join a government led by his Kadima party -- widely expected to win elections next week.OlmertÂ’s comments gave the clearest signal yet of how the next Israeli government will look if Kadima wins on TuesdayÂ’s vote. Kadima holds a wide lead in opinion polls, but will need help from smaller parties to form a majority coalition government in parliament. The tough conditions he laid out in the Yediot Ahronot daily signaled that Olmert would like to join forces with the dovish Labor and Meretz parties, while he has apparently ruled out an alliance with the hawkish Likud Party.
Olmert also appeared to be sending a tough message to Avigdor Lieberman, leader of an increasingly powerful Russian immigrant party. Lieberman, a hard-line Jewish settler, has not ruled out joining an Olmert-led government.
New polls published Thursday showed Kadima still holds a commanding lead over Labor and Likud, though the centrist party slid slightly in the surveys. Olmert inherited the Kadima leadership after party founder Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke in January.
A central part of Olmert’s platform is drawing Israel’s final borders within four years, if necessary through unilateral West Bank withdrawals. Olmert has said Israel’s West Bank separation barrier, built to prevent suicide bombers from entering the country, will serve as the basis of the border. He wants to dismantle all settlements on the eastern side of the border, uprooting thousands of Jewish settlers from their homes. “I want to emphasize, so that no one doubts it: I intend to implement this plan. Anyone who is not interested in seeing this plan implemented -- will not be in my coalition. I do not intend to compromise on the details of the plan. This is the plan and there is no other,” Olmert told Yediot.
| Painful for the settlers but necessary for the Israelis to have any viable state. |
| Especially not yours. |