Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Israel will have to give up parts of the West Bank in order to preserve a Jewish majority inside its borders but would keep the main settlement blocs and Jerusalem. Olmert, standing in for ailing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the annual Herzliya Conference, said that the main challenge facing Israel now is "setting the permanent borders of the state of Israel to ensure a Jewish majority."
In his first policy address, Olmert said Israel would have to undertake further pullbacks. "The choice between allowing Jews to live in all parts of the land of Israel and living in a state with a Jewish majority mandates giving up parts of the Land of Israel," Olmert said. "We cannot continue to control parts of the territories where most of the Palestinians live." Olmert said Israel "will keep security zones, main settlement blocs, and places important to the Jewish people, first of all, Jerusalem, united under Israeli control. There can be no Jewish state without Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty."
He said it would be a "historical mistake to let the Palestinians escape their commitment to dismantle the terror groups." He said Israel would insist on implementing the "road map" peace plan, which requires the Palestinians to stop violence. |