Tuesday, July 11, 2006. Issue 3450.
Olmert Reaffirms West Bank Withdrawal PlansBy Steven Gutkin ,The AP.
JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday said that he is absolutely determined to carry out his planned West Bank withdrawal, despite heavy fighting with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Olmert also ruled out negotiations or a prisoner swap with the Hamas-led Palestinian government to win the release of a captured Israeli soldier, calling the Islamic militant group a terrorist bloody organization.Speaking to foreign reporters, Olmert said separation between Israelis and Palestinians was inevitable, adding that the current round of violence in Gaza would not prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Olmert wants to withdraw from most of the West Bank by 2010 to allow the Palestinians to gain independence and to enable Israel to finalize secure borders. I haven't changed my basic commitment to the realignment plan, he said, referring to the pullout. I am absolutely determined to carry out the separation from the Palestinians and establish secure borders. If peace efforts remain stalled, he said, he would carry out the withdrawal unilaterally, just as Israel carried out a unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip last year. As a first step, Olmert said he expected to begin uprooting unauthorized outposts in the West Bank in the near future.
Continued rocket fire out of Gaza, along with Israel's recent invasion of the area, has raised questions about whether Olmert can carry out the West Bank pullout. The withdrawal
could put major Israeli population centers well within the range of Palestinian rockets. But Olmert said the violence could not halt a process that began with the Gaza withdrawal. We want to separate in a friendly manner and to live alongside each other ... in a peaceful way, he said. If the terrorist organizations will impose a violent confrontation, both Israelis and Palestinians will have to bear the consequences. That can't stop the inevitable process of separation of Israelis and Palestinians.
Israeli troops entered the Gaza Strip on June 28, following the capture of the Israeli soldier. Israel expanded the operation last week into northern Gaza to halt months of rocket attacks. Tanks and ground forces have entered the area, and Israel has carried out numerous airstrikes, leading to widespread destruction.We have no particular desire to topple the Hamas government as a policy. We have a desire to stop terrorists from inflicting terror on the Israeli people,he said, declining to give a timetable for the operation.
The Hamas-linked militants holding the soldier, as well as top Hamas leaders, have called on Israel to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to help end the standoff. Olmert ruled out a prisoner swap. Trading prisoners with a terrorist bloody organization such as Hamas is a major mistake that will cause a lot of damage to the future of the state of Israel,he said. He focused much of his criticism on Hamas' exiled leader, Khaled Mashaal, whom Israel accuses of plotting the capture of the soldier.
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