OLMERT PROMOTES ROAD MAP

Monday, September 11, 2006 by Staff Writer
Olmert: Israel wants to restart talks with Palestinians

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday that Israel will look for a way to restart talks with the Palestinians in order to create a new political horizon. Olmert said that Israel will not retreat from the roadmap and the steps stipulated in the plan. The Roadmap is better than any other document that could be produced by the international community and especially the demand to dismantle the terror groups as a condition to any progress,he said. We must not be caught in a deadlock with the Palestinians. We need to find a platform that will give hope and reshape the political horizon.

Olmert also said he is willing to meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas with no prior conditions.In the past, they placed preconditions. During the war I suggested that we meet, but it is clear that what I was willing to do before Gilad Shalit was kidnapped I will not do today and as long as he is in captivity, we will not be releasing any Palestinian prisoners.

Meanwhile on the political front, Transportation Minister and member of the Security Cabinet Shaul Mofaz called yesterday to form a National Investigative Committee to probe the failures of the war in Lebanon.

A National Investigative Committee is necessary in order to bring back the trust of the people in the national leadership,Mofaz said in a statement published yesterday. Other committees did not work, and there is no more time to waste. The committee must be formed immediately.

Officials close to Mofaz, who has served both as army chief of staff and defense minister, say he is not worried that the committee will investigate his own performance in those two positions from the time Israel withdrew from Lebanon and until the war. Officials close to Olmert say that the call for an investigation is motivated by politics. Sources in Jerusalem say that Olmert is currently looking into appointing a former judge to head the Government Inquiry Committee in place of Nahum Admoni.

Olmert Pushing Road Map PlanBy Hillel Fendel(INN)

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Saturday night, announced he plans to meet - unconditionally - with Abu Mazen in the near future. Blair arrived in Jerusalem late Sabbath afternoon, meeting with Mr. Olmert on what many feel is his farewell tour of the region before his expected resignation next year.Olmert told reporters that he plans to meet with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) in the near future. Though just last week he said he would not meet with Abbas before captive soldier Gilad Shalit is released, he no longer has set any preconditions for such a meeting.

Olmert expressed his willingness and intention to advance the Quartet's Road Map Plan between Israel and the PA. He announced that the Realignment Plan, his main election campaign platform, was no longer relevant.

The Road Map plan, initiated in 2002, calls for an end to terrorism, an end to Israel's settlement activity, and the formation of a Palestinian state. Ex-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that the U.S. guaranteed that Israel could retain major settlement blocs in the Shomron, but this has not been borne out by the relevant documents. The plan has not yet made it to its first step.The British leader told reporters that events taking place in the Mideast directly impact his country, as well as the entire world community. Blair expressed his willingness to do whatever possible to advance negotiating efforts between Israel and the PA (Palestinian Authority).

Prime Minister Olmert has said that he now realizes that his Realignment Plan, calling for the dismantling of most of the communities in Judea and Samaria and the handing over of most of the territory to Hamas, is no longer realistic. The Road Map Plan is all Olmert has left on the political horizon, analysts say.Olmert placing the focus of his Saturday night remarks not on
Lebanon or Iran, but on the PA. PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, who still retains his position despite the fact that Hamas controls the Parliament, is also willing to talk unconditionally with Olmert. Both leaders apparently feel they need each other in order to stay in power.

The Deputy Director of the GSS (Israel's domestic security service), whose name is not known to the public, says that Abbas also needs Hamas cooperation in order to survive. The official told the Cabinet today that Fatah is continuing to crumble in the face of increasing Hamas strength and influence within the internal PA security agencies. Efforts continue to create a unity government of both Hamas and Fatah.