Israel PM plans more West Bank withdrawals

ACTING Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to withdraw from more West Bank settlements immediately after forming Israel's next government and to set Israel's final borders within four years, a top political ally said yesterday.

Border-setting is the key agenda of the Israeli leader's Kadima Party, which holds a commanding lead ahead of the March 28 vote.

Mr Olmert has said should negotiation efforts fail, he would draw Israel's borders unilaterally, continuing a process started over the summer when the Israelis evacuated the Gaza Strip and four small West Bank settlements.

The Hamas victory in Palestinian elections made that more likely, a senior Kadima member said.

Avi Dichter, a former security chief and a top Olmert ally, said Israel will dismantle more West Bank settlements - but maintain a military presence in the evacuated areas.

"It will be only a civilian disengagement, not a military disengagement," he told Israel Radio.

Despite the absence of Ariel Sharon, who remains comatose after suffering a stroke earlier this year, the centrist party he founded, Kadima, is expected to win the elections and keep Mr Olmert at the helm.

Assuming that happens, work on the pullout will begin immediately after a new government is installed, Mr Dichter said. The entire process of setting final borders would take about four years, he said.

He added that Mr Olmert will seek crucial US backing for the four-year plan.

A senior official close to Mr Olmert, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to give details to the media, said such a disengagement was an option, but policy would be determined only after the election.

Palestinians led by Hamas denounced the plan.

Lawmaker Salah Bardawill, spokesman for Hamas' parliamentary faction, said: "This is another indication of Israeli policy, which ignores the existence of the Palestinian people.

"Once again, Israel is threatening to adopt unilateral measures that vindicate Hamas' view that there is no partner in Israel who seeks real peace, and that Israel used negotiations in previous years as a pretext to ignore and stall the granting of Palestinian rights."

The Yediot Ahronot newspaper, in an item citing Mr Dichter, reported yesterday that at least 17 settlements would be evacuated in the first stage.

Mr Olmert has said Israel would hold on to three major settlement blocs and the Jordan River Valley, but he has not said which of the more than 120 remaining West Bank settlements he would be ready to quit first.