No chance of peace deal, says Sharon's deputy

Israel’s vice premier today ruled out any chance of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians, saying Israel would have to unilaterally define its borders, dismantle some settlements and withdraw from most of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and parts of east Jerusalem.

Ehud Olmert’s comments, published in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper, were a significant change of tack from a top leader of the hard-line Likud Party, which has resisted giving up most of the West Bank or any part of Jerusalem.

Olmert, who is considered close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said unilateral steps were needed because Israel was rapidly approaching the point where Arabs would outnumber Jews in areas under Israeli control.

Palestinians might then demand the right to vote, Olmert said, adding that “the day they get it, we will lose everything”.

Olmert spoke a week after Sharon said he would take unspecified unilateral steps if peace efforts with the Palestinians failed.

The Maariv newspaper reported today that Sharon’s plan involved the evacuation of settlements in Gaza, the removal of illegal outposts and the possible evacuation of some West Bank settlements.

At the same time, Israel would annex some large West Bank settlements, such as Gush Etzion or Maaleh Adumim outside Jerusalem.

Sharon would then try to reach an agreement with Palestinians next year on the borders of a temporary Palestinian state, Maariv reported, without naming its sources. If no agreement was reached, Israel would turn a security barrier under construction into a unilateral border with the Palestinians, the newspaper said.

Olmert said efforts to negotiate an agreement with the Palestinians would be fruitless.

“If I believed there was a real chance of reaching a (peace) agreement, I would advise making the effort,” Olmert told Yediot, “but that is not the situation.”

Olmert said Israel had two choices – either to withdraw to the Green Line, the frontier before the 1967 Middle East war, or an “inclusive unilateral move … where we define our borders that will in no way be similar to the Green Line”.

Sharon and prime ministers before him have said they will not withdraw to the 1967 borders.

Jewish settler spokesman Yehoshua Mor-Yosef demanded that Sharon immediately fire Olmert “for the left-wing views he presented.”