Israel sets deadline for Palestinian peace deal

Israel will give the Palestinians until the end of the year to prove they are willing to negotiate a final peace deal, and will unilaterally set its final borders with them by 2008 if they don’t, according to a close associate of prime minister Ehud Olmert.

Justice Minister Haim Ramon was the first Israeli official to set a deadline for the Palestinians’ new militant Hamas rulers to disarm and recognise the Jewish state.