Israeli PM forced to shelve West Bank pullout plan

The messy Lebanon war has cost Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert much of his political capital – and with approval ratings plummeting, he has been forced to shelve his ambitious West Bank pullout plan and is instead struggling to ride out a growing public storm over the government’s wartime bungles.

At the start of his term three months ago, Mr Olmert had been confident he could draw Israel’s final borders by 2010 by pulling out of much of the West Bank unilaterally. He had vowed to turn Israel into a “fun place to live”.

A top Olmert aide, Asaf Shariv, confirmed the policy shift. “Right now, we will deal with other issues,” Shariv said. “It’s not that it (the pullout) was cancelled, but it is not on the agenda.”

But that strips Olmert’s coalition of its main reason for being. Mr Olmert would be hard-pressed to find an alternative to the West Bank plan, since peace talks are expected to remain frozen as long as the Islamic militant Hamas is in charge in the West Bank and Gaza.

Bereft of a programme, Olmert’s government is increasingly vulnerable to political attack, especially as complaints about his handling of the war mount.

Parliament could impose its own inquiry when it reconvenes in October, said Hanan Krystal, political commentator for Israel Radio.

The next election is not scheduled until 2010, but in the past decade no Israeli government has survived a full four-year term. Polls suggest that a majority of Israelis are not demanding Mr Olmert’s resignation, for now.