Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed to set Israel's permanent borders within four years, fleshing out a key election promise ahead of polls on March 28 his Kadima party is tipped to win.
Within four years, he intends to "get to Israel's permanent borders, whereby we will be completely separate from the majority of the Palestinian population and preserve a large and stable Jewish majority in Israel,"
"In four years' time, Israel will be separated from a decisive majority of the Palestinian population, within new borders," Haaretz quoted him as saying.
Olmert said he would wait a "reasonable" time to see whether Hamas would recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept previous agreements, before taking action with as wide an internal and international consensus as possible.
"If after a reasonable time passes it becomes clear that the PA (Palestinian Authority) is not willing to accept these principles, we will need to begin to act,"
Divisions have emerged within Kadima over whether a new round of unilateral pullouts in the West Bank is preferable to setting the permanent borders through negotiations with the Palestinians. [AFP]
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