British Prime Minister Tony Blair refused on Monday to endorse publicly the plan by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for a partial withdrawal from the West Bank.
In his first meeting with Blair since succeeding Ariel Sharon, Olmert outlined his proposal for the closure of some of the more remote Jewish settlements in the West Bank while annexing three major settlement blocs.
The Israeli prime minister told a Downing Street press conference that the proposed unilateral withdrawal in the West Bank, following on from the pullout from Gaza last year, was "generous" and would leave the Palestinians with 90 percent of the West Bank.
Blair insisted the only way forward for Israel was not unilateral action but to embark on negotiations with the Palestinians to end the conflict.
"I do not want to go down any other path than a negotiated settlement," Blair said.
He did not deviate from the long-term position that Israel should return to its 1967 borders and hand over the West Bank in its entirety to the Palestinians to form their own state.
Blair offered one concession to Olmert. He left open a door to Olmert's plan when he said that if negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians failed to make progress, the status quo was not an option.
He warned the international community that if it did not do enough to make negotiations work, he expected the Israelis to act unilaterally.
"We, the international community, have got a choice," Blair said. "We either put our best effort into making sure that negotiated settlement becomes a reality, or we are going to face a different reality."
The concession is partly because Blair does not want to alienate the Israeli government. With his tenure as prime minister nearing its end, Blair is keen to play an active role in trying to rekindle Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, according to western diplomats in Israel.
Olmert hinted that if negotiations made progress, there might be a role for Blair.
The Israeli prime minister is due to continue his European tour with a visit to Paris today to meet French President Jacques Chirac.
In recent years, Israel has dismissed European opinion as too sympathetic to the Palestinians. Olmert's visit is part of a new Israeli drive to win over European minds.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was