Israelis must understand that even their country's closest international allies want Israel to pull back in the West Bank and share Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an interview published yesterday.
When speaking of the future, "the world that is friendly to Israel ... speaks of Israel in terms of the '67 borders. It speaks of the division of Jerusalem," Olmert said in the interview with the English-language Israeli daily the Jerusalem Post.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians want those territories for an independent state, with east Jerusalem as their capital.
Olmert has launched negotiations with the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, on a peace deal that both leaders hope to reach by the end of this year. In the past, Olmert has said Israel would have to withdraw from parts of the West Bank and has signaled he would be prepared to hand over some Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem to Palestinian sovereignty.
However, Olmert told the Jerusalem Post that Israel would be able to hold on to some areas in the West Bank in any peace deal, with US approval. Although Israel has promised to halt building in its West Bank settlements, Olmert said that didn't apply to all settlements.
He mentioned Maaleh Adumim, a large settlement in the West Bank outside Jerusalem, which he said was "an indivisible part of Jerusalem and the state of Israel. I don't think when people are talking about settlements they are talking about Maaleh Adumim."
Palestinians reject any settlement construction, saying it compromises peace negotiations and violates Israel's commitments. They also want Israel to halt all construction in east Jerusalem.
In the interview yesterday, Olmert said Israel had to withdraw from Palestinian territory to preserve itself as a democracy and as a predominantly Jewish state.
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