MIDDLE EAST: Kadima's Olmert wins Israel's elections on plans of uprooting many West Bank settlements but Palestinians react with indifference and scorn

Record ID: 402493

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Kadima's Olmert wins Israel's elections on plans of uprooting many West Bank settlements but Palestinians react with indifference and scorn
  • Date: 29th March 2006
  • Summary: (BN08) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (MARCH 29, 2006) (REUTERS) BUSY RAMALLAH STREET PALESTINIAN SECURITY PERSONNEL IN STREET TRAFFIC IN CITY STREET
  • Embargoed: 13th April 2006 13:00
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  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAC6QMLVVA1E818NCZOW95X1NYK
  • Story Text: Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert began building a coalition on Wednesday (March 29) after winning Israel's election on plans to impose final borders with the Palestinians by uprooting many West Bank settlements.
    Appealing to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Olmert said in a post-election speech that Israel favoured peace negotiations with the Palestinians to end decades of conflict.
    But in the absence of talks -- a remote prospect since Hamas militants won Palestinian elections in January -- Olmert has vowed to set Israel's border by 2010 by removing isolated settlements in the occupied West Bank and expanding bigger ones.
    "But in recognising reality and understanding the circumstances, we are ready to compromise, to give up parts of beloved land of Israel, in which the best of our sons and soldiers are buried," he said in his speech.
    "To evacuate from there with much pain - the Jews who lived there - in order to create the conditions that will allow you to realise your dream, as well, of living alongside us in a state of your own, in peace and calm," he said.
    Some 60,000 West Bank settlers could be affected by Olmert's plan, far more than the 8,500 removed from Gaza last year. Some 240,000 Israelis live among 2.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank, territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
    The trauma for settlers of any withdrawal could dwarf that of the Gaza evacuation which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had championed in a reversal of policy. Sharon founded Kadima before suffering a stroke in January that sent him into a coma.
    Settlers of the Psagot settlement in the West Bank reacted angrily on Wednesday (March 29) to the victory of centrist party Kadima in Israeli general elections.
    Psagot is tipped to be one of the settlements to be evacuated.
    But, settlement spokeswoman, Na'ama Goldberg was optimistic as Olmert's centrist Kadima party fared worse than expected in Tuesday's poll, signalling he might struggle to sustain support for his plan. Kadima's showing of 28 seats in the 120-member parliament was among the lowest for an election winner.
    "But now after he (Olmert) got only 28 mandates (seats in parliament), we are much more optimistic because it's going to be very difficult for him to build a strong group of people that think we have to go away from here," she said.
    News of Olmert's victory caused Israel's financial markets to fall, fearful Olmert would strain the budget with social spending needed to lure small parties to his coalition. Stocks were down two percent at 1300 GMT.
    Besides Kadima, election results showed centre-left Labour with 20 seats, the ultra-Orthodox Shas with 13, ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu with 12 and right-wing Likud with 11. Opinion polls had originally predicted Kadima would win 44 seats
    Kadima supporters were left disappointed at the news of a lower-than-expected amount of seats in the Israeli parliament but Israelis appeared optimistic about the election result, some saying it could lead to a positive future for Israel.
    One resident said he agreed with Olmert's withdrawal plans, believing it could lead to renewed peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
    "We should withdraw from the territories, come to our senses, give up the fascism - fascist movements, and start to live with our neighbours in peace," he told Reuters.
    Arab leaders have expressed dismay at the election result, after renewing their own offer of peace-for-land through international mediation. The Arab League's 22 members ended a summit in Sudan with a unanimous rejection of go-it-alone Israeli measures.
    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who wants a two-state solution but has been weakened by the victory of the Islamic militant group Hamas in elections in January, urged Olmert to drop unilateralism. Israel says Abbas has failed to disarm militants.
    "..We hope he (Olmert) will change this policy from unilateral steps to negotiating steps," Abbas told journalists.
    When asked if he thought this was possible to reach, he answered: "I hope so -- without it, no peace."
    Palestinians condemn Olmert's West Bank plans as denying them a viable state. The sweeping measures would uproot tens of thousands of Jewish settlers while tracing a border along a fortified barrier Israel is building inside the West Bank.
    Palestinians reacted with indifference and scorn to Olmert's election victory and his call for a return to peace negotiations.
    While on the one hand Olmert offered talks, on the other he said Israel would set its own borders if peacemaking remained blocked -- a unilateral move that would effectively annex some occupied land that Palestinians seek for a state.
    "I don't think there will be any differences," said one Ramallah resident.
    "It's not important who leads the Israeli government - Kadima, Likud, or Labour. Different governments, but the policy against the Palestinian people is the same. All the governments in Israel deny Palestinian rights. It's no different if Olmert changed from Likud to Kadima. He is Israeli," he said.
    Palestinians fear that would deny them the viable state they seek in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with a capital in East Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war.
    The World Court has ruled all settlements on occupied territory illegal. Israel disputes this.
    A few Palestinians said they saw some hope of improvement after Olmert's election victory given that he was likely to ally with centre-left Labour, which is generally more favourable to negotiations.
    But many more Palestinians appeared to see Olmert's plan as a foregone conclusion and said the election would make little difference at all.
    "I don't see any benefit from any Israeli government because the Israelis don't care for the Palestinians. All the peace agreements, and Oslo didn't bring any benefit (to us). The choice for the Palestinians is clear now - is to resist," another Gaza City resident said.
    The Palestinian parliament has approved a government formed by Hamas on Tuesday but Olmert has ruled out any dealings with the group until it recognises Israel, disarms and accepts interim peace deals.
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