Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert began building a coalition yesterday 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 was ready to live alongside the Palestinians in peace after decades of conflict.
But in the absence of peace talks -- a remote prospect with Hamas Islamist militants taking office -- Olmert has vowed to set Israel's frontier by 2010 by removing isolated settlements in the occupied West Bank and expanding bigger blocs there.
Olmert's centrist Kadima party fared worse than expected, signaling 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 some political analysts said Olmert should be able to stitch together a coalition that would avoid the need to negotiate with right-wing parties opposed to any withdrawal from West Bank land that settlers see as a biblical birthright.
"I think we can run a government with 28 seats. It will be difficult, but possible," elder statesman and senior Kadima politician Shimon Peres said on Army Radio.
Besides Kadima, election results showed center-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, founded just four months ago, was expected to seek a coalition with Labour and small parties in talks expected to last for weeks. Some religious parties and one representing pensioners could back his West Bank plan.
Maya Jacobs, a Kadima spokeswoman, said unofficial coalition talks with leading parties including Labour had begun.
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.
Olmert said Jews had aspired for thousands of years to create a homeland throughout the Land of Israel, biblical territory that includes the West Bank.
"But acknowledging reality and circumstances, we are ready to compromise," Olmert said.
If the Palestinians did not move towards peace, he said, "Israel will take its destiny in hand" and set final borders.
Olmert's unilateral approach appeals to many Israelis worn down by a five-year-old Palestinian uprising and worried by the rise to power of Hamas, which is sworn to destroy Israel.
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.
European leaders gave a cautious welcome to Kadima's victory, and urged the country's new government to restart peace talks with the Palestinians.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who called Olmert to offer congratulations, said Kadima's victory "changes the shape of Israeli politics."
"I look forward to meeting him soon to discuss his plans to take the peace process forward," Blair said in a statement released by his 10 Downing Street office. "I urge all parties to pursue a path of positive engagement as set out by the Quartet" -- the EU, the US, the UN and Russia.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said the result was "good news for peace."
The Times of London hailed the "extraordinary" result as a step toward moderation.
In an editorial, it said that "when the Palestinian election produced the extreme result of a Hamas victory, many thought that the Israeli electorate would react by lurching back to Likud, led by the unpredictable Binyamin Netanyahu. It has not done so."
also see story:
Arab leaders expect little change after Israeli poll
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘ONE BRIDGE’: The US president-elect met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 in Florida and the two discussed a potential Taiwan-China conflict’s implications for world peace US president-elect Donald Trump has described Taiwan as “a major issue for world peace” during a meeting with Akie Abe, the widow of late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted sources as saying in a report yesterday. Trump met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two discussed the Russo-Ukrainian war and the situation in the Taiwan Strait. During the meeting, Trump spoke on the implications for world peace of a potential Taiwan-China conflict, which “indicated his administration’s stance of placing importance on dealing with the situation in
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
ALLIANCE: Washington continues to implement its policy of normalizing arms sales to Taiwan and helps enhance its defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US President Joe Biden on Friday agreed to provide US$571.3 million in defense support for Taiwan, the White House said, while the US State Department approved the potential sale of US$265 million in military equipment. Biden had delegated to the secretary of state the authority “to direct the drawdown of up to US$571.3 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan,” the White House said in a statement. However, it did not provide specific details about this latest package, which was the third of its kind to
RSS