Back to Gabrielle Goldwater's Reports
'We Are Ready to Change'
Israel's Ehud Olmert on his
bold plan for a new border
By Lally Weymouth Newsweek April 17, 2006
issue
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12223150/site/newsweek/
Against
the advice of his campaign managers, Ehud Olmert made a daring move.
In the
midst of the recent elec-tion campaign, he decided to tell Israeli
voters
that, if elected, he and his Kadima Party would pull Israeli settlers
out of
most of the West Bank. The deci-sion may have cost him some support.
But
Kadima still won more votes than any other party, and Olmert is now
putting
together a governing coalition. He has one rule: those who join must
agree
with
him on "convergence"-or withdrawal from much of the occupied
territories.
Last week, in his first interview with a for-eign publication
since the
election, Olmert sketched out his plans for NEWSWEEK's Lally
Weymouth.
Excerpts:
WEYMOUTH: You are forming your governing
coalition.
OLMERT: The Labor Party is going to be a senior partner, but
we will [also]
have a few more parties in the government.
Q: Will
[Avigdor] Lieberman [leader of the right-wing party Yisrael
Beiteinu]
join?
A: Lieberman will most likely be a member of the coalition
government.
Q: And Shas?
A:And Shas, yes.
Q: So you will
have a very broad coalition?
A: I hope so, yes. I think it would be good
to try and form a national
consensus. [But] I declared before the elections
what my plans are [for
withdrawing from the terri-tories] in a most explicit
manner.
Q: I heard that your advisers warned you not to do
this.
A: I was aware of the possibility that it would cost me some votes,
but I
also knew that once I had made this statement and man-aged to win, I
would
have a greater man-date to act. And I certainly intend now to go ahead
and
not waste time.
Q: What do you mean by "convergence" as distinct
from withdrawal?
A: The idea is that most of the settlements that would
have to be removed .
will be converged into the blocs of settlements that
will remain under
Israeli control.
Q: You're talking about [moving
settlers to] Maale Adummim?
A: The blocs of settlements which include
Maale Adummim, the Etzion bloc and
Ariel will be augmented by more
settle-ments. The rest of the territories
will not have any Israeli presence
and will allow territorial contiguity for
a future Palestin-ian
state.
Q: Will the Army stay behind?
A: I will keep all the
military options to be able to combat terrorism
effectively
everywhere.
Q: Is the [separation] fence the basis of the border that
you're thinking
about?
A: The fence will have to be adjusted to the
makeup of these blocs of
settlements. No Israeli will live outside the
fence-firstly for the sake of
security, and secondly for providing
territorial congruity for the
Palestinians. The time has come for a change,
and I am absolutely determined
to accomplish it. It's been discussed and
debated and argued in Israel for
decades. I think that there is an
opportunity now which never existed
before. This is a com-bination of the
position of the public opinion of
Israel, my commitment, and the
understanding and hopefully future support of
President George W.
Bush.
Q: Would you want some kind of U.S. recogni-tion of the borders
[you set
unilaterally]?
A: I will seek such recognition,
yes.
Q: Do you expect some kind of a new alliance or new defensive pact
from the
U.S.?
A: I understand that if this move will be accepted as
a contribution to a
Middle East with less violence and terror, we will be
able to reach an
understanding with the American government about some
measures of support
that can be essential for the success of this
move.
Q: Financial, military or both?
A: Everything that could be
of assistance to the completion of such a huge
challenge will be on the
agenda.
Q: You said you will give bilateral talks with the Palestinians a
chance.
A: I will.
Q: How much time will you give the new
Palestinian government?
A: I'm not expressing any ultimatum. If we reach
the conclusion that the
Palestinians are not prepared to meet the
requirements that lead to
negotiations, we will then move forward without a
negotiating process. We
are ready to change. We are not pre-pared to wait
forever.
Q: Regarding the Iranian nuclear program, is there a military
option?
A: There is only one thing I can say: Israel will not tolerate a
situation
in which Iran has effective control of non-conventional weapons
that can be
used directly against the state of Israel.
Q: What did
you learn from Ariel Sharon?
A: Perhaps the most important thing is the
importance of remaining cool at a
time of crisis. I also learned from Sharon
the merits of changing your
opinions and your mind.