Idea of 'Greater Israel' is over, says Olmert

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to combat West Bank settler violence Sunday as the cabinet mulled an unprecedented plan to compensate Israelis for quitting parts of the occupied territory.

At what could be his last cabinet meeting before his Kadima party votes on Wednesday to choose his successor, the once-hawkish Olmert said Israel must give up parts of the West Bank and reach a peace deal with the Palestinians.

“The idea of a ‘Greater Israel’ is over. There is no such thing. Whoever says so is just misleading himself,” Olmert said, according to a senior official at the meeting.

“I used to think that the land between the Jordan river and the sea was all ours. But ultimately, after a long and torturous process, I reached the conclusion that we must share it with those who live here with us.” The patchwork of Jewish settlements criss-crossing the West Bank, home to more than 450,000 Israelis, is considered one of the main obstacles to the peace process.

The Israeli cabinet, meanwhile, discussed the most detailed plan ever offered to compensate settlers for leaving their homes in parts of the West Bank. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon presented a plan to offer settlers up to $300,000 to leave homes built east of Israel’s controversial separation barrier in the occupied territory.

“Everything east of the fence will not be under Israeli rule,” Ramon told reporters after the meeting. The initiative drew immediate fire from across the political spectrum, and its success seems doubtful given Olmert’s imminent departure. Ramon however said he intended to take the plan to parliament “within weeks.”

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads the peace talks with the Palestinians and is a front-runner to replace Olmert, came out against the plan, which she said would weaken Israel at the negotiating table. The Palestinians, who have slammed the separation barrier as an “Apartheid wall” and demanded a state in the entire West Bank and Gaza Strip, have also rejected such ideas in the past.

But Ramon insisted the project, which Olmert openly supports, would aid the peace process.

“Such a statement, that the Israeli government does not intend to continue ruling territories east of the barrier, will strengthen Israel in the peace talks with the Palestinians,” Ramon said.

Meanwhile, Israel expressed outrage on Sunday after a mob of Jewish settlers rampaged through a Palestinian village in the West Bank to avenge the stabbing of a nine-year-old boy in a nearby settlement. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert condemned Saturday’s settler attack on the village, during which four Palestinians were shot and wounded, and vowed to halt settler “pogroms” in the occupied territory.

“This phenomenon of taking the law into their own hands and of brutal and violent attacks is intolerable and will receive the strictest and most severe treatment,” Olmert told reporters ahead of a weekly cabinet meeting. Jewish settlers stormed into the village of Asira al-Qibliya after an intruder burned down a mobile home and stabbed and lightly wounded a nine-year-old boy in the Yitzhar settlement - an extreme right-wing bastion.

Olmert said the stabbing attack was “serious and severe, and our security forces are dealing with this issue.” But he sharply condemned the actions of the settlers, saying they had attacked the village, fired live rounds and “hurt Palestinian residents, with no reason to believe that any of them are linked in any way to the attack.”



US arms sales climbing rapidly

WASHINGTON (Agencies) - The Bush administration is pushing through a broad array of foreign weapons deals as it seeks to rearm Iraq and Afghanistan, contain North Korea and Iran, and solidify ties with onetime Russian allies.

From tanks, helicopters and fighter jets to missiles, remotely piloted aircraft and even warships, the Department of Defense has agreed so far this fiscal year to sell or transfer more than $32 billion in weapons and other military equipment to foreign governments, compared with $12 billion in 2005.

The trend, which started in 2006, is most pronounced in the Middle East, but it reaches into northern Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and even Canada, through dozens of deals that senior Bush administration officials say they are confident will both tighten military alliances and combat terrorism.

“This is not about being gunrunners,” said Bruce S Lemkin, the Air Force deputy under secretary who is helping to coordinate many of the biggest sales. “This is about building a more secure world.”