Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday Israel would have no option but to implement unilateral measures if the troubled roadmap peace plan remains stalled, as defence chiefs accused the Palestinian leadership of showing no inclination to tackle armed militants. Olmert said Israel should continue to try to reach an agreement with the Palestinians through the roadmap and give new Premier Ahmed Qorei a chance to prove he was a man to deal with, even if the roadmap were "not an ideal option or a dream (for Israel)." But he added in a speech at a security conference here that time was running out and "we have to prepare ourselves for the possibility that the process will not end in agreement - Then unilateral steps are the only option." Sharon has also been speaking increasingly about unilateral measures. While he has yet to say what they might entail, Israeli daily Maariv reported Tuesday that he was planning to unveil in Herzliya on Thursday a plan for a major army redeployment and dismantling of several Jewish settlements.
| What will the Paleos have to bitch about without the settlements? |
"All the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip will be evacuated. At the end of the process, isolated settlements in Judea and Samaria will be evacuated," the daily said, using the Israeli term for the West Bank. The European Union's special envoy to the Middle East, Marc Otte, said Israel must coordinate with the Palestinians if it pulls out of Gaza. "We cannot talk in advance about whether they (unilateral measures) will have a stabilising or destablising impact," he told AFP.
| Anything, to include doing nothing, has a destabilizing effect — though by now instability has reached such a point that any more won't be noticeable... |
"But it will be in the interests of the Israelis to have some sort of coordination with the Palestinians. "You cannot just leave Gaza, close the door and see what happens. If Hamas then becomes the Palestinian Authority it will be much worse for Israel." US President George W. Bush has also warned Israel not to do anything that will make the creation of a Palestinian state more difficult, and Olmert acknowledged that Washington opposed unilateral measures as "they do not want to damage the possibility of implementing the roadmap." |