GAZA CITY, 29 April 2006 — Following on the heels of last year’s unilateral pullout from Gaza initiated by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel’s new Cabinet has committed itself to leaving parts of the West Bank in order to redraw the borders of the Jewish state.

A coalition deal signed by Prime Minister-designate Ehud Olmert’s Kadima party and the center-left Labor after weeks of fraught talks has enshrined his priority to separate from the Palestinians with or without their agreement.

The draft program of the new administration, widely quoted in the Israeli media yesterday, vowed “to shape the permanent borders of the state as a Jewish state with a democratic majority.”

“Israel’s territories, whose borders will be determined by the government, will entail reducing the areas of Israeli settlement in Judea and Samaria (the occupied West Bank).” Olmert made the March 28 election a de facto referendum on his determination to fix the permanent borders of Israel during his four-year term of office.

Labor, like all potential coalition partners, has had to accept the outline of his plan that could see around 70,000 Jews uprooted from the occupied West Bank but the largest settlement blocs built on Arab territory retained.

The government’s draft pledged to work to shape the borders “through negotiation” with the Palestinians on the basis of mutual recognition, signed agreements, an end to violence and the disarmament of armed factions.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was in Paris yesterday on a European tour aimed at securing continued financial aid and restarting stalled Middle East peace talks.

Meanwhile, the Hamas government said yesterday it had no problem in principle with a French proposal for a special World Bank account to channel foreign aid, but warned it would not be frozen out of paying employees. “In principle we don’t have a problem with that,” Finance Minister Omar Abdelrazek told AFP as French President Jacques Chirac made the expected announcement in Paris, flanked by Abbas.

“But we have to talk about the details and preserve the rights of the Ministry of Finance to control and oversee all the financial procedures,” Abdelrazeq added.

— With input from agencies