RAMALLAH, West Bank, 31 December 2007 — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday said that Israel would take no steps to forward peace process if the Palestinian Authority (PA) does not fulfill its obligations to fight terror.

“As long as the PA does not implement the measures demanded of them in order to act against terror organizations, the state of Israel will not be able to make any changes on the ground,” Voice of Israeli radio quoted Olmert as saying at the beginning of the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Olmert added that any unilateral action would “expose Israel to dangers and could bring about security problems.”

Olmert emphasized that Israel would not compromise on the issue, and the fulfillment of the PA’s obligations of fighting terror would continue to be an integral part of any dialogue with the Palestinians.

In the first stage of the US-backed road map plan, the PA must wage war on terrorism and reform PA institutions. The road map also requires Israel to freeze all settlement activities, including “natural growth,” and evacuate all settlement outposts set up after March 2001.

On Friday, two off-duty Israeli soldiers were killed during a drive-by shooting attack near the West Bank city of Hebron. The two managed to open fire on their attackers, killing one of them and seriously injuring another.

The commander of PA security forces in Hebron, Samih As-Sayfi, said yesterday that two other suspects involved in the incident have been arrested.

Sayfi added that the two suspects confessed that the incident resulted out of dispute between the slain soldiers and the killers over weapons trading and not on national or political background.

Nabil Abu Rudeina, the spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said in response that PA is committed to implementing the first stage of the road map plan.

Abu Rudeina added that Israel should not put obstacles such as settlements, assassinations and imaginary security excuses.

“This would create impediments before negotiations and unconstructively affect Annapolis conference understandings,” he said. On Saturday, Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad expressed condolences for the victims of the attack, and said the PA had handed over to Israeli authorities the dead men’s weapons, which the Palestinian attackers took.

Meanwhile, the jailed Fatah leader Marwan Al-Barghouthi yesterday urged the rival Hamas movement to give up control of the Gaza Strip as a step toward a national dialogue. “Hamas has to forgo its rule of the Gaza Strip as preparation for a national dialogue,” Barghouthi said in an interview with local newspapers from prison. “Hamas has to take initiative and make the first move, which is returning the Gaza institutions to the control of (President Mahmoud) Abbas.”

According to Barghouthi, formerly Fatah’s secretary-general in the West Bank who is serving five life sentences for his role in military attacks against Israelis, the dialogue should lead to new presidential and parliamentary elections based on proportional representation “to restore the national unity on new basis.”

Barghouthi also opposed calls to reshuffle the Western-backed Palestinian government, led by Salam Fayyad who represents the new Third Road party.

“Fatah will not make changes to the Palestinian government until there are new elections and (Fatah) will have a majority. Until then Fatah will support the government, which is carrying out the policy of Abbas,” Barghouthi said.

In another development, Israel said yesterday that Olmert would from now on decide on all new settlement tenders. The statements came shortly before a visit to the region by US President George W. Bush, whose administration has criticized its close ally Israel over settlement activity following the revival of peace talks at a US conference in late November.

“Last week, Prime Minister Olmert had a meeting with Housing Minister Zeev Boim at which it was decided that the prime minister from now on will give the final authorization for any new construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” a government official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

“The tenders that have already been published will not be annulled, but all the other tenders which are in the process of being published will require Olmert’s authorization,” he said.