RAMALLAH: Israel would have to withdraw from most of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights if it was serious about making peace with the Palestinians and Syria, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in remarks published yesterday.
“(Former Israeli premier) Ariel Sharon spoke about painful costs and refused to elaborate,” Olmert told the Israeli Hebrew daily Yediot Ahronot in an interview on the eve of the Jewish New Year. “I say, we have no choice but to elaborate.”
“At the end of the day, we will have to withdraw from the most decisive areas of the (Palestinian) territories. In exchange for the same territories left in our hands, we will have to give compensation in the form of territories within the state of Israel,” he added.
Olmert said that as a hard-line politician for decades he had not been prepared to look at reality in all of its depth. “I think we are very close to an agreement,” he added. With regard to the Syria track, Olmert added that a future peace agreement required a pullout from the Golan Heights, an area under Israeli control since the June 1967 War.
“First and foremost, we must make a decision. I’d like to see if there is one serious person in the state of Israel who believes it is possible to make peace with the Syrians without eventually giving up the Golan Heights.”
“It is true that an agreement with Syria comes with danger,” he said. “Those who want to act with zero danger should move to Switzerland.” Olmert has previously said he had not promised Syrian President Bashar Assad that Israel would end its sovereignty over the strategic Golan area. He added that Damascus would be forced to end its ties with Iran in exchange for peace and Israel’s relinquishing the Golan Heights. His statements, coming at the tail end of his reign while Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni tries to form a new government, now presents Livni with a policy she may have no choice but to accept.
