Olmert’s plan for the West Bank

Ehud Olmert, the incoming prime minister, has sketched a plan for imposing Israel’s final borders unilaterally if peace talks with the Palestinians remain frozen.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state

Palestinians say Israel will be annexing land and cutting direct routes between population centres, dashing any hopes of setting a viable and contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The World Court has ruled that all Jewish settlements on occupied land are illegal. Israel disputes this.

Following is the general plan:


  • Coalition led by Olmert’s centrist Kadima party to set Israel’s border with the Palestinians by 2010, tracing the frontier roughly along a 600km separation barrier being built in the West Bank;
  • Strengthen main Jewish settlements such as Ariel in the central West Bank, Maale Adumim just outside Jerusalem and those in the Gush Etzion bloc south of the city, while uprooting dozens of much smaller isolated enclaves;
  • Moving up to 60,000 of 240,000 settlers;
  • Israeli security forces to continue operating in areas where settlements are removed;
  • Remain in the Jordan Valley, a corridor running along Jordan;
  • Keep Jerusalem as “Israel’s united capital”, with no plans to give up control of Arab East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of a future state;
  • Olmert has not said what he intends to do with the 450 Jewish settlers who live in heavily guarded enclaves in Hebron, a West Bank city holy to Muslims and Jews.
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Source: Reuters