Olmert doubts peace deal can come in 2008
JERUSALEM (AP) - July 28, 2008 Olmert also said that Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem posed
a danger to Israelis, hinting that Israel might want to cede
control of these areas.
"Whoever thinks the basic pattern of life in Jerusalem can
continue with 270,000 Arabs in east Jerusalem must take into
account that there will be bulldozers, trucks and private cars, and
no way of preventing terror attacks of this kind," Olmert said.
Israel captured the eastern part of Jerusalem from Jordan in the
1967 Mideast war and annexed it. Palestinians claim the eastern
sector as capital of their future state, and the fate of the
disputed city - home to sites holy to Islam, Judaism and
Christianity - lies at the crux of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
At an international conference in the U.S. in November, Olmert
and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas set a year-end target for
reaching a final peace deal that would resolve the decades-old
conflict.
President Bush has said he hoped to broker a final peace
agreement by the end of 2008, just before he leaves office, and
U.S. officials have repeatedly pressed Israeli and Palestinian
negotiators.
On Monday, Olmert said that target was unrealistic because of
disputes over Jerusalem.
"I don't believe that understandings that will include
Jerusalem can be reached this year," an official present at the
closed-door meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
quoted Olmert as saying. Olmert added that the sides would continue
discussing the city's fate after the deadline.
Differences on other key issues, such as the final borders of
the Jewish and Palestinian states, and the future of Palestinian
refugees, were not "dramatic," he said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the
committee does not formally release details of its meetings to the
media. At the same time, when Olmert spoke, he did so with the
knowledge that the panel's proceedings routinely are disclosed to
the press.
Both Israel and the Palestinians have expressed serious doubt in
recent months about attaining their goal of a fleshed-out deal by
the end of the year. But Olmert's comment on Monday was the
clearest indication yet that the Israeli leadership sees the target
as unattainable.
Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said Olmert's comments showed Israel
had given up on its promise.
"This is a clear violation of the Annapolis agreement," he
said. "We still have six months, and that means Israel isn't
serious about reaching an agreement according to Annapolis and
Bush's vision."
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv was not immediately
available for comment.
Palestinians account for about one-third of the 750,000 people
who live in Jerusalem. They are not Israeli citizens, but have
access to Israeli social benefits and can move throughout Israel,
unlike the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza.
That freedom of movement has allowed for a string of attacks in
the city this year, including two cases in which Palestinian
attackers have rammed construction vehicles into buses and cars in
downtown Jerusalem. Three people were killed on July 2 and dozens
were wounded, while five people were hurt in a similar attack last
week.
A third east Jerusalem attacker burst into a religious seminary
library in March, killing eight students.
Olmert told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that such
attacks could not be prevented as long as Palestinians remain under
Israeli control in the city - hinting that the solution might be to
give up control of neighborhoods where they live.
East Jerusalem residents "can move freely around the entire
country and there is no way of knowing what they might do," the
official quoted him as saying.
Olmert has in the past expressed willingness to cede some Arab
neighborhoods. Israel's West Bank separation barrier already cuts
off some outlying Arab neighborhoods from the city.
Many lawmakers in Israel's parliament object to any territorial
concessions on Jerusalem. Still, it is not the residential
neighborhoods that have tormented negotiations but the Old City,
home to the city's most important and politically charged religious
shrines.
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Associated Press Writer Diaa Hadid contributed to this report
from Ramallah.