Israel's Olmert orders West Bank barrier built faster
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-26 10:41

Israeli Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered faster construction of Israel's West Bank barrier on Wednesday after chairing his first government-level discussion of the disputed project, a senior official said.

The decision, which followed hints by Olmert that he could set Israel's borders unilaterally should he win March 28 general elections and peace talks remain stalled, drew censure from Palestinians who consider the barrier a land grab.

Roughly half of the 600 km (370 mile) network of fences and concrete barricades has been built, some on occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood. Several parts of the project have been held up by Palestinian appeals to Israel's Supreme Court.

Israel calls the barrier a bulwark against Palestinian suicide bombers. A senior official said that Olmert, who assumed power after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke on January 4, reiterated the incumbent's orders to step up construction.

"He made it very clear that the fence has to be completed as quickly as possible," the official said.

The prime minister's office said in a statement that Olmert recommended rerouting the barrier northeast of Jerusalem so as to enclose a Jewish settlement, Ramot, within the city limits while excluding the nearby Palestinian village of Beit Iksa.

Such moves have stoked Palestinian suspicions that Israel wants the barrier to cement a permanent hold on areas of the West Bank, which it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

Also captured in the conflict was Arab East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed as its capital in a moved not recognised abroad. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as capital of a future state.

PALESTINIANS ANGRY

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said that Olmert, who opinion polls predict will easily win election at the head of the centrist Kadima Party, was jeopardising hopes of reviving efforts to end more than five years of fighting.

"This is very worrying," Erekat told Reuters. "We had hoped that Mr. Olmert would pursue the path of negotiation rather than dictation."

Olmert backed Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last year, a move Sharon said aimed to break a diplomatic deadlock and restart talks on a U.S.-led "road map" to a peaceful Palestinian state in the coastal territory and the West Bank.

In his first policy speech as interim prime minister, Olmert on Wednesday reaffirmed Israel's commitment to the road map but hinted that he could order more unilateral steps should the Palestinian fail to disarm militants as mandated by the plan.

"The most dramatic and important step we face is shaping the permanent borders of the state of Israel," Olmert said.

"We would prefer an agreement. If our expected partners in the negotiations in the framework of the road map do not uphold their commitments, we will preserve the Israeli interest at all costs," he said.

Palestinians voted on Wednesday in their first parliamentary election for a decade with Islamic militant group Hamas posing a strong challenge to the ruling Fatah party.

Israel has not met its requirement under the road map to stop expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Sharon said Israel would keep settlement blocs under a peace accord with the Palestinians, a plan endorsed by U.S. President George W. Bush.