Olmert: Israel withdrawal needed
BBC NEWS | Olmert: Israel withdrawal needed
Outgoing PM Ehud Olmert says Israel must withdraw from almost all the land it occupied in 1967 if it wants peace with Syria and the Palestinians.
He said this would include parts of East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as the capital of their future state.
Mr Olmert also said any peace deal with Syria would require an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
He gave few further details, but said he was prepared to go beyond previous Israeli leaders to achieve peace.
“We have to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, the meaning of which is that in practice we will withdraw from almost all the territories, if not all the territories,” Mr Olmert said.
“We will leave a percentage of these territories in our hands, but will have to give the Palestinians a similar percentage, because without that there will be no peace,” he added.
He said the withdrawals would include Jerusalem, the eastern part of which Israel occupied and annexed after the 1967 war, but which it has long proclaimed as its “eternal, undivided capital”.
[ Link ]