Olmert doubts Jerusalem deal
2008-07-28 14:06
Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday that Israel and the Palestinians will not be able to agree this year on a peace deal that includes the crucial issue of Jerusalem.
"I don't believe that we can reach an understanding that will include Jerusalem by the end of the year," Olmert told parliament's powerful foreign affairs and defence committee, according to a senior official.
He expressed optimism that the two sides could bridge their differences on other core issues in the decades-old conflict.
But he seemed to rule out a comprehensive deal by year-end, despite a commitment made by the two sides at a conference hosted by US President George W Bush in Annapolis, Maryland last November that revived peace talks.
"There is no practical possibility to reach an overall understanding on the issue of Jerusalem at this time," Olmert said.
"But there is an intention to create a mechanism that will continue to deal with the issue for a much longer period until we reach understandings that we can live with."
Israel captured mostly Arab east Jerusalem - including the Old City with its holy sites sacred to Christians, Muslims, and Jews - in the 1967 war and annexed it shortly afterwards.
It declared the whole city its eternal and undivided capital, a claim never recognised by the international community or the Palestinians, who have demanded east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.
'Jerusalem is a red line...'
The Palestinians slammed Olmert's remarks, insisting they would never agree to a deal that did not include Jerusalem.
"Jerusalem is a red line with respect to the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people and we cannot retreat one inch from it," Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesperson for president Mahmoud Abbas, told AFP by phone from Cairo.
"East Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state and Olmert's statements are an attempt to run away from the commitments of the Annapolis conference and the vision of President Bush," he said.
"The American administration must work to push Israel to enter into serious negotiations and stop wasting time."
Already on the agenda is a meeting in Washington later this week between Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei, who are heading their respective negotiating teams.
The two sides launched their latest round of peace talks after a seven-year hiatus, vowing to try to reach a comprehensive agreement by the time Bush leaves office in January.
The talks have made little tangible progress since then, but Olmert said the gaps on other core issues, including the fate of 4.5 million UN-registered Palestinian refugees and final borders, could be bridged by the end of 2008.
"On the other core issues the gaps are not dramatic. On the issue of refugees we can reach an understanding that will not make us assume responsibility or have to solve the issue within Israel's borders," he said.
"On the question of the borders there is a gap that is not unbridgable."
Olmert has vowed to put any agreement to a referendum.