Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (C) speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem July 10, 2006. Olmert said that the conflicts between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza Strip would not block Palestine to found an independent state alongside a secure Israel. He also said that Israel had no particular desire to topple the Hamas government. (Xinhua Photo)

    DETERMINED ON MORE WITHDRAWALS

    Olmert, who is a staunch supporter of the Gaza pullout, also defended his realignment plan, under which Israel will quit isolated settlements in the West Bank and consolidate bigger ones.

    He said that the plan was "the only solution" to ending the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, which he said would help the Palestinians build an independent state and help Israel get necessary protection to ensure safety.

    Olmert also said that violence could not halt a process of separating the Israelis and Palestinians that began with the Gaza withdrawal.

    In addition, he said that the plan would be carried out in a "friendly" manner.

    "We want to separate in a friendly manner and to live alongside each other... in a peaceful way," he said.

    "If the terrorist organizations will impose a violent confrontation, both Israelis and Palestinians will have to bear the consequences. That can't stop the inevitable process of separation of the Israelis and Palestinians," he added.

    The Israeli prime minister pledged commitment once again to the two-state solution backed by the international society, which envisions an independent Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.

    Olmert, meanwhile, warned that if peace efforts remained stalled, he would carry out the withdrawals from the West Bank unilaterally, just as Israel implemented the unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip last year.

    As a first step, Olmert said, he expected to begin uprooting unauthorized outposts in the West Bank in the near future.

    Olmert has made the realignment plan a priority for his government, vowing to draw the final borders with the Palestinians by 2010, in a unilateral way in case of the absence of peace talks with the Palestinians. Enditem

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