JERUSALEM, Feb 13: The next Israeli government will make determining the Jewish state’s final borders its top priority, Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday. “The first objective of the next Knesset will be to fix the permanent borders of Israel,” Olmert said in a speech to deputies marking the 57th anniversary of the Israeli parliament.

Olmert’s pledge is his strongest indication yet that he is poised to embark on another round of unilateral withdrawals from the occupied West Bank in an echo of last summer’s historic pullout of troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip that was ordered by the now coma-stricken Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

His latest comments come despite a warning by the United States against any Israeli move to annex parts of the West Bank.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week that “under no circumstances should anyone try and do that (set borders) in a preemptive or predetermined way, because these are issues for negotiation at final status”.

The Palestinians have also urged Olmert to return to the negotiating table and abandon unilateral measures, although talks have been made even more unlikely by the victory of Israel’s arch-enemy Hamas in last month’s elections in the West Bank and Gaza.

The latest opinion polls have shown that Olmert’s Kadima party is in line to trounce its rivals in a March 28 election although it will still have to form a coalition with other parties.

Olmert told the Jerusalem-based Knesset that the new parliament which convenes after election would “have to face a national task of the upmost importance which will determine Israel’s Jewish and democratic nature.

“I hope that the MKs (members of Knesset) who are elected will allow for the creation of a national consensus that will allow us to face the challenges ahead.”—AFP