TEL AVIV, March 14: Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visited the Jewish settlement of Ariel deep in the West Bank on Tuesday, and the Haaretz newspaper said he plans to announce that Ariel will eventually become part of Israel.
Mr Olmert’s visit appeared intended to appease Jewish settlers, after he declared in newspaper interviews over the weekend that he plans to withdraw from large parts of the West Bank and to draw Israel’s final borders in the next four years. Such a withdrawal would require dismantling most of the West Bank settlements.
In the interviews, Mr Olmert also said he would draw the border in coordination with the international community. The US is opposed to including Ariel on the Israeli side of the West Bank separation barrier. —AP
