Israeli PM Plans West Bank Withdrawal

Acting PM Ehud Olmert Makes Call To 'Disengage' From Judea, Samaria

(AP)  Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Israel plans to separate from most of the Palestinians in the West Bank and this would require withdrawing from some of the territory.

It was the first time Olmert, who took over from ailing Ariel Sharon a month ago, has spelled out his thinking for future policy if he wins March 28 elections. The Kadima Party he inherited from Sharon, who is comatose after a stroke, is far ahead in the polls.

"We will disengage from most of the Palestinian population that lives in Judea and Samaria," Olmert told Israel's Channel 2 TV, using the biblical names for the West Bank. "That will obligate us to leave territories under Israeli control today."

Under questioning, Olmert listed West Bank four areas Israel would keep under his vision: Maaleh Adumim, a settlement of 30,000 next to Jerusalem; Gush Etzion, a bloc of settlements south of Jerusalem; Ariel, a settlement of 18,000 deep in the West Bank; and the Jordan River valley.

About three-fourths of Israel's 244,000 West Bank settlers live in the areas Olmert delineated in the TV interview, according to government figures and estimates by the Peace Now settlement watchdog group.

Olmert did not mention the string of small settlements in the Jordan valley. Instead, he said, "It is impossible to abandon control of the eastern border of Israel," he said, without referring to Israeli sovereignty or the string of small settlements there.

Violence continued Tuesday. Two Palestinian militants were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza and another died in a shootout with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.

The Israeli military said it targeted a car in Gaza City carrying Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades militants involved in producing rockets to be fired at Israel.

Earlier, Israeli artillery and aircraft pounded northern Gaza, where militants have been launching rockets. Three landed in Israel on Tuesday, causing some damage.

In the Gaza City airstrike Tuesday afternoon, the two militants were killed instantly and five bystanders, including two children, were wounded.

Al Aqsa identified the dead as senior commanders and threatened revenge against Israel. Since Thursday, Israel has killed nine Gaza militants in airstrikes.

In the West Bank, Israeli forces killed a wanted Islamic Jihad militant during an arrest raid in Nablus. Two Israeli soldiers also were wounded in a shootout, an army spokesman said.

Militant groups threatened revenge against Israel for the Gaza and West Bank raids.