Israel will exploit Hamas’ election victory in order to gain international legitimacy for annexing large settlements in the occupied West Bank, Israeli papers reported on Sunday.
The reports were confirmed by Avi Ditcher, Israel’s former security chief and key aide to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. He said that Israel will make more unilateral withdrawals and define its borders within four years if his party, Kadima, wins the general election.
Olmert has previously said that Israel will retain the Jordan Valley, East Jerusalem and the major settlement blocks of Maale Adumim, Ariel and Gush Etzion as part of a final settlement.
Recent polls show that Olmert's Kadima party will win the election, due on March 28.
Last year, Israel withdrew its forces and settlers from the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the northern West Bank under the so-called "disengagement plan".
The international community considers all settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as illegal under international law.
Unilateral
The annexation plans deals a major blow to the U.S.-backed “roadmap” peace plan, which calls for a future independent Palestinian state.
Last month, the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Israel shouldn’t take any unilateral steps to set final borders, insisting the issue must be settled in final status talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
According to the Israeli Haaretz newspaper, Israel’s primary goal after the election will be to persuade the United States to agree to its plans in exchange for more unilateral withdrawals.
Ditcher, a leading member of Kadima, said that the Israeli government will begin planning further unilateral withdrawals immediately after the election. "It will be only a civilian disengagement, not a military disengagement", he told Israel Radio.
He claimed that Israel had no alternative after Hamas won the Palestinian legislative election in January.
"In the absence of a Palestinian partner, Israel will have to determine its final borders by itself, and that will involve the consolidation of smaller settlements into settlement blocs," he said.
Dichter didn’t specify which settlements would be evacuated, but the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot said more than 17 would be cleared in the first phase.
The Palestinians want all of the West Bank for a future state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. But the new plans will make Israel protrude about 20km into the occupied West Bank and slice up the Palestinian land.
Hamas officials slammed the Israeli plans. "This is another indication of Israeli policy, which ignores the existence of the Palestinian people," Hamas legislator Salah Bardawil told the Associated Press news agency.
Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi also said: "Israel has to be put into touch with reality: that there are Palestinians; that there is international law. Unilateralism leads only to further conflict.”
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