Olmert ponders toughest question

[AlamoDemoc]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5010188.stm

For almost four decades, the state of Israel has faced one central, defining question: what to do with the land (and people) it captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

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For years Israel has been moving its own citizens into the West Bank as settlers, in defiance of international law.
These people are now scattered about in more than 100 different settlements built next to, in between, and on top of, Palestinian towns and cities.

Israel's new Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, has promised to set his country's border during the next four years. That means settling the fate of the West Bank and the settlements. For Mr Olmert the idea is pretty simple: build an imposing barrier that takes in the biggest settlements on the Israeli side. Get rid of the isolated settlements on the other side, and leave the Palestinians behind the barrier. Then get the world to accept the barrier as a formal border. And get on with being a normal country.

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Israel is already getting on with its first step, building the barrier and locking the big settlements into Israel.

It is doing this without any consultation with the Palestinians, who feel they are being asked to accept the leftovers of the land that Israel doesn't want. They point out that Israel's borders are also - in theory - Palestine's borders, and can only be set via mutual agreement.

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Israel is still trying to answer its defining question. It hopes that the answer lies at the White House.