Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is now temporarily heading a transitional government, says that in order to achieve peace, Israel will have to give up almost all the territories it occupied in 1967.
Olmert was speaking to the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot during the special interview an Israeli prime minister traditionally gives Israeli newspapers for the Jewish New Year.
Olmert finds himself in the uncomfortable position of a prime minister who resigned due to ongoing corruption investigations against him. The day his successor as leader of the ruling Qadima party, Tzipi Livni, will assemble the new government, Olmert will be out.
Knowing that, Olmert in his interview allows himself unprecedented liberties.
“What I am saying to you now has never been said by any other Israeli leader before me: We need to withdraw from almost all the territories [occupied in 1967], including in eastern Jerusalem and the Golan heights,” Olmert stated.
Olmert said “special solutions” should be implemented with regard to the Temple Mount and other sacred and historic places.
“A person who is serious about attaining security in Jerusalem… has to give up on parts of Jerusalem,” he said.
Looking at his policies in retrospect, including his term as Jerusalem mayor, Olmert does not deny that he was “the first who wanted to enforce Israeli sovereignty over the entire city.” Olmert then admits that for many years he was “unwilling to face reality in depth.”
Regarding the Golan Heights, Olmert said that withdrawing from the region would gain Israel much more than peace with Syria. It would also mean that Syria would detach itself from Iran, Hamas and Al-Qa’ida.