Ehud Olmert's "convergence plan" : Indybay

Of the 250,000 Israeli citizens living in over a hundred West Bank settlements, (not counting 200,000 settlers in occupied East Jerusalem), only one-third will face evacuation, says Leggett. "Many may be offered relocation to the large settlement blocs Israel plans to retain. ... Perhaps the most sensitive issue will be the question of Jerusalem. Palestinians claim the city as their future capital and say that must be reflected in any resolution to the Mideast's core conflict. The U.S. has generally supported the Palestinian position during previous peace negotiations."

Olmert ruled out sharing political control of Jerusalem and its holy sites: "Dividing Jerusalem will not bring peace, only more fighting," he said.

A glance at Map 1 shows Jerusalem sprawled midway between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank. To its west is Israel. To its east, the Judaean Desert -descends to the Jordanian border, dominated by the Maale Adumim settlement bloc. Contact between the northern and southern cantons - like contact with Gaza - will depend on Israel's good graces. It is unlikely, to say the least, that the result will be the "viable Palestinian state" touted repeatedly by U.S. President George W. Bush since June 2002, when he introduced his "Road Map to Peace" and the Bush Vision.

The Economist, in an April 12, 2006 editorial on Jerusalem, disagrees with Olmert: "No peace is possible unless the city remains accessible, from both its east and west. At the very least, during this period of relative calm, Israel must keep its barrier as open as possible. Sealing in and cutting off the Palestinians of Jerusalem will only make another descent into violence more likely."

Leggett, in The Wall Street Journal article, comments on the expected Palestinian response to Olmert's plan: "Anger also could rise in the West Bank and Gaza, where many Palestinians see the pullout as an attempt by Israel to avoid negotiations and impose its will. Already, senior leaders of the militant Islamist organization Hamas … have called Mr. Olmert's plan a 'declaration of war.'"

Olmert mentions a $10 billion price tag to his "convergence" plan, and implies that Washington will fund it. If the U.S. complies, writes Leggett, it "will likely be seen throughout the Middle East as assisting Israel's bid to take permanent control of large settlement blocs and Jerusalem. The fear is that this would add to regional anger toward the U.S., complicating efforts to stabilize Iraq and promote democracy in other countries."

Olmert's convergence plan is intended to establish final borders, already visible in the form of the Wall. In their report "Under the Guise of Security," [1] Israeli human-rights organizations, BIMKOM and B'Tselem, detail how the Wall has been erected to create prime real estate and hasten expansion of the settlements (which are illegal under international law). Olmert's agenda highlights what peace activists have long been saying: the Wall is a long-term political border, rather than the "temporary security installation" claimed by Israeli military planners, when testifying at Supreme Court hearings.

As to Jerusalem, B'Tselem states: "The decision to run the barrier along the municipal border, and the weak arguments given to explain that decision, lead to the conclusion that the primary consideration was political: the unwillingness of the government to pay the political price for choosing a route that will contradict the myth that 'unified Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel.'" [2]