TEL AVIV, Israel, March 26 (UPI) -- Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that his country must first decide where its permanent border with Palestine should be.
Olmert, who faces the voters Tuesday as head of the new Kadima Party, promised he would then consult the United States and European Union, seeking backing, the BBC reported. He promised that Israel would have permanent borders within four years.
"We should decide on our borders in order to separate ourselves from the Palestinians," Olmert said in an Israeli radio interview. "We should have agreement among ourselves on the borders and then negotiate with the international community."
Olmert backed off his past position that the separation fence now under construction on the West Bank should be the border. But he also appears to have rejected Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's call for negotiations.
