Olmert hints willingness for Jerusalem compromise
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appeared to suggest on Monday that Israel would consider handing over outlying Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem in a future peace deal.
Olmert, a former Jerusalem mayor, questioned the logic of a decision to include those areas in the city's expanded municipal boundaries after Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.
While Israel "established great neighborhoods" of its own in eastern parts of the city, he said, it also placed a refugee camp and several other outlying Palestinian neighbourhoods and villages within the widened boundaries.
"Was it necessary to include the Shuafat camp, Arab al-Sawahre, Wallaje and other villages and conclude that this is Jerusalem," Olmert asked in a speech to parliament commemorating a far-right cabinet minister killed by a Palestinian gunmen in 2001.
"I must confess, it is permissible to ask legitimate questions," Olmert said.
His comments headlined Israeli news Web sites, which interpreted the remarks as suggesting a willingness for territorial compromise in Jerusalem.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem after the 1967 war, in a move that has not won international recognition. It considers all of Jerusalem as its capital.
Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of the state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Last week, Olmert's deputy, Haim Ramon, said Israel should be prepared to enter future negotiations with the Palestinians over dividing Jerusalem and ceding authority over some of its holiest sites.
Ramon's public comments on one of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict raised speculation he was floating trial balloons on Olmert's behalf.
