'Israel should not wait long to implement plan'

London, June 11: Israel should not wait too long to implement a plan to set its borders unilaterally if negotiations with the Palestinians make no progress, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said today.

Olmert, in an interview with Sky News, said he was ready to make ''painful and divisive'' concessions in the quest for peace with the Palestinians.

But if the Palestinians would not meet requirements set out in an internationally-backed ''road map'' to peace, ''then I will try to move with the collaboration and advice of many other countries, not alone, towards changing the status quo in the Middle East,'' he said.

Olmert is due to hold talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London tomorrow as he seeks European support for his proposals to define Israel's borders unilaterally if peace talks with the Palestinians are not revived.

The plan calls for the removal of remote Jewish settlements in the West Bank while keeping larger enclaves.

If conditions did not permit negotiations, Olmert said he wanted to do something to move things forward.

''I don't think that we should wait too much,'' he said.

''I think that we should wait as long as is needed to give the power to Abu Mazen (moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) to impose his philosophy...,'' he said. He would not give a date for putting his plan into action.

Abbas is locked in a power struggle with Islamic militant group Hamas which swept to power in Palestinian elections in January.

Hamas is formally committed to destroying Israel.

On Friday, Hamas called off a 16-month-old truce with Israel after attacks blamed on Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians, including three children playing on a beach.

Plan to meet Abbas

Palestinians say Olmert's plan would deny them a viable state. US President George W. Bush gave the plan a boost last month but stressed Israel should first pursue peace talks.

Olmert said he planned to meet Abbas later this month.

But for negotiations to happen, Palestinians must dismantle militant groups and recognise Israel's right to exist, he said.

Asked if there would be no meaningful negotiations as long as Hamas was in government or did not change ideology, Olmert said: ''I say that when someone wants to kill me I normally fight him and that's what every healthy and normal nation would do.'' ''And when Hamas declares war against Israel I'm not going to sit idle and let him kill me, I'm going to fight back, sure.'' Olmert said Hamas had not been sticking to the ceasefire, that was in force until Friday.

He also said he hoped Iran would be ''smart and responsible enough'' to accept proposals by six world powers to suspend its nuclear enrichment programme.

Iran has been referred to the UN Security Council after failing to convince the international community that its atomic scientists are looking to build power stations, not weapons.

Reuters