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Israel Rejects Deadline

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By MARK LAVIE, The Associated Press

Published: December 3, 2007

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that Israel is not bound by a December 2008 target for a peace agreement set at last week's U.S.-hosted Mideast summit, telling his Cabinet that progress will depend on the Palestinians' ability to rein in militants.

The comments reflected Olmert's internal political weakness. Hard-liners have threatened to bring down his coalition government if he makes too many concessions in talks with the Palestinians. Olmert spoke a day before Israel was set to release 429 Palestinian prisoners in a gesture to President Mahmoud Abbas, a step that has drawn criticism from the same hard-line members of Olmert's Cabinet.

In a message that could further anger Israeli hawks, Olmert's defense minister, Ehud Barak, said he supports a measure to give compensation to Jewish settlers in the West Bank who leave their homes voluntarily.

The measure would apply to settlements outside Israel's separation barrier along the West Bank. The contentious barrier is meant to enclose main settlement blocs Israel plans to retain in a peace agreement, where two-thirds of the settlers live. The others, about 80,000, could claim compensation if they leave.

Settler leaders condemned the proposal. They oppose any building freeze or evacuation of settlements, even unauthorized outposts that dot West Bank hilltops.

The 2003 "road map" peace plan, reaffirmed at the Annapolis summit, requires Israel to remove dozens of outposts and halt all construction in the settlements.

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