New Israeli government takes office

Israel's new government took office yesterday under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who pledged it would implement a plan to remove isolated Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank but keep major enclaves forever.

In a policy speech to parliament, which later voted 65-49 to approve his coalition government, Mr Olmert also voiced deep concern over Iran's nuclear programme, accusing the Islamic Republic of targeting the Jewish state for annihilation.

"The borders of Israel that will be formed in the coming years will be significantly different from the territories under Israel's control today," said Mr Olmert, who has vowed to set final frontiers by 2010 with or without Palestinian agreement.

Describing the existence of "scattered settlements" in the West Bank as contrary to Israel's national interests, Mr Olmert said their removal under his "convergence plan" was necessary.

"This does not mean the entire settlement movement was all for naught. On the contrary, the achievements of the settlement movement in its main concentrations will be forever an inextricable part of sovereign Israel along with our united capital Jerusalem."

Palestinians, whose government is led by the militant Hamas group, say Mr Olmert's plan will annex land and deny them a viable state. They want Arab East Jerusalem, captured by Israel along with the rest of the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war, as their capital.

In what could be an early example of the challenges ahead for Mr Olmert, Israel's High Court ordered two dozen Jewish settlers to vacate a house they have been squatting in for a month in the volatile West Bank city of Hebron.

The court said the settlers had until 11.00 a.m. (0800 GMT) today to leave the building, clearing the way for security forces to evict them. The settlers had claimed to have purchased it legally from Palestinians.

Mr Olmert has not said what he intends to do with the some 400 settlers who live among 130,000 Palestinians in Hebron.

His centrist Kadima party, which emerged at the head of the pack in Israel's March 28 election, will lead the coalition with the centre-left Labour Party, the pensioners' party and ultra-Orthodox Shas, controlling 67 of parliament's 120 seats.