Prime Minister Ehud Olmert drew fire from both right and left for telling Yediot Aharonot that Israel would have to give up nearly all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem if it wants peace with the Palestinians.
In the farewell interview, published Monday, Olmert also said Israel would have to leave the Golan Heights to make peace with Syria.
In the interview, Olmert said, "We have to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, one meaning that we will withdraw in practice from nearly all of the territories, if not from all of them," Olmert said.
Olmert said Israel would keep "a percentage" of the West Bank but would have to give Palestinians the same amount of Israeli territory in exchange, "because without this there will be no peace."
He also said Israel would have to leave parts of east Jerusalem, saying Israel couldn't hope to maintain its control of the more than 200,000 Arab residents there.
He mentioned three recent attacks in which east Jerusalem residents have rammed Israelis with vehicles, killing three people and wounding dozens. He said anyone who wants to stop the attacks "must give up parts of Jerusalem."
There would be "special arrangements" for the city's holy sites, he said, without offering details.
The interview confirmed Olmert's transformation from a vocal hard-liner who for decades opposed any territorial concessions to the Palestinians to a leader whose views are virtually identical to those of the dovish politicians he once pilloried.
The significance of his comments are uncertain, however, since his days in the prime minister's office are numbered.
MK Silvan Shalom (Likud) told Israel Radio that Olmert's comments exposed a leftist approach that mirrored that of Meretz.
Shalom likened Olmert to a blind man driving a car over a cliff and said his idea to "establish Iranian and Hamas bases in the Golan Heights and West Bank" proved that he had lost his way.
Meretz MK Yossi Beilin lamented the fact that Olmert was only now exposing his true beliefs concerning Israel's national interests since he had nothing to lose.
"You believe it is in Israel's national interest to make peace, but for two-and-a-half years, almost three years, all you have done is wage an unnecessary war in Lebanon and woo [Israel Beiteinu chairman Avigdor] Lieberman into your government to stifle any peace process," Beilin told Army Radio, addressing the prime minister.
"You are today leaving the government having achieved a chemistry with Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] and with some sort of talks in Turkey with the Syrians, but these things won't be remembered," he added.
As mayor of Jerusalem and a Likud MK, Olmert long opposed any compromise in the city and encouraged efforts to build Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to cement Israel's control.
"I'm the first one who wanted to enforce Israeli sovereignty on the whole city. I admit this," he said in the interview.
Olmert said that for decades he "was not prepared to look at reality in all of its depth." He said time was "so short that it is terribly distressing."
In its attempts to make peace with the Palestinians and Syria, he said the decision Israelis now had to make "was a decision that we have been refusing to look at open-eyed for 40 years."
David Baker, a spokesman for Olmert, confirmed the content of the interview was accurate.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Olmert had not translated the conciliatory ideas he put forward in the interview into formal offers during nearly a year of peace talks.
"We have been having serious negotiations with the Israeli side, but up to this moment we have not received any written proposals from the Israeli side and Mr. Olmert," Erekat said.
The Palestinians want to put the progress made so far in writing so that talks won't have to start from the beginning with Israel's next prime minister, he said.
Though Olmert might remain in power for several more months, his conversation with Yediot Aharonot was billed as a farewell interview, in which he summed up his time in office and defended his actions as Israel's leader.
Olmert said he would continue to try to strike a deal before he leaves office.
Israel "should not put off the decision," he said. "Either I will finish it, or [new Kadima leader] Tzipi Livni will, or whoever comes after her."
Olmert seemed to suggest the Palestinians were not matching what he described as Israel's far-reaching compromises.
"Unfortunately, the Palestinians don't have the necessary courage, strength, internal determination, will or enthusiasm," he said.
Asked about his previous right-wing views and his opposition to Menachem Begin's peace treaty with Egypt, Olmert admitted that he was "mistaken for 35 years."
National Union MK Aryeh Eldad said there was no reason to trust a man who said that he was wrong for so long. Eldad, who Olmert criticized in the article, tied the prime minister's epiphany to the ongoing criminal investigations against him.
"Anyone who says he was mistaken for 35 years cannot be believed," Eldad said.
"He is just saying it to find favor with the left-wing judges so that his hanging will be easier."
Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.
