The concept of 'Greater Israel' concept is over, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the weekly cabinet meeting, during which Vice Premier Haim Ramon's evacuation-compensation bill was discussed on Sunday. "'Greater Israel' is finished. There is no such thing as that anymore. Whoever talks in those terms is only deluding himself," said the prime minister. "It doesn't help Israel. The international community has changed its perspective ahead of the possibility of Israel becoming a bi-national state. We can prove that we were always the initiators and were more creative and that it was the other side that was more stubborn. However, as usual, we are winning the argument but are gradually going to lose the most important thing," he said. Olmert explained that though excellent justifications could be made as to why talk of of concessions to the Palestinians should be postponed, time was "not ticking in Israel's favor." Olmert admitted that he had changed his mind on the subject. "I admit that I didn't always have this opinion. I thought and I also said to [Defense Minister] Ehud Barak that the concessions he offered at Camp David were exaggerated. I believed that the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean was all ours since in every place there which is excavated, there is evidence of Jewish History. "But finally, after a lot of suffering and misgivings, I came to the conclusion that we need to share the land ... if we don't want to become a bi-national state." The prime minister emphasized that Israel was the strongest country in the region. "We are strong like no other country in the region, no entity can overcome us," he said. "The strategic threats don't come from questions of where the borders are. We can argue over every small detail but we will then have no peace partner and no international backing. We will just feel that we were right, as we have done for the last 40 years." According to Ramon's evacuation-compensation bill, NIS 1.1 million would be given to each family that voluntarily moves from isolated areas of the West Bank to the Negev. Ramon's bill would give a 25 percent increase in compensation offered to settlers who leave the West Bank for the Negev and a 15% increase to those who move to the Galilee. Ramon told ministers that 18% of the settlers east of the security fence (over 11,000 individuals) were prepared to leave of their own accord. The evacuation of residents living in the West Bank, insisted Ramon, was "an inevitable step for those who believe in the two-state [solution], which is the majority of the Israeli public. The government's assertion, that Israel is not prepared to continue to control areas east of the [security] fence, will strengthen Israel in its negotiations with the Palestinians and with the international community. This program will also strengthen the settlement blocs west of the [security] fence and leave the area under Israels sovereignty." Ramon also said that Israel and the Palestinians weren't close to reaching even a scaled-back version of a peace agreement, further diminishing hopes of any significant strides by the end of the year. "Right now, we don't see reaching a shelf agreement or a declaration of principles on the horizon," he said. Meanwhile, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter criticized the bill, saying that "the current discussion is a mistake in its essence and also in its timing," he said, adding that it was "putting the cart before the horse." "Even if houses that should be destroyed are destroyed, legislation preventing them from being rebuilt is problematic, full of difficulties and may even provoke violence," he continued. "Voluntary evacuation will only weaken, not strengthen Israel." Transportation Minister and Kadima leadership candidate Shaul Mofaz also appeared to oppose the bill, but was more tempered in his reservations. "Evacuation-compensation in a reality that lacks an agreed upon framework, will only raise the Palestinians' demands and cause damage," Mofaz said during the meeting. AP contributed to this report.
