By Xinhua
Jerusalem : Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged on Sunday that he would make every effort to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians this year, but insisted reaching understandings on the basic principles is the most possible goal.
Speaking in Jerusalem at a gathering of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, Olmert said that one possibility of a peace deal is a declaration of principles for a Palestinian statehood.
“I hope the negotiating part of the basic principles can still be achieved in 2008,” he said, adding that waiting longer would encourage more radical elements among the Palestinians, especially Hamas.
“I will not hesitate to make every painful compromise that is needed to bring true and genuine peace,” Olmert said.
The prime minister also said he has agreed with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that the subject of Jerusalem will be the last item on the agenda.
He said the current Palestinian leadership was committed to peace with Israel like no Palestinian leadership before, warning that if the effort fails, no future Palestinian regime would be as willing to make peace.
Meanwhile, Olmert vowed that Israeli army would hit anyone who attacks Israel, especially the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) which ruling the Gaza Strip. The prime minister said the Israel Defense Forces has a “free hand” to operate in Gaza.
“We will reach out for anyone involved in perpetrating terrorism against Israelis, and we will not hesitate to attack them in order to stop them,” he said, adding “That applies to everyone, first and foremost Hamas.”
He insisted a peace accord cannot be implemented unless “terror is stopped completely from Gaza.”
Olmert said that he would not allow a humanitarian crisis to develop in Gaza, but the people of Gaza could not live normal lives while Israelis across the border were constantly targeted by rockets.
During the U.S.-sponsored Annapolis conference on Mideast peace late last November, Olmert and Abbas agreed to begin talks aimed at reaching a peace deal by the end of 2008. Abbas is set to meet Olmert in Jerusalem on Tuesday.