By KUNA
Ramallah : There will be no peace with the Palestinians but after the cessation of terrorism, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday.
“We made it clear to the Palestinians during meetings with them that as long as there is terrorism from Gaza it will be difficult to reach an understanding with them,” Olmert told a joint news conference with visiting US President George Bush.
Olmert, talking in details about rockets launched by the Palestinian militants from Gaza at Sderot, said these missiles posed a serious problem against the Jewish state.
Israel, he added, would not remain silent at the rockets’ attack.
He asked the Palestinians to honor their commitments and stop what he considered as “terrorism.” Olmert said the number of deaths and those injured as a result of the rockets’ attack have largely dropped last year, thanks to the Israeli counter-measures.
The Israelis and Palestinians are serious in pushing forward the peace process in order to meet Bush’s two-state visision, said Olmert.
Bush, he added, did not ask Israel to honor other commitments other than the Israelis have obliged to meet.
“Jerusalem is not part of the final status negotiations but there will not be constructions of new settlements and we will be committed to that,” said Olmert.
The Israeli Prime Minister vowed to offer painful concessions for the sake of security of Israel and give the Palestinians their democratic state, he said.