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Acting PM Ehud Olmert speaks during the Israeli Railways Annual Conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners March 7, 2006 |
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Israel will drastically reduce spending in Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria in coming years and divert the money to underdeveloped areas in Israel, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday, in his clearest statement yet on the fate of the disputed communities.
Olmert spoke just three weeks before Israel's general election. His centrist Kadima Party is the frontrunner and is widely expected to form the next government.
Kadima has been sliding somewhat in the polls in recent weeks, and policy statements by top Kadima officials in recent days were seen as an attempt to stop the erosion.
Earlier this week, Olmert's main security adviser, Avi Dichter, said Israel plans more unilateral withdrawals in Judea and Samaria and hopes to draw its final border in coming years.
Olmert said in a speech in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that billions spent on Jewish settlements would be diverted to the Negev Desert and other underdeveloped areas of Israel in coming years.
"It's no secret that we won't invest in coming years the same sums we invested in construction and infrastructure development in areas over the Green Line," Olmert said, referring to Israel's border before the 1967 Mideast War.
The money that won't be spent there will "total billions," he said, adding that Israel's "major emphasis" in coming years would be on three areas - Jerusalem, the Negev, and Galilee in northern Israel.
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