"\Vhy Israel Is Free to Set Its Own Borders

D URINGTHIS spring's election campaign in Israel, Ehud Olmert was candid about his Kadima party's plan for disengagement from the West Bank. His message was simple: with no one to talk to on the Palestinian side, Israel would have to act unilaterally to define and secure its borders. Kadima'splan for "realignment" mainly amounted to withdrawing at least 60,000 settlers into blocs adjacent to the so-called Green Line (the ceasefire line establishedin 1949at the end ofIsrael's War of Independence) and declaring a permanent border. Olmert was careful not to describe the exact contours of this settlement evacuation, but he made clear that it would bring all the settlers within Israel's yet-to-be-completed security barrier, which has been under construction since 2002. An estimated 193,000Israelis alreadylive in the 8 percent ofJudea and Samaria that is between the projected route of the barrier and the 1949boundaries. Given that the government of the PalestinianAuthority (PA)is now controlled by the terrorists of Hamas, the Bush administration has gently indicated that, while it prefers a negotiated deal with the Palestinians, it is open to supporting Israel'sunilateral drawing of borders to include limited amounts