Olmert lays out plan to redraw Israeli borders

Although the full programme was not made public, sources within both parties said Olmert fleshed out his plans to fix the final borders of the Jewish state within the lifetime of his government, which can run for up to four years.

The programme is largely based on Olmert's victory speech delivered on the March 28 election night when he declared his intention to redraw the map of the region with or without the agreement of the Palestinians.

Olmert made clear that, in the absence of progress in peace negotiations, he will seek to drum up international backing for his so-called convergence plan which would see around 70,000 settlers pulled out of the occupied West Bank. In return, Israel will keep hold of its main settlement blocs.

Labour has already voiced its support for the principles of the convergence plan and the disagreements with Kadima appear centred around economic issues and the division of portfolios -- neither of which are seen as major obstacles to a coalition between the two parties.

David Libai, the head of the Labour's negotiating team, expressed broad satisfaction with the guidelines of the new government.

The Kadima document shows that Israel "wants to reach an end to the conflict (with the Palestinians) by negotiations in order to fix the borders, which signals that there will be another withdrawal," said Libai.

"The text says that if it proves impossible to have negotiations, Israel will take its fate into its own hands in the framework of a national agreement."

The programme stipulates that the convergence plan will have to obtain parliamentary approval but it will not be subject to a referendum, he added.