Jerusalem: In Israel, interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has claimed victory in the parliamentary elections.
Exit polls in Israel's elections on Tuesday predicted a win for Olmert's Kadima party. They gave Kadima 29-32 seats in the 120-member parliament, putting it in a good position to form a governing coalition.
With no signs of progress in the peace process, Olmert has said that he will dismantle isolated Jewish settlements in the West Bank by 2010, and expand the bigger Jewish blocs in the Palestinian territory.
It was not quite the political earthquake that Olmert and his stricken mentor Ariel Sharon had planned when they formed the new party just three months ago to seek backing for further withdrawals from the West Bank along the lines of last year's pullout from Gaza.
While warning that the Jewish state was ready to determine borders on its own terms, Olmert said he was ready to compromise and would prefer to reach a negotiated settlement.
"We will strive to bring about the establishment of the final borders of Israel as a Jewish state with a permanent Jewish majority, and as a democratic country," he told activists from the centrist Kadima.
"We will work to do this through negotiations, through an agreement with our Palestinian neighbors. There is no good alternative to a peace agreement."
Olmert said it was time for the Palestinian leadership to follow the example of other Arab leaders who have made peace with Israel and display willingness to compromise.
The vote was held on the same day that Palestinian MPs approved a Cabinet led by Hamas, which advocates the destruction of the Jewish state and is branded a terror group by both Israel and Washington.
With AFP inputs
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