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Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this morning, toured the city of Ariel. He was accompanied by - inter alia - Foreign and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, National Infrastructures and Science and Technology Minister Ronnie Bar-On, and Ariel Mayor Ron Nahman.
Acting Prime Minister Olmert observed the adjacent Barkan Industrial Zone and said: “I have held several meetings with Defense Minister Mofaz and the security establishment regarding the Ariel bloc. The Ariel bloc is an inseparable part of the State of Israel in any situation. It is understood that the route of the security fence in the Ariel area will be completed by the end of the year and will provide security for the entire bloc. There is one point that we must check so that those entering and leaving Ariel and the Barkan Industrial Zone will be safe. Ariel is Israel and we will see to security arrangements so that Ariel will continue to prosper as an inseparable part of the State of Israel.” The Acting Prime Minister said that the issue of investments in the Barkan Industrial Zone would be examined after the elections.
Acting Prime Minister Olmert and his delegation were hosted on the Ariel campus of the College of Judea and Samaria by College President Prof. Dan Meyerstein and Executive Committee Chairman Yigal Cohen-Orgad, and received a briefing about the College and its development.
During the visit, the Acting Prime Minister said that he views CJS as Israel ’s leading college and intends to carry out the 2.5.05 Government decision to upgrade the College to a university, a move based on the school’s academic qualifications and the impact it will have in strengthening the city of Ariel and its environs.
Acting Prime Minister Olmert and the others toured the College’s Free Electron Laser (FEL), a national center for radiation and laser studies located on the Milken Family Campus. The visitors were impressed with the level of research and development at the school, especially in the field of homeland security.
While at the College, Acting Prime Minister Olmert said: “We see Ariel and the entire bloc as an inseparable part of the State of Israel always. We see Ariel and the entire bloc as a substantive part of the State of Israel; of course, the territorial contiguity will remain in any future development.
I hope with all my heart that by 2010, we will demarcate Israel’s permanent borders. The goal is to negotiate on the basis of the Roadmap and the consensus and we will make every effort so that it will be possible to negotiate in order to demarcate the permanent borders. In 2010, Israel will be different, and we will not be in places in which there is no purpose.
In the coming years, we will engage in an internal dialogue, I say that before diplomatic negotiations with foreign elements, there must be an internal dialogue, first and foremost with the population of Judea and Samaria. There will likely be differences of opinion and disagreements but I will never give up on holding serious talks and a genuine dialogue in an effort to reach an understanding that will reduce the gaps in the State of Israel and that will enable us to act out of diplomatic unity.
We will act everywhere and in every way and will not concede on security options; we will use all measures to provide security for the State and to fight terrorism.”
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