Haaretz.com reported on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is set to deliver his official response to the American benchmark plan. It is expected that Olmert will ask the American President to delay the deadline for the implementation of the plan in line with current perceived threats to Israel’s security.The document calls for the removal of Israeli checkpoints and the easing of restrictions on the freedom of movement in return for a cessation of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
The Haaretz report carries a statement from an unnamed Israeli diplomatic official noting that, “We agree that we have not lifted enough roadblocks, but the American schedule would spell security abandon, which the Americans themselves prefer to avoid.’
Olmert is next scheduled to meet with Bush in the White House on June 19.
