An Israeli minister said on Tuesday that the government has not completely abandoned a plan to withdraw from large areas of the West Bank.
"The plan is not dead, it's been postponed," Interior Minister Roni Bar-On told Israel Radio. "It's not a priority right now. ... The plan has been put on the shelf."
When Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was asked in a parliamentary committee meeting on Monday where the plan was headed, he said "What I advocated several months ago has changed," according to a meeting participant.
Support among the Israeli public for the West Bank withdrawal has dropped drastically since Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier at a military base near the Gaza Strip on June 25 and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon captured two other soldiers--a cross-border attack that lead to a 34-day war against the militia that ended last month.