JERUSALEM (AP) - Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an interview to be aired today that he intends to hold on to all of Israel’s major settlement blocs and smaller ones on the border with Jordan.

It was the clearest indication yet of how Israel plans to draw its final borders, defining the central issue for Olmert’s Kadima Party as it heads into March 28 elections. The interview with Channel 2 TV was scheduled to air tonight, but highlights were broadcast on Army Radio.

Separately, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was quoted today as saying Israel would establish its final borders with or without a negotiated deal within the next two years.

Political affairs reporter Nissim Mishal said it was the first time any Israeli leader gave such specific details on what Israel would keep. Mishal said Olmert specified he intended to hold on to the three major West Bank settlement blocs - Ariel, Gush Etzion and Maaleh Adumim - in addition to the Jordan Valley.

He also said Olmert hinted of further unilateral withdrawals like the one Israel carried out this summer from the Gaza Strip.

"He talked about Israel having to maintain a Jewish majority in the state of Israel, meaning that we have to create a new border, what is called final borders," Mishal said. "He knows that we can’t negotiate with Hamas. So the only conclusion that can be derived from this is that in order to reach final borders, Israel will have to carry out additional" unilateral "withdrawals."

Israel’s final borders, Mofaz said, would be drawn in the next two years.

"If we won’t be able to reach agreed-upon borders, we will operate in a different way, which it is not appropriate to detail now," Mofaz said yesterday while touring the West Bank. "We don’t need to wait for someone else to impose our fate."

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