Israel's incoming Prime Minister warned his fellow Jews today that they face both tears and heartbreak as his government unilaterally redraws the map of the Middle East.

In a policy speech before seeking the Knesset's approval for his new coalition administration, Ehud Olmert said that Israel was endangering itself by maintaining isolated settlements in the West Bank.

His government, dominated by the Kadima party founded by his predecessor Ariel Sharon before he was felled by a stroke in January, plans to uproot some 70,000 settlers from the West Bank while cementing control over the larger settlements that house the vast majority of Israel's quarter of a million Jewish settlers.

"The borders of Israel that will be formed in the coming years, will be significantly different from the territories under Israel’s control today," said Mr Olmert, who has vowed to set final frontiers by 2010 with or without Palestinian agreement.

"This does not mean the entire settlement movement was all for nothing. On the contrary, the achievements of the settlement movement in its main concentrations will be forever an inextricable part of sovereign Israel along with our united capital Jerusalem."

In a speech to MPs before the formal swearing-in of his government, Mr Olmert added: "The continuation of the scattered Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) is endangering us. The bottom line is that we have to maintain a strong Jewish majority in our country and we must guarantee a defensible area where this majority can live.

"Even if the Jewish eye sheds a tear, even if the heart is torn, we must retain the essence. We must maintain a solid and stable Jewish majority in our country."

Mr Olmert was elevated to the premiership after Mr Sharon's stroke on January 4. He then led Kadima to a narrow victory in a March 28 election, winning 29 of the 120 Knesset seats up for grabs. Since then he has drawn up a broad-based coalition which also includes the centre-left Labour party, the pensioners' party and the ultra-Orthodox Shas grouping.

Mr Olmert acknowledged that the numbers set to be uprooted from the West Bank are set to dwarf the 7,000 settlers who were pulled out of Gaza under Mr Sharon last year. "Disengagement from Gaza was only a first step. The bulk of the work is still ahead of us," he said.

Mr Olmert and the members of his coalition refuse to have any dealings with Hamas, the Islamist group now in power in the Palestinian territories, unless it recognises Israel's right to exist, signs up to earlier Palestinian peace commitments and renounces violence.

But Mr Omert will continue to deal with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, allowing him to sidestep the Hamas-led government. Shimon Peres, the former prime minister who is Mr Olmert's designated deputy, said that Mr Olmert planned to meet Mr Abbas after a visit to Washington later this month to enlist American support for his policies.

Mr Olmert, who has previously classified the Hamas-led regime as an enemy entity, said the Palestinian"terrorist infrastructure" had to be dismantled.

"A Palestinian government led by a terrorist organisation will not be a partner and we will not hold any contact with it," he said.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said that any any unilateral measures would run into opposition, feeding "violence and anarchy" in the region.

Mr Olmert's plans also came under attack from Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing Likud party. "There has never been a government that has given up so much ahead of time and relieves the other side of its obligations," Mr Netanyahu told the Knesset.

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