Middle East map at stake in polls

Occupied Jerusalem: Israelis yesterday voted in an election considered a referendum on interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan to impose final borders with the Palestinians at the cost of uprooting many West Bank Jewish colonies.

Olmert, whose centrist Kadima party is expected to win but not secure an outright majority, aims unilaterally to dismantle isolated colonies by 2010 and expand bigger blocs on occupied land Palestinians want for a state if peacemaking stays frozen.

Unilateralism appeals to many Israelis worn down by a five-year-old Palestinian uprising and concerned by the rise to power of Hamas in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after the movement won elections.

"I hope we can reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, at the very least separate ourselves from them. We have no other choice," said Hanan Yoran, 43, after voting in Tel Aviv.

About 20,000 police and volunteers were on patrol to guard against possible bombings on election day.

In southern Israel, two Palestinians from 1948 areas shepherds were killed in a suspected rocket attack from Gaza while a Palestinian militant was killed by Israeli troops in the West Bank.

Opinion polls have shown Kadima will win about 34 seats, enough to form a governing coalition in the 120-member parliament. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon founded Kadima last November before he suffered a stroke and went into a coma.

Israelis were voting a day after Hamas presented its cabinet to the Palestinian parliament for approval, calling for a "just peace" but showing no sign of softening its stance on the Jewish state.

Media exit polls will be issued after balloting ends at 10pm (2000 GMT).

For Olmert, victory would mean approval of "consolidation", his term for the go-it-alone steps he plans should Hamas refuse to recognise Israel, disarm and accept interim peace accords.

The World Court has ruled that all colonies are illegal. Israel disputes this.

Palestinians condemn Olmert's proposal, saying it would destroy any prospects for peace and deny them a viable state by grabbing land Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

One Hamas official said all major Israeli political parties were hostile toward the Palestinians.

"We will confront whatever is the result of the election by uniting against the occupier and against the Israeli aggression ... by all possible means," said lawmaker Mushir Al Masri.

Opinion polls published at the close of a lacklustre but high-stakes campaign showed the centre-left Labour Party running second, with about 21 seats, making it a likely coalition partner for Kadima.

The right-wing Likud party was billed to take some 14 seats.

A new coalition government is likely to include at least one of several smaller parties.

Turnout by 2pm was 30.9 per cent of registered voters, a low figure but close to recent polls. Analysts say turnout could be crucial in deciding the shape of a coalition government.

Olmert's policy of imposing Israel's borders on its own terms ignores an international peace "road map".