The Palestinians did not have a problem with Israel continuing settlement construction during past peace talks, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said following a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Ban ki-Moon on Thursday, saying that it was mutual mistrust, not settlement building, which was hindering the current round of direct negotiations.
Barak’s comments come as the United States and Israel are engaged in last ditch attempts to salvage direct Middle East peace talks, derailed late September over Israel’s reluctance to extend an expired freeze on West Bank settlement construction.
On Friday, Secretary of State Clinton is expected to officially announce the failure of recent negotiations to sway Israel into extending its moratorium on settlement building, and that Washington was looking for fresh avenues, including the possibility of returning to proximity talks.
Speaking to reporters following his meeting with the UN chief in New York on Thursday, Barak said that, contrary to recent Palestinian claims, settlement building wasn’t the real bone of contention between Israel and the PA.
"We aren’t building any new settlements," Barak said, indicating that Israel was "committed to the Road Map for Peace and to the two-state solution."
Referring to the possibility that Israel was making it difficult for PA delegates to return to the negotiations table by continuing West Bank building, the defense minster said that claim was an exaggeration, adding that "43 years of construction hardly covers two percent of the West Bank."
"[Former Prime Minster Ehud] Olmert’s government was engaged in profound talks with the Palestinians and [settlement] building then was double what it is today and that didn’t seem to be an obstacle," Barak said, adding that when he was premier during negotiations with former PA chief Yasser Arafat building was "four times what it is today."
"The problem isn’t construction but lowering the level of suspiciousness, building trust and negotiating in a businesslike manner," the defense minister added, saying the sides needed to "get over the obstacle of the unfulfilled second freeze, and engage in talks on final status issues in order to move ahead."
The defense minister also indicated that, during his meeting with Ban, he had urged the UN chief to use his influence in order to involve all of the region’s countries, saying that peace was a "strategic need shared by the entire region."
Referring to continued tension with Turkey, which peaked as a result of Israel’s raid on a Turkish Gaza-bound aid convoy in May, Barak said that the "rift between Israel and Turkey is doing nothing in the way of promoting stability in the Middle East."
09/10/2024