JERUSALEM: Defence Minister Ehud Barak says will discuss "road map" with U.S. envoy Mitchell

Record ID: 396286

  • Title: JERUSALEM: Defence Minister Ehud Barak says will discuss "road map" with U.S. envoy Mitchell
  • Date: 6th July 2009
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (JULY 5, 2009) (REUTERS) (CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU ARRIVING AT CABINET MEETING ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN ENTERING MEETING (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) ISRAELI DEFENCE MINISTER EHUD BARAK SAYING: "I am travelling today for a meeting tomorrow with (U.S. envoy George) Mitchell and others in London. Again, wit
  • Embargoed: 21st July 2009 13:00
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  • Story Text: Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday (July 4) he will discuss with a U.S. envoy a compromise over a peace "road map" calling for an Israeli settlement freeze and seek ways to promote regional peace.
    Barak, who last met envoy George Mitchell on Tuesday in New York, travels to London later on Sunday (July 5) for another round of talks scheduled for Monday (July 6) aimed at narrowing a rift with U.S. President Barack Obama, who has demanded a halt to settlement activity.
    Speaking before an Israeli government cabinet meeting, Barak told reporters he was aiming for a "broader understanding with the United States on diplomatic moves, including a comprehensive regional agreement".
    "I am travelling today for a meeting tomorrow with Mitchell and others in London. Again, with the aim of promoting a broader understanding with the United States about the diplomatic moves and a comprehensive regional agreement, which we support strongly, and the way to translate the road map that Israel accepted with reservations and understandings, to translate it into a joint path that is acceptable to us, the United States and to the other sides, to promote the diplomatic process with the Palestinians and to find an opening for further processes," Barak said.
    After last meeting Mitchell, Barak made a link between any Israeli agreement to limit settlement expansion and progress on Arab states "normalising" relations with Israel.
    Barak has publicly raised the possibility Israel might temporarily refrain from starting new building projects -- while continuing many under way -- in settlements in return for initial steps towards a regional peace agreement.
    The Israeli proposal falls short of demands by Obama and the Palestinians for a settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank.
    But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is facing staunch political pressure from within his own party and from others in his government coalition to allow settlement activity to continue.
    "There is no reason to talk about the complete freeze of settlement activity in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) - it's basically about freezing the population there. And population control is good for countries like China and Mao, and not for a democratic country like Israel. As far as Barak's meeting with Mitchell is concerned, I am sure that once there will be an understanding, what we agreed about with the previous American administration, it will be possible to reach agreements with the present American administration," Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, a minister from Netanyahu's Likud party, said.
    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has said he has been meeting road map obligations to rein in militants, has made a resumption of peace talks with Israel conditional on a complete cessation of settlement activity.
    On Sunday, at the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu reiterated his vision for a future peace talks.
    "We brought a national agreement on the issue of two states for two peoples. The guidelines agreement that, first of all, the Palestinians need to recognise the state of Israel as the Jewish state. And it also says the issue of (Palestinian) refugees will be resolved outside of Israel. And that Israel needs and will get defendable borders, including a complete demilitarisation of Palestinian territory," Netanyahu said.
    A senior U.S. official confirmed to Reuters that Washington is asking Arab governments whether they might ease sanctions on Israel if it freezes settlement on land Palestinians want for a state.
    But Arab leaders have so far been cool, Western diplomats said, to suggestions they might open their airspace to Israeli airliners, allow roaming calls by Israeli cellphones or let in tourists whose passports show they have also visited Israel.
    Obama himself last month spoke in favour of a regional peace settlement that would include not just a deal on a Palestinian state but end decades of confrontation between Israel and states like Saudi Arabia and Syria.
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