Ya'alon: Barak pushing for pressure on Israel

Deputy prime minister says land concessions do not advance peace process, says "we shouldn't give concessions in return for terror."

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
yaalon office 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
yaalon office 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Vice Premier Moshe Ya’alon unleashed a fierce attack on Wednesday on Defense Minister Ehud Barak, accusing him of encouraging the international community to put pressure on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to make unilateral concessions to the Palestinians.
Ya’alon said he was upset by an interview Barak gave to The Wall Street Journal in which he said that Netanyahu was likely to offer the Palestinians a provisional state with temporary borders and he may seek an additional $20 billion in US security assistance to help Israel manage potential threats stemming from popular upheavals in the Arab world.
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“I view gravely the statements of ministers who invite pressure and endorse the Palestinian outlook that we haven’t gotten to peace because we didn’t give enough territory,” Ya’alon told Israel Radio.
“[Barak] went to camp David and claimed he removed Yasser Arafat’s mask and yet he is still claiming the conflict is because of territory,” Ya’alon continued. “I don’t see the prime minister making concessions without reciprocity.”