Netanyahu: Barak's Washington speech is not gov't policy

PM makes statement after defense minister's Brookings Institute speech endorsing division of J'lem along lines of Clinton parameters.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Netanyahu serious with flag 311 ap (photo credit: Associated Press)
Netanyahu serious with flag 311 ap
(photo credit: Associated Press)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday clarified that Defense Minister Ehud Barak's statements on Friday in support of the Clinton parameters regarding the division of Jerusalem do not reflect the government's policy, Israel Radio reported.
Netanyahu added that Barak's statements were issued as the head of the Labor party and not as a representative of the government.
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Barak, who spoke after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Brookings Institution's Saban forum in Washington on Friday, pledged to continue pursuing peace, saying that the contours of a two-state solution were well-known went into the details of final-status issues.
On Jerusalem – perhaps the most vexing issue – he described a solution that would split the city.
He said the issues would be discussed last and resolved along the lines of the (former US president Bill) Clinton parameters, namely “western Jerusalem and the Jewish suburbs for us, the heavily populated Arab neighborhoods for them, and an agreed upon solution in the ‘Holy Basin.’”
Hilary Leila Krieger and Herb Keinon contributed to this report.