Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Barak tells US not to expect the 'irrational' and to "tone down the volume"

(Ynet).Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said after summing up a round of meetings in Washington Wednesday that any public debate between the US and Israel "should take place in a mutual and respectable fashion".

Speaking at a press conference with Israeli journalists, Barak said the US government should "tone down the volume" on the public debate so that it could focus on the core of the issues at stake.

The defense minister said he had told US officials the Israeli government agrees that a regional accord should be striven for, and that the Palestinian issue should be at its focus.

"Not everything is agreed upon, there is a debate and they are looking for the right way to gather Israeli support for the activation of the peace process while maintaining Israel's vital interests," he said.

Regarding the American demand for the freezing of all settlement activity Barak said, "There needs to be rational conduct that is connected to real life; you can't just expect irrational things to happen."

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