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Defense Minister Ehud Barak (JINI)
Last update - 08:16 11/08/2008
Barak questions if Livni would be 'wise' choice for premiership
By Haaertz Service and News Agencies
Tags: hamas, Israel, gaza strip 

The atmosphere of the approaching September primary election within the Kadima party prompted even Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak to break his media silence and hint that Kadima front-runner Tzipi Livni would not be a wise choice to lead the country.

In an interview with Channel 10 TV Sunday evening, Barak said "it is possible to have a prime minister without a security background. The question is what would be wise to do," adding that the country had "seen this deficiency at work two years ago" referring to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's lack of military experience, and how that disadvantage manifested itself in what is widely held as Olmert's faulty handling of the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

"Despite all the military people that sat around the cabinet table, the decisions remained controversial," Barak said of the prime minister's conduct during the 34-day war between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
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The defense minister said that in his mind the right thing to do now, in the face of security threats and the impending economic recession, would be to form a national unity government. "A country's leadership has a responsibility to make decisions. This is a test I have passed."

Barak said that if the attempt to establish a national unity government failed, general elections should be held.

Speaking about the situation in the Gaza Strip, Barak admitted that even a large-scale Israel Defense Forces invasion would not stop militant attacks on Israel, adding that he would prefer to see the current cease fire between Israel and the Hamas rulers of Gaza remain in place.

Barak has often said that an Israeli invasion is at hand, but in Sunday's interview he indicated that even a large-scale invasion would not stop Hamas rocket attacks. Instead, he said, a seven-week-old Egyptian-mediated truce is effectively halting the barrages.

If Israeli forces did go into Gaza, Barak said, "afterward we would have to achieve a truce, and we would have to deal with the same parties as before."

"Even if Israeli forces stay there two years and destroy the Hamas regime down to the last office and the last activist, in the aftermath [Israel] is controlling another people against their will, and the Palestinian people, when they compare the two, will choose Hamas ... and not those who talk peace," he said, referring to the moderate Fatah, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas overran Gaza last June, expelling forces loyal to Abbas.

Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, withdrawing its military and taking down 21 settlements, expressing the hope at the time that its pullout would end the rocket fire.

However, according to Israeli military figures, more than 6,000 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza at Israel since the disengagement.

Barak said the Israel-Hamas truce, which began June 19, has reduced rocket fire from Gaza from hundreds to just a few. He said he hoped the truce would last a year.

Before the June truce, Palestinian militants pelted southern Israel daily, sometimes with dozens of rockets and mortars, disrupting the lives of tens of thousands of Israelis.

Many have clamored for an Israeli invasion to stop the barrages, and Barak frequently announces that such a ground operation will occur in just a matter of time.

In the past, Israel has sent ground troops into Gaza to stop rocket
attacks, but the relief has been temporary. Despite inflicting heavy
casualties and causing severe damage, Israeli forces were able to stop the rocket fire only as long as they were in Gaza.

Barak said the truce was the first time in seven years that the rocket salvos have been silenced.

Israel has blockaded Gaza since the Hamas takeover, citing security, closing crossings and allowing only the minimal humanitarian supplies in. Egypt has closed Rafah, the only Gaza crossing that does not go through Israel.

In another shift, Barak said that the reported strengthening of Hamas through arms smuggling during the truce is not a problem for Israel, though four tons of explosives and several dozen anti-tank rockets have been brought in.

"Everyone knows that when the truce was declared, there were already hundreds of Grad missiles there," he said, referring to rockets that can reach the southern city of Ashkelon, as well as simpler rockets and mortars.

The defense minister also said Israel had a supreme moral and command
responsibility to bring kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit home. "We must do everything possible and appropriate to bring him home. The calm creates the possibility to do so," Barak said.

During the interview, Barak also said that the Second Lebanon War - in effect, carried out to stop Hezbollah armament - had actually strengthened the Lebanon-based militant group.

The defense minister said the the six years prior to the war had actually been some of the quietest on Israel's northern border, despite the growth in Hezbollah's military capabilities.

"[Former prime minister Ariel] Sharon and his leadership were wise not to respond to Hezbollah's strengthening," Barak said. "We went to war unprepared and incorrectly."

Barak also said: "[David] Ben-Gurion said that wars should be avoided or postponed, but if they are forced on us, we must win them unequivocally, on enemy territory and quickly."

Regarding his 1999 negotiations with the Syrians in Shepherdstown, Barak said there was no way to conduct talks on the Middle East "without them being held in a place that will allow for talks without reporting daily to the public."

According to the Labor Party head, former Syrian prime minister Hafez Assad tried to create a situation in which Israel "would accept his preconditions before the talks were launched, as a condition to their beginning."

Barak said he is up-to-date on the ongoing Turkish-brokered talks between Israel and Syria. However, he said that the priorities of the Syria of today are different from those of Israel, and "therefore it is impossible to hold serious negotiations."

Barak went on to say that anyone who thinks it is possible to first agree on the June 4, 1967 lines and only then start negotiating over cutting off ties between Damascus and Tehran, ending support for Hezbollah and establishing an early warning system in the Golan, is living in cloud cuckoo land and "those in the Middle East who live in the clouds and not on the ground end up with broken limbs and not with peace."

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  • PRC: Open crossings within 3 weeks or we'll end Gaza truce
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      1.   Hamas in Gaza is building up tremendously its firepower 20:56  |  Jean Van Daem 10/08/08
      2.   something similar 21:00  |  Huegelsberger Joe 10/08/08
      3.   Barak 21:09  |  Yanosh 10/08/08
      4.   Won`t stop rocket attacks? 21:15  |  Brod 10/08/08
      5.   Peace would threaten Israeli expansion 21:25  |  Natallie Durson 10/08/08
      6.   Barak is preparing his strategy, nothing more 21:29  |  Arie 10/08/08
      7.   Yeah! 21:32  |  Yosemite 10/08/08
      8.   Barak`s total honesty is quite enlightening... 21:47  |  BBSNews 10/08/08
      9.   Gaza Truce 22:09  |  Reid 10/08/08
      10.   Invasion of Gaza won`t stop rocket attacks 22:14  |  Natallie Durson 10/08/08
      11.   Barak the misfit 22:20  |  Tosefta 10/08/08
      12.   Israel must respond, and continue truce effort 22:53  |  Great White North 10/08/08
      13.   it took him 2 years to figure out that attacking lebanon wrong 22:55  |  you know who 10/08/08
      14.   only one way to stop the violence 23:04  |  henry 10/08/08
      15.   #10 I`m surprised at Natallie`s response 23:13  |  Keith T. 10/08/08
      16.   at last some sensible opinions 23:22  |  paulo2005 10/08/08
      17.   Barak uk Yuk 23:27  |  Nathan 10/08/08
      18.   Barak -buy an Umbrella 23:29  |  Nat Weinstein 10/08/08
      19.   #8 Was this ironic? 23:35  |  Oggy 10/08/08
      20.   #4 Brod 00:08  |  Jensen 11/08/08
      21.   but their invasion of sderot stopped israeli rockets 00:18  |  helm of chelm 11/08/08
      22.   Carpet Bomb Gaza 00:23  |  Steven 11/08/08
      23.   Barak wants the truce to last a year it did last 5 days 01:11  |  zionist forever 11/08/08
      24.   #5;Natalie Durson, you have it backwards, again 01:33  |  Doc Holliday 11/08/08
      25.   Do It Russian style...Bomb everything and everyone in Gaza ...... 01:36  |  Al 11/08/08
      26.   And the Israeli settlements? 01:39  |  Maureen Ann 11/08/08
      27.   Kadema allowed rockets to be smuggled into Gaza 03:16  |  sam 11/08/08
      28.   #25 Excuse me Al, you have been reading too much Western... 03:24  |  Maureen Ann 11/08/08
      29.   Firing Kadima would be a good starting 03:28  |  Frank 11/08/08
      30.   Will we, won`t we? Can we, can`t we? 03:40  |  Johnboy 11/08/08
      31.   #8: BBSNews,"Barak`s total honesty" and your lack of it!! 03:49  |  Doc Holliday 11/08/08
      32.   Does this jackass ever stop contradicting hisself 03:54  |  Labhras 11/08/08
      33.   send the dead wood out to sea! 04:24  |  Mark 11/08/08
      34.   Barak the spineless guppy 05:04  |  Fred 11/08/08
      35.   israels army should take over Israel until new ELECTIONS NOW 05:09  |  Fred 11/08/08
      36.   Dump Turkey the Back Stabbers 05:10  |  Fred 11/08/08
      37.   Support Georgia/Checks before they all are anhilated 05:11  |  Fred 11/08/08
      38.   barak is a Russian Appeaser DUMP HIM NOW 05:14  |  Fred 11/08/08
      39.   Barak 05:19  |  Fred 11/08/08
      40.   See You In September 05:37  |  Shimon Cleopas 11/08/08
      41.   Both Livni and Barak are NOT a "wise choice"; both are defeatist 05:58  |  Robert Schwartz 11/08/08
      42.   Russian Army Killing mothers & children on the run 06:01  |  Fred 11/08/08
      43.   Hey "Doc Holliday"... 06:08  |  BBSNews 11/08/08
      44.   ISRAELI POLITICIANS CASTRATED 06:12  |  X-MILITARY 11/08/08
      45.   #22 steven 06:35  |  Jeff 11/08/08
      46.   What is the difference between Barak and Peretz 06:52  |  Meir Weinstein 11/08/08
      47.   choice for premiership 07:07  |  J.G. 11/08/08
      48.   Barak 07:46  |  Steven 11/08/08
      49.   Is Barak "wise", or merely calculating...? 08:11  |  Esther 11/08/08
      50.   Re Tosefta #11 08:26  |  Esther 11/08/08
      51.   Barak`s "security" bears no comparison with genuine PEACE! 08:50  |  Ivar 11/08/08
      52.   Barak on Livni 09:05  |  Harold Silver 11/08/08
      53.   "But I``m sure I would be EXCELLENT" 09:43  |  Clickfool 11/08/08
      54.   #50 Ivar promotes illusory peace with muslims 10:11  |  xyznews 11/08/08
      55.   to Steve #22 - on carpet bombing 10:31  |  zeev 11/08/08
      56.   Barak & Co. terrified: Saudi Plan spotlights land grab injustice 10:35  |  Ivar 11/08/08
      57.   SHE DOESN`T HAVE "BALLS" 10:37  |  indrajaya 11/08/08
      58.   LONG LIVE ISRAEL AND HER RESPECTABLE LEADERS 10:48  |  indrajaya 11/08/08
      59.   A brief history... 11:13  |  Esther 11/08/08
      60.   Is Barak a better choice? 11:59  |  AMIHAI 11/08/08