Barak: Israel ready to cede parts of Jerusalem in peace deal
Ahead of start of direct peace talks in Washington, Defense Minister Ehud Barak says Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods will be part of a Palestinian state; a 'special regime' to govern holy sites.
By Reuters Tags: Israel news Middle East peace Jerusalem Ehud BarakIsrael is ready to cede parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinians in the framework of a peace
deal, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday ahead of the start of talks in Washington.
Partition in Jerusalem - at the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict -- would include a "special regime" for managing the city's holiest sites, Barak told Haaretz.
He said the killing of four Israelis by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank on Tuesday should not stop the talks starting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House on Wednesday for their first face-to-face negotiations, has
publicly balked at dividing the city.
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Defense Minister Ehud Barak, right, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. |
| Photo by: Tess Scheflan / Jini |
Barak's disclosure suggested the Netanyahu government was willing to yield on Jerusalem, including its walled Old City where al-Aqsa, Islam's third-holiest shrine, abuts the Western
Wall, the vestige of Judaism's two ancient temples and today a Jewish prayer plaza.
"West Jerusalem and 12 Jewish neighborhoods that are home to 200,000 residents will be ours. The Arab neighborhoods in which close to a quarter million Palestinians live will be theirs," said Barak, who helped lay the groundwork for the U.S.-sponsored summit.
"There will be a special regime in place along with agreed upon arrangements in the Old City, the Mount of Olives and the City of David," he said.
Israel captured the eastern part of the city from Jordan in the Six Day War in 1967 and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they hope to set up in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Barak's vision of two cities and a special regime in the so-called "holy basin" recalls a plan discussed by the previous Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, during peace talks with Abbas that fell apart almost two years ago.
Barak himself negotiated unsuccessfully with the Palestinians a decade ago as prime minister, singling out Jerusalem as the key stumbling point in reaching a deal.
Barak also said any agreement would see the relocation of isolated Jewish West Bank outposts into Israel, which will keep larger urban settlement blocs.
A deal would also have to ensure Israel's security, Barak said, including a presence along the Jordan valley, the West Bank's eastern frontier, and "technological arrangements".
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Ehud Barak must have come across claims that Shimon Peres gave away Jerusalem to the Vatican in a secret clause of the Oslo Agreements and that this fact had been widely published in Israel
This is not the first time that Israeli negotiators fall head over heels without anybody asking them.Rushing to show their newly acquired stunts.....They haven't yet broken bread together, & here we have Mr.Lightening (Barak in Hebrew) going all over the show,offering a piece here,a piece there,as if it were his grandfather's shop !
Arabs murder Jews, and Ehud runs.
Wasn't Barak a highly-decorated commando? Whatever faults he may have, I don't believe cowardice is one. Still, I suppose any possibility of a sensible interaction with Palestinians will provoke this kind of knee-jerk reaction from fools like you.
Israel would give out land in exchange of peace. But what would happened if the peace will be broken by some parties claiming they do not accept current PA government, like Hamas? Would Israel get their land back with full rights?
Jerusalem must stay united. There is not one example in the world of a divided city that ever worked. http://tiny.cc/pf7p6
This clever offer still means that Israel will have a stranglehold over East Jerusalem and more removal of Palestinians from majority Arab areas like Silwan, in the ever-growing 'City of David', in Sheikh Jarrah which is is near the tomb of Shim'on, and in Ras El-Amud and the valley of Kidron which surrounds the Mount of Olives. All of East Jerusalem is surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements from the earliest ones like French Hill, Ramot and Ramat Eshkol, to the later ones like Gilo, Har Homa and East Talpiot, to Pisgat Ze'ev, Neveh Yaakov , and stretching to the wide boundaries of E1 andn Maale Adumim, of 'Metropolitan Jerusalem. This has fragmented all the Palestinian neighbourhoods, cutting them off from the West Bank heartland which has also been fragmented with the matrix of control and the hundreds of illegal settlements, which after the annexation of the Jordan valley leaves less than 15 percent of the occupied territories for a spaghetti-like Palestinian canton. This is with the agenda to effectively remove or confine the Palestinians into small enclosed enclaves, totally under Israeli control.Yet if Israel withdraws completely to the pre-1967 line, there is a chance of a possible 2 state solution. Since it is clear that this is not even remotely on the agenda, unless the US and the rest impose the strongest sanctions on Israel (which it is clear they will not wish to do) we are left with endless conflict and injustice for the foreseeable future.
if you want peace you MUST give it ALL back, not what you think they should get back.
And the Palestinians under Arafat rejected Barak's more than generous proposals. Why then would the Palestiinians accept the offer now? Well, maybe they will. Let's see.
Arafat was not a peacemaker. Arafat is dead.
My dear general, In spite of being a military authority you are displaying part of your tactical positions before your adversary is coming towards you. Anything else you would like to disclose? I was a simple lieutenant at age 19. I wouldn´t have done what you did. I really think that you should keep quiet for the sake of Israel. Let the enemy do the talking and unveil his positions!
Maybe it was a necessary statement to gain a viable peace deal and keep the US happy?
If Israel gives away Jerusalem then there is no reason for even having a Jewish State. They might as well just all move to South Dakota and be done with it for ever and ever. This generation of Jews will be cursed for do what Barak wants to do. Israel must rise up as a Nation and say no to Barak and Netanyahu.
It is just too cold there in the winter for me
Guess that Barak never heard the saying ' Loose lips sink ships'.. Hopefully Baraks ship will sink one day. There will never be peace with the Palestinians controlling sectors of Jerusalem. There will be terrorism on both sides and Jerusalem will be a war zone. What gives one man the right to make such a decision without the support of the people ? Without the support of the people this is doomed to failure. It will cost many, many Jewish lives and the blood will be on Bibi and Barak's hands. Their names will become a curse word to many.
this is jerusalem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzoi6nczjng
what exactly does barak mean by a "special regime" and agreed upon arrangements." furthermore, will this "special regime" apply to the entire old city.
CJK: "what exactly does barak mean by a 'special regime'" Well, if this is a reheat of his 2000 Camp David brain-explosion then he means "controlled by Morocco". I kid you not, Cipora.
..giving the outcome BEFORE negotiations... AMAZING!!!
The outcome is all what was occupied in 1967. Nothing less
Poor Palestinians... they don't have such a duo, nor trio, not to speak, a solo........but on the contrary, a cacophony.
Ehud is truly a top negotiator if he already at the start surpasses former PM Olmert's offer and give Jerushalaim away. The Israeli voter should oust him from office before he can do irreparable harm.
seeing as he's the most decorated idf soldier ever.