Barak: Israel Must Reach Deal with US before Palestinians Do

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday that Israel must secure a deal with the Obama administration to pull the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, in order to keep the upper hand in the so-called Middle East peace process. The defense minister's remarks come a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented his cabinet with an American proposal for a new 90-day Israeli moratorium of settlement construction in the West Bank, in exchange for certain incentives from the U.S., including the purchase of 20 new warplanes. The proposal, which Netanyahu says has not yet been finalized, was met with opposition from many Likud ministers and Knesset members. "There are two options," Barak told Army Radio. "Either we reach understandings with the Americans to find a way to force the Palestinians to sit around the negotiating table, or the Palestinians and the Arab world will reach understanding with the Americans and it will be us eating frogs." "The fact that the Americans are willing to put guarantees on the table is a very serious achievement for the prime minister," Barak told Army Radio on Sunday, adding that the benefits of the American offer outweigh any internal political considerations. "We wanted 40 planes, but due to [defense] budget cuts, we could only afford 20, at a price of three billion shekels," Barak said. "The Americans are now offering to complete the deal in return for a 90-day freeze. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement they are offering us a deal six or seven times larger." Meanwhile, an unnamed diplomat told The Associated Press on Monday that Israel would be allowed to complete construction of hundreds of homes in occupied West Bank settlements under the new U.S.-proposed settlement moratorium. That original moratorium, which expired in September, did not apply to some 3,000 apartments already under construction. The diplomat says the new three-month slowdown, if approved, would also not apply to those homes. Barak dismissed Likud opposition to the deal as short-sighted. "Twenty planes are of incomparable importance to momentary smiles between Bibi and his Likud MKs," Barak told the radio, referring to the prime minister by his nickname.