|
|
Change Your Life! |
If peace talks fail; emphasize English, math |
|
|
News
|
||
August 25, 2000
JERUSALEM (AP) - In a clear warning to the Palestinians, Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Thursday he will not make peace at any price and that if negotiations fail, he will ask the hawkish opposition party Likud to join his opposition. Barak said it will become clear within a few weeks whether a peace treaty is possible. Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have accused each other of intransigence and have said they will not budge from positions adopted at July's Mideast summit at Camp David. In interviews on Israel's two main radio stations Thursday, Barak said he was aware that Likud leader Ariel Sharon could not join the coalition as long as peace talks continued. Likud is staunchly opposed to concessions Barak has offered Arafat, including Palestinian statehood in most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "I know that today they (the opposition parties) can't join, but maybe in a few weeks, they will be able to do so," Barak told Israel army radio, adding that he believed the peace talks had a 50-50 chance of success. Barak said that if peace talks fail, he would direct his attention to domestic problems. Earlier this week, he had announced a "social revolution," saying he planned to adopt a constitution within a year, pass civil marriage laws and make English and math mandatory subjects in all school. The prime minister said Thursday that the secular Likud would be a natural partner in carrying out such sweeping changes. Barak also noted that Sharon has already served as foreign minister and could be foreign minister again. "If it will not be possible to reach an agreement with our neighbors, the real way is to expand the government, to establish a very broad government," he told Israel radio. Barak's courting of the Likud came as Israel's acting foreign minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, met in Alexandria with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, to hear their proposals for a compromise with the Palestinians on the future of Jerusalem, the issue that led to the collapse of Camp David talks. Barak lost his parliamentary majority on the eve of the summit when three right-wing parties quit his coalition because they objected to concessions he was about to make to the Palestinians. However, the opposition has so far failed to muster the absolute majority in parliament that is needed to topple the government, 61 out of the 120 legislators. In the radio interviews Thursday, Barak also served a warning on Shas, one of the religious parties, which has up till now held the balance in parliament, that it is not indispensable. Shas was one of the parties which quit the government before Camp David. Shas voted against the peace process even when it was in the government. However, because it is the third largest party in parliament Barak always avoided offending Shas and tried to attract it back into the government. Back accused Shas leader Eli Ishai on Thursday of offering his low-income constituency slogans instead of genuine solutions to their economic problems. It was the first time he had ever attacked Shas in such blunt terms. Barak said if agreement with the Palestinians is achieved, he hopes parliament will allow him to submit the agreement to a referendum rather than rejecting it themselves. |
