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World Jewish News
Barak: There is no direct link between outposts and Iran
26.05.2009
"We need to remember to find a way of making clear to the Americans that there is no direct link between the illegal outposts and Iran," Defense Minister Ehud Barak told reporters during a press briefing Tuesday afternoon.
"It's not as if at the moment the last outpost is dismantled, for reasons of the rule of law and the country's authority over its citizens, the Iranians will abandon their nuclear ambitions," Barak said. "This is why these things need not be directly interdependent."
"Regarding the outposts," the defense minister said, "Israel is a law-abiding and life-affirming country and therefore must see that its citizens keep to the law. Our aspiration is to deal with the issue of illegal outposts out of understanding and dialogue with the residents, but if we do not reach an understanding with the settlers we will not avoid using reasonable force in order to implement the state's authority over its citizens and enforce the law quickly and effectively."
Earlier on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that the formula reportedly proposed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to US President Barack Obama's administration, according to which Israel would evacuate illegal outposts and in return enable natural growth in existing settlements was "utter nonsense."
Lieberman stressed the importance of formulating a comprehensive stance on the regional issues at hand before dealing with the "minutiae" of outpost evacuations.
Speaking to Army Radio, the foreign minister reiterated the need for a clear Israeli stance and called upon the current government to ratify the road map.
"What Israel needs is a comprehensive attitude," Lieberman said. "I have said many times that we should accept the road map and not the Annapolis accord."
Late Monday night Minister of Intelligence Agencies Dan Meridor set out for the United Kingdom in what is reportedly part of a government effort to secure American backing for settlement expansion in return for the dismantling of illegal outposts.
Meridor, accompanied by advisers, will meet with US officials in London to try and convince them that natural growth needs warranted continued construction around larger settlement blocs.
Earlier on Monday, Netanyahu indicated that he was moving toward Obama's linkage of West Bank construction to the Iranian threat, when he told the Likud faction that removing unauthorized outposts was necessary to persuade America to stop Iran.
Источник: JPost.com
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