BF2S Forums Conflict with Palestinians Greater Threat than Iranian Bomb

ISRAELI Defence Minister Ehud Barak says the conflict with Palestinians poses a greater threat to Israel than Iran's nuclear program - a significant departure from the view of his Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr Barak warned yesterday that unless Israel helped create a Palestinian state, it would end up losing its Jewish character or becoming undemocratic "and we will turn into an apartheid state".

His comments came as Mr Netanyahu visited Poland to attend an International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Auschwitz death camp, where he was expected to describe Iran's nuclear program as a modern threat equivalent to the Holocaust.

The major theme of Mr Netanyahu's speeches since becoming Prime Minister last March has been to list Iran's nuclear ambitions as the top threat to Israel.

In talks with US negotiators over recent months, he has listed Iran as a more urgent problem to resolve than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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But back in Israel, Mr Barak's strong comments suggested a frustration with the failure to restart peace talks. As Defence Minister, a former prime minister and one of Israel's most decorated soldiers, Mr Barak has high credibility in Israel.
"The lack of defined boundaries within Israel, and not an Iranian bomb, is the greatest threat to our future," he said.

In a speech at Bar Ilan University, he said Israel was the strongest country in the region "but time is not on our side".

"We have a paramount interest in establishing defined borders between ourselves and the Palestinians that will set the stage for two states for two peoples," he said.

"It must be understood that if between the Jordan and the (Mediterranean) sea there is only one political entity, called Israel, it will by necessity either not be Jewish or not democratic and we will turn into an apartheid state."