Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, stated that he believes that United States will use its Veto power at the Security Council in order to prevent an international recognition of an independent Palestinian State this coming September.In an interview with France 24 agency, Barak said that he hopes that U.S. will be able to convince the Quartet Committee [United States, United Nations, Russia and the European Union] to block the declaration, yet hinted that it might not be possible to convince Russia to oppose the move.
The Israeli Prime Minister added that there is a %50 chance to resume Palestinian-Israeli peace talks before September, and added that Israel is weighing the French initiative for the resumption of peace talks, and all related initiatives as well.
Responding to a question regarding fully stopping settlement activities in the occupied territories, Barak said that “due to natural population growth, settlers need to build and construct kindergartens for their children”.
He claimed that the Palestinians “should not be concerned about Israel’s settlement constructions”, and explained “should peace talks lead Israel to evacuate from certain areas, the Palestinians will get the buildings”.
When Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the West Bank in 2005, the Israeli army demolished all buildings in the evacuated settlements order to prevent the Palestinians from living in them.
