Israel needs reassurance that a future West Bank agreement will not turn out to be like the situation in Lebanon or Gaza, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview with Israel Radio on Monday.
"We need a more solid agreement on the part of the Security Council than those which were put in place after Israel withdrew fromLebanon, and after the Second Lebanon War," Barak said. The defense minister underlined that Israel expects the peace process with the Palestinians to finally resolve the longstanding regional conflict.
Barak's quotes followed what Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday, that the Palestinians and Israel have agreed on the principle of a land swap.
Prime Minister Binyanin Netanyahu also responded to Abbas's statement, saying that there had been no “back and forth” negotiation between the sides, and that Israel had received no Palestinian proposal on the issue.
The issue of the ratio of land Israel would give to the Palestinians in exchange for keeping settlement blocs has long been an issue of dispute, with the Palestinians demanding that the ratio be 1:1, and Israel offering less.