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Barak Promises to Defend Israel's Vital Interests
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Friday morning, hours before the deadline for Israel and the Palestinians to end the bloody clashes expires, that he will do everything he can to protect the country's "vital interests."
Speaking while touring the southern Jerusalem suburb of Gilo with his wife, Barak said the Jewish state is facing a major test and it could only survive when all Israelis work together to defend vital interests, according to Israel Radio reports.
The neighborhood, which was annexed by Israel after the 1967 Mideast war and lays on the border with the Palestinian self-rule city of Bethlehem, had been attacked by Palestinian gunmen for several times in the past three weeks. One Israeli border police was seriously wounded on Tuesday and is still battling for his life in one of such attacks.
The residents called on Barak to take more measures to ensure their security. The prime minister promised that Israeli army would do "all that is necessary" to respond to such incidents in the future, according to the reports.
The left-wing Barak now is facing a critical challenge for his political survival after the violence with the Palestinians in the past three weeks, which killed more than 100 and wounded 3,000, had shattered the peace prospect, which the prime minister had promoted since he assumed office in July 1999.
His coalition, which now only controls one-third seats of the 120-member Knesset (Parliament), will face a series of no-confidence motions once the Knesset reconvened at the end of October after summer recess.
Barak is trying to invite as much as political forces to join his government before the reconvening of the parliament, but the time left for him may be not enough.
As a warning sign, a Gallup poll published Friday by Israel's Ma'ariv daily showed that if the elections were hold today, Ariel Sharon, hawkish leader of the major opposition party Likud, will easily defeated Barak with a margin of 41 percent to 31 percent.
It was the first time that Sharon defeated Barak in the polls, which in the past weeks already showed that a steady trend that Barak's popularity is sliding against that of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Friday's poll also demonstrated that if the elections were held today, Netanyahu will crush Barak with a even larger margin of 48 percent to 27 percent. Netanyahu, who was recently cleared in a criminal investigation, had not announced his running for the premiership.
However, the survey showed that despite the current violence with the Palestinians, 62 percent of Israelis still supported continuing the peace process with their Palestinian neighbors, while 33 percent were against and the rest had no opinion.
It further showed that the constituencies are not against Barak's peace targets, but against his methods to reach such an agreement.
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