Israel Accepts Palestinian State Created Through Negotiations

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday that he was ready to accept the creation of a Palestinian state, provided it is born out of negotiations with Israel, not of violence.

Barak clarified the position in a letter he sent to leaders of foreign countries on Tuesday. His office released the letter on Wednesday.

"We (Israel and the Palestinians) are at a crucial crossroads, facing two distinct possibilities," Barak said in the letter.

"We could resume negotiations, which, based on the ideas discussed at Camp David, will lead to the creation of a viable Palestinian state," he added.

"Or we can succumb to the route of violence, and unilateral Palestinian action, which would lead to continuing instability in the region, a potential for threatening moderate neighboring countries and endangering regional stability and global interests," he said.

In the letter, Barak also explained Israel's positions on the ongoing clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protestors and urged the leaders of other countries to put pressure on the Palestinians to end the crisis.

This was the first time Barak briefed world leaders on the violence in the Palestinian territories in such a way, viewed as part of Israel's international campaign for reducing criticism over Israel's excessive use of force against the Palestinians.

Some 180 Palestinians have been killed and more than 5,000 others wounded by the Israeli forces in the nearly six weeks of clashes, which erupted on September 28 due to a provocative visit to an Islamic holy site in East Jerusalem by an Israeli rightwing politician.

Meanwhile, diplomats here believed that the Israeli move was also aimed at urging other countries not to support possible Palestinian unilateral declaration of an independent state.

The Palestinians have delayed statehood declaration for several times. The Palestinian Central Council, the mini-parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organization, decided last September again not to declare statehood as planned. It will meet by November 15 to consider the issue.



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