JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s defense minister told Benjamin Netanyahu that he must present his own peace initiative to the United States and the Arab world.
The initiative should be based on the Arab Peace Initiative, Ehud Barak said during a policy review meeting Sunday, according to reports.
The meeting, part of a series of policy meetings that will be held before the prime minister meets with President Obama in Washington in May, was attended by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and other top officials, including National Security Council head Uzi Arad and the Defense Ministry’s diplomatic-military bureau chief, Amos Gilad, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Barak reportedly has disagreed in private with Netanyahu’s requirement that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state before renewing peace talks, Ha’aretz reported.
