Barak: Don't tie outposts to Iran
Defense minister rejects notion that Israeli dismantling of outposts in West Bank will have positive effect on Iran nuclear standoff, tells High Court he will not order demolition of nine homes in settlement of Ofra despite ruling
"It's not as though the Iranians will abandon their nuclear aspirations the minute the last outpost is taken down," Barak said. However, he added, the outposts should be dismantled regardless of US pressure because they are illegal under Israeli law.
Barak said dialogue with the US on various issues would "take a while, and there will be ups and downs.
"Our relations with the United States are an anchor; coordination with the US, our strategic ties to it, and a mature approach to challenges are a necessary condition for Israel's foreign policy," Barak said.
He added that Iran posed a threat not only to Israel, but to a number of European and Muslim countries as well. "The nations of the free world, moderate countries in the region, and Israel see eye to eye on these threats," Barak said.
"We are not in the position to tell the Americans whether to hold a dialogue with Iran or not. We can only express our opinion that all talks should be limited by time and in the meantime prepare wide-ranging sanctions in the fields of finance and importation of distilling substances while the dialogue is taking place."
The defense minister said the option of a military strike on Iran was still on the table. "We mean what we say, and we suggest others behave as we do," he said.
New Ofra homes to stay put
Barak also told the High Court Tuesday he has decided to refrain from issuing demolition orders for nine houses that have been built in the West Bank settlement of Ofra.
A petition filed by the left-wing organizations Yesh Din and B'tselem claims the homes were built on Palestinian land. Barak responded that the homes were built within the settlement and therefore were not expanding it.
However the defense minister allowed that the organizations' claims were true for a number of other structures in Ofra.
"There is indeed a problem with the settlement in light of the fact that it does not have a delineation plan and we therefore cannot issue construction permits there," the Defense Ministry's reply to the court said.
It also stated that Barak had ordered all structures that were in violation of construction orders in the settlement torn down, and that so far Ofra had dismantled 24 such structures independently.
Aviad Glickman contributed to this report
