Barak: PA will be examined after Fatah congress

Speaking at the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Barak noted that Israel would insist on keeping the settlement blocs as part of any solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well a solution to the refugee issue outside the boundaries of the Jewish state.

"My suggestion is not to be too impressed by what will be said at the Fatah convention as part of the internal dialogue," he added. "We shouldn't ignore it and shouldn’t be too impressed. The real test will come after the convention – when a leadership is formed there and a proper amount of legitimacy, and then we will see what this leadership is willing to bring to the negotiation table."

"We ascribe great importance to the relations with the United States on all aspects – in the political, security and economic fields. We are holding an intimate dialogue on a variety of issues, in a bid to set President Obama's plan for a comprehensive regional agreement in motion."

'Lebanon will be responsible for escalation'

Barak reiterated the Israeli stance that Syria was helping terror organizations, despite its willingness to resume peace talks with Israel.

"Syria is helping Hezbolla arm as well. It sponsors the terror headquarters in Damascus, he said, but added that "making progress with Syria could also lead to positive results in terms of progress with Lebanon in the future."

Addressing Hezbollah's rearming, the defense minister clarified that as far as Israel was concerned, there was only one element responsible for what is taking place on Lebanese territory.

"We shall not accept an attempt to distinguish between the responsibility of the Hezbollah organization and the Lebanese government. A future escalation will be Lebanon's responsibility, as it is not implementing (Security Council) Resolution 1701 and additional decisions on disarming Hezbollah. Israel will see itself at liberty to act, with all it entails," Barak said.

The Iranian nuclear issue was also discussed during the meeting, and Barak said that Israel would not dictate to the Americans how to act on the issue. "But we do recommend setting a tight timetable," he said, "with milestones and an organizing cooרrdinated sanctions, in case the dialogue fails to yield the desired results."

The minister expressed his pessimism over the chance that negotiations would prompt Iran to abandon its nuclear aspirations.

"Past experience has taught us that such things have not succeeded. In my previous roles I have seen the past experience with Pakistan and North Korea, and the similarity between those cases is incredible and troubling. As far as Israel is concerned, we reiterate that all options are on the table, and recommend to our friends to do the same."

'IDF abuse affair serious'

As for the abuse affair in the Israel Defense Forces, Barak told Ynet after the meeting that he viewed the incident as extremely severe, but added that he believed it should be dealt with inside the army and not at the Knesset.

He added that these phenomena have been going on for years, as well as the attempts to eradicate them.

Asked to address the affair, the defense minister said that "the entire IDF is working to uproot and reduce such phenomena, at the chief of staff's order. All I am saying is that these are not things which have been generated in the past four years or 14 years.

"The incident itself is extremely severe. I know that the chief of staff and commanders are dealing with it as required," he added. Barak clarified, however, that he does not support the appointment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry to probe the incident.