Ehud Barak Suggests Israel Should Outright Annex More Palestinian Land

The New York Times reports:

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday that Israel should consider imposing the borders of a future Palestinian state, becoming the most senior government official to suggest bypassing a stagnant peace process….

Though the Israeli government continues to call for negotiations toward a two-state solution, the drive for a one-sided approach also received a boost on Wednesday from the Institute for National Security Studies, a respected research center that is close to the military and security establishment.

Mr. Barak called for “an interim agreement, maybe even unilateral action,” during a conference sponsored by the institute here. Referring to fears that Jews will become a minority in their own state, he added, “Inaction is not a possibility.”

“Israel cannot afford stagnation,” Mr. Barak said. “It will be a difficult decision to make, but the time is running out.”

So Israel objects to the Palestinians “unilaterally” seeking international recognition of statehood at the U.N. in accordance with their right to self-determination and the fact that all of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is under international law “occupied Palestinian territory”. But it would be fine for Israel to unilaterally declare the annexation of major swaths of the West Bank where it has been for over four decades illegally constructing colonies.

The Times dishonestly tries to draw equivalence between the Palestinian move to the U.N. and Barak’s statement:

The Palestinian Authority has opposed any effort by Israel to decree the contours of its territory and abandon a negotiated settlement on a wide variety of issues, including the future of Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority, however, did take its own unilateral steps last fall, when it pursued United Nations recognition, something it is considering doing again. Israel has criticized such efforts for stepping outside the bounds of negotiations. The Obama administration has strongly opposed unilateral action by either side…

The suggestion that the U.S. has been “strongly opposed” to Israel’s unilateral actions, such as its illegal colonization, is a farce. The U.S. has long supported Israeli lawlessness, meaningless rhetoric to the contrary notwithstanding, and in fact, Obama has openly declared his support for Israel’s illegal annexation of East Jerusalem and stated in no uncertain terms that the U.S. would support Israeli annexation of major settlements.