Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday sharply criticized his successor, Ehud Barak, for proposing an "irresponsible" peace deal to Palestinians.
"I think it's an irresponsible offer both in its substance and in its timing," said Netanyahu, interviewed from Jerusalem by the US cable network Fox News.
Media have reported Israel may offer control of Temple Mount, or al-Aqsa, a site sacred to both Jews and Muslims in East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and 95 percent of the West Bank, to the Palestinians.
The offer, according to Netanyahu, "has no legitimacy. It will fail."
"This is a government that has no majority in our parliament ... it has no majority among the people. The prime minister himself resigned and now as a last-ditch effort right before elections, when he's trailing in the polls, he's trying to push through this irresponsible deal," Netanyahu said.
Even if Palestinians accept the offer, it "will not pass the Israeli public, which sees it as an effort to have peace at any price, and you know when you have peace at any price, you pay all the price and you don't get peace," Netanyahu said.
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators concluded five days of talks in Washington Saturday, and returned home to debate further talks and the possibility of a summit with President Bill Clinton before the end of his mandate on January 20.
Acting Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami called the talks "very encouraging" but both sides agreed that major gaps persisted -- WASHINGTON (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
