Word: barak
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Barak was no great hit with the public either. In small settings, he could be charming and light. But in crowds he bored audiences with stiff pontifications. Commentator Larry Derfner wrote in the Jerusalem Post that Barak came across as a "potato," an impression that stuck. When the candidate finally did blurt out something sexy, it was a gaffe: he said that if he'd been born Palestinian he probably would have joined a terrorist organization...
...Israel's leader, Barak's biggest liability may be his lack of empathy--that Clintonesque ability to connect with others. He can be famously detached, recalls Doron Cohen, his brother-in-law, who served under Barak in the Sayeret Matkal. The first time he sent Cohen off on a cross-border raid, Barak accompanied the infiltrators to the frontier, but, says Cohen, "Ehud wouldn't tell me one personal word. I understood this was business. There was no room for gestures." Yet when the forces returned safely, Barak rushed over to Cohen to hug him. "He's so targeted...
...will need to display that hidden side if Israelis are to unite behind a renewed peace process. Washington, eager for a foreign policy success before Clinton leaves office, especially against the grim backdrop of Kosovo, will urge the parties to speed toward new agreements. Barak wants agreements too, but on his terms. He has pledged to withdraw Israeli forces from south Lebanon within a year, but he rejects the notion of a unilateral pullout. He is ready to do a deal with Syria on returning the Golan Heights but hangs tough on demilitarization and full normalization of ties...
Unlike Netanyahu, Barak has said he has no objections to the creation of a Palestinian state. Still, he would impose limitations that are unacceptable to the Palestinians: annexing large chunks of the West Bank containing Jewish settlements; refusing to share Jerusalem. The Palestinians regard him dubiously. Senior officials recall that in the early days of peacemaking, he, unlike a number of other Israeli generals, declined to meet them. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who has met Barak three times, has complained that he is "just a cold fish...
That coolness is partly a reflection of Barak's unsentimental approach to peace. Rarely has he addressed the Palestinian people directly or acknowledged their rights and aspirations. Says a close aide: "It's not about granting the Palestinians justice but about promoting our own interests." Even for Rabin, the dry, old combatant who could hardly be accused of excessive emotion, the negotiations weren't just about that. While he acted principally out of Israel's interest, Rabin had concluded that the peace process was also a moral imperative. But he was at the end of a long career, confident...