Word: baraker
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...quite now or never, but certainly now-or-a-lot-later for Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat. President Clinton held talks with the Israeli leader in Portugal Thursday, hoping to jump-start the stalled Israeli-Palestinian track of the Middle East peace process. Both sides had previously committed themselves to concluding a final agreement by September, but that looks increasingly difficult as major differences remain unresolved: over how much of the West Bank Israel will cede to an eventual Palestinian state; over the status of East Jerusalem; over the future of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees that Israel...
...away from a confrontational scenario. "Senior Palestinian officials have indicated that Arafat will wait at least until the end of the year, to give Clinton time to broker a deal and to avoid creating a showdown that could become an issue in the U.S. presidential election," says Beyer. "Besides, Barak has also indicated that if Arafat takes unilateral action, he will do the same and simply annex East Jerusalem and those parts of the West Bank Israel wants to keep. That would set Israel and the Palestinians up for a violent showdown, which neither side can really afford." In which...
...Barak: No. I don't perceive leadership as a kind of gambling. There is a certain element of calculated risk. We are facing a lot of uncertainties, but my job is not to be paralyzed by the uncertainties, to try to play it in a way that will encourage the probability of good results...
...Barak: Maybe he will, but even if he will, we are in a better situation than before. I reduced significantly the legitimacy to shoot [at us] once we are within the borders of Israel. And I heightened a lot the freedom of maneuver for Israel to use the right of self-defense if someone dares to do it. Once we are within Israel, defending ourselves from within our borders, the Lebanese government and the Syrian government are responsible to make sure that no one will dare hit Israeli civilians or armed forces within Israel. Any violation of this might become...
...Barak: At a certain point the security zone ceased to be an asset militarily. It began to be a liability. We were in a vicious circle. When we had the upper hand, we said, "What's burning? Why leave?" When the Hezbollah had the upper hand, we said, "Oh, no, we will never sway under pressure." So I thought the only way to cut this Gordian knot is to set a target date [for withdrawal]. Once I set it, I said in advance, when it comes to the moment, Hezbollah will try to intensify their attacks in order to prove...