According to an interview with Ehud Barak in today’s Wall Street Journal, Israel is looking to “upgrade” its defenses in light of the democratic movements sweeping the Middle East, and, as per usual, is wanting the US to foot the bill. The U.S. is already slated to give Israel $30 billion in military aid between 2009-2018.
From a Haaretz report on the interview, which also includes a mention of the “temporary state” Israel is preparing to offer the Palestinians:
While Israel did not face an immediate threat to its security, Barak told the WSJ, “The issue of qualitative military aid for Israel becomes more essential for us, and I believe also more essential for you [the U.S.].
“It might be wise to invest another $20 billion to upgrade the security of Israel for the next generation or so,” he said, adding: “A strong, responsible Israel can become a stabilizer in such a turbulent region.”
Barak also told the WSJ that Israel was likely to offer Palestinians a state within temporary, detailing for the first time an emerging Israeli plan for breaking the deadlocked peace negotiations.
Though the Palestinians repeatedly have rejected provisional statehood, Ehud Barak told The Wall Street Journal that Israel or the United States would have to give assurances that a full-fledged agreement on permanent statehood would follow.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to offer the Palestinians a state with temporary borders, he said. Only afterward, would the two sides would resolve key issues of the conflict, such as competing claims to Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees, Barak added.
No details of the plan were given.
With the popular protests shaking up the Mideast, Netanyahu is under fierce international pressure to prove he is serious about getting peacemaking moving again, especially after the U.S. vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s West Bank settlement construction last month.
In the past week, Israeli officials have said Netanyahu was considering a phased approach. Although that was widely interpreted to mean a temporary state, they would not say so explicitly. Barak was the first to publicly spell that out.
