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Barak: Palestinians Didn't Mind Settlement Construction During Past Peace Talks
(Ha'aretz) Shlomo Shamir - The Palestinians did not have a problem with Israel continuing settlement construction during past peace talks, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said following a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon on Thursday, saying that it was mutual mistrust, not settlement building, which was hindering the current round of direct negotiations. Barak said that, contrary to recent Palestinian claims, settlement building wasn't the real bone of contention between Israel and the PA. "We aren't building any new settlements," he said. "43 years of construction hardly covers 2% of the West Bank." Former Prime Minster "Olmert's government was engaged in profound talks with the Palestinians and [settlement] building then was double what it is today and that didn't seem to be an obstacle," Barak said, adding that when he was premier during negotiations with former PA chief Yasser Arafat, building was "four times what it is today."