Barak says Palestinians not easy partners

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WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- The Palestinians are "not easy partners for peace," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.

Israel may have to "consider unilateral steps that would include demarcating a line within which Israel would keep settlement blocs and ensure a Jewish majority for generations to come," Ynetnews.com quoted Barak as saying Sunday at an American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington.

The only viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a "daring peace initiative for a two-state solution," he said..

"I know from personal experience that the Palestinians are not easy partners for peace," The Jerusalem Post quoted Barak as saying.

Zalman Shoval, former ambassador to the United States, who also visited Washington, said American foreign policy officials are more focused on Arab Spring uprisings and Iran than on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not even discussed at a symposium at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, he said.