Barak speaks against 'unilateralism'

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, speaking ahead of a meeting with U.S. President Obama, expressed opposition to a unilaterally created Palestinian state.

Speaking at the Union for Reform Judaism's biennial conference outside Washington Thursday, Barak said while he supports the creation of a democratic Palestinian nation, Israel would abide by it "if the raison d'etre of that Palestinian state is to continue the conflict, and to deny our basic national rights," Haaretz reported.

"I believe that an agreement -- based on [Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's] Bar Ilan and Knesset speeches, President Obama's two speeches from May of this year and the Clinton parameters -- can still be achieved, and thus, saving us the alternatives which are much much worse," Barak said.

Israel, he vowed, would "not accept unilateralism."

Barak said while Israel's final borders in a negotiated agreement with Palestinian leaders would "require major painful concessions," he would "stand rock solid against any attempt to curb freedoms or undermine our democracy."

"I will not allow politicized, targeted legislation to undermine the value of the supremacy of the law," Barak said. "The only Jewish democratic state in the world must remain exactly that: a Jewish and democratic state!"