Ehud Barak, the defense minister, said an Israeli peace initiative was the only way to secure the country.
Barak spoke to reporters Thursday after a short tour of the United States which included meetings with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and James Jones, the national security adviser, as will, as Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations general secretary.
“They want to see an Israel that takes its security seriously, but is ready to take risks to advance an assertive peace process,” he said.
An Israeli initiative was necessary “to prevent our descent into isolation. It is the only way to achieve real freedom to act when there are security events,” the defense minister said.
Barak, who heads the Israeli Labor Party in an otherwise right-wing coalition led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has in recent week pressed the coalition to take the initiative with a peace plan as a means of drawing the Palestinians into direct talks.
Among other issues, Barak and his interlocutors discussed allowing Palestinian Authority personnel to man crossings into the Gaza Strip.
The relatively moderate Palestinian Authority was driven out of Gaza in 2007 by Hamas, a terrorist group. The United States and other Western powers are seeking avenues to reintroduce the moderates into the strip.
