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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The borders between Israel and Palestine will be decided through negotiation with Palestinians, a high Israeli official told China.org.cn Monday.

At a press conference in Beijing, Rafael Barak, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the security needs of his country and its citizens are the top priority.

Israeli Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rafael Barak speaks at a press conference in Beijing, May 30, 2011. [Zhang Ming'ai/China.org.cn]

No Israeli government will put aside the issue of security in talks with Palestinians, he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama said, "the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps," in a speech delivered on May 19.

His remarks triggered an uproar in the Israeli government. One day later Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel "can't go back to the 1967 lines because these lines are indefensible."

The 1967 lines are the ceasefire lines, Barak said at his press conference. "The central part of Israel is only about 16km from the 1967 lines. To have a defensible border is something very important."

He said Israel's position is clear. "We are for a two-state solution. Israel and Palestine will live in peace and security side by side."

"Any attempt from our Palestinian neighbours to go around, to go to the United Nations, to have some kind of negotiations with some members of the international community will not bring an end to the conflict."

Despite the fact that Israeli-Palestinian talks have continued for more than 16 years without reaching an agreement, Barak called on Palestinians to return to the negotiation table. "This is the only way to sovle the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians," he said, "No unilateral declarations, no dictates, no resolutions will end the conflict," he said.

"Israel is a peace-seeking country," Barak said. "We'd like to have peace with all the countries in the world, and particularly with the countries in our region. We'd like to develop our bilateral relations with our neighbours the way we are developing ties with China."

He also commented on the Rafah border crossing. "We are in consultation with the Egyptians. We hope Egypt will take precautions to avoid that the Rafah border will become a border to be used to smuggle weapons to Hamas."

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