Israel may take 'unilateral steps' to establish the borders of a Palestinian state

In a high profile speech that could mark a turning point after years of stalled talks, Ehud Barak became the most senior government official to signal that without progress soon, Israel could effectively go it alone.

"If it becomes apparent that [negotiation] is impossible, we need to think about interim agreements and even unilateral action," Mr Barak said in an address to the Institute for National Strategic Studies conference in Tel Aviv.

Government officials interpreted his comments as implying a strategy for partial withdrawal of Jewish settlers from the West Bank. That would amount to a de facto declaration of a new Israeli new border and may include those sections of the occupied territory most heavily populated by Israelis.

However the demarcation of borders in the so-called "two-state solution" has been one of the thorniest issues, along with the division of Jerusalem, the right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel and the composition of security forces in the new Palestinian nation.

Any such move would provoke fierce controversy and possibly a return to violence.

Mr Barak's comments drew a sharp response from Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, who said that talks with the Palestinians were the "only route" to peace.

"They have to get to the negotiating table and deal with very hard issues," she said. Direct peace talks have been on hold since September 2010.

In response to Mr Barak's mention of "unilateral action", Nabil Shaath, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said: "Israel cannot determine the borders [of a future Palestinian state]. It can withdraw from any part of our territory that it likes and of course no Palestinian will stand against that.

"But if they are really willing to abandon major areas of the West Bank, why don't they first just accept the lesser option of stopping building settlements so we can get back to negotiations?" Construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank has been a major obstacle to progress.

Mr Barak's speech reflected the surging confidence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who recently significantly expanded his ruling coalition to include the main opposition party Kadima and 94 out of 120 seats in the Knesset.

Though the prime minister still officially supports the two-state solution, Mr Barak's speech could be an indication that the government believes it can either push the Palestinians into a corner or bypass the stagnant peace process by imposing unilateral measures.

While several senior Israeli military figures speaking at the conference joined Mr Barak in championing the unilateral approach, it also has its critics in Israel who say even a withdrawal of all 531,000 Israeli settlers from the West Bank is by no means a guarantee of peace.

Israel's removal from the Gaza Strip in 2005 under Ariel Sharon led several years later to the rise to power of militant faction Hamas and years of tit for tat violence.

In a measure separate move Israel yesterday returned the bodies of 92 Palestinian militants, including several who had carried out bloody terror attacks within the Jewish state as far back as 1975.

A state reception for the bodies was attended in Ramallah by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president. Twelve coffins returned to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and were received with military honours, each receiving a 21-gun salute.

According to a statement from the Israeli government, the decision to return the remains, which had been buried in unnamed graves in a cemetery from 'enemy combatants' in the Jordan Valley, was intended as a humanitarian gesture to "help get the peace process back on track".