Prof. Paul Eidelberg
In May 1999, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, speaking at a memorial ceremony at Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem, said:
"Only one who does not understand the depth of the total soul-connection between the Jewish nation and Jerusalem, and only one who is totally estranged from the legacy of Jewish history, and from the Jewish vision and life-song, and to the faith and the hope of generations, could even begin to consider an Israeli concession on any part of Jerusalem. Only one who does not understand that Jerusalem is intertwined in the souls of our ancestors for 3,000 years, the focus of our national yearning, the secret of its strength and existence, could demand that we turn our backs on it. It will never come about! For it is a matter of our national existence, and we only have one Jerusalem."
Speaking as the head of the opposition Labor Party Ofrah in 1997, Mr. Barak
declared: "We have red lines: A united Jerusalem, under our sovereignty,
capital of Israel forever, period."
After the Wye Agreement, in late 1998, Barak responded to accusations by then-Prime Minister Netanyahu that Barak would give away 90% of Yesha. Barak told Arutz-7at the time, "Netanyahu signed an agreement to give away 40% of Yesha to Arafat, and the public now fears that he may even lead us to the 'worst of all' and give away everything. A government under my leadership will not give away 90%, and not 50%."
In September 2000, Prime Minister Barak (without cabinet approval) signed the
Sharm e-Sheikh Agreement in which he offered Yasser Arafat, among other things,
97% of Judea and Samaria, including eastern Jerusalem and shared sovereignty
over the Temple Mount!