Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the Defense Ministry's top officials were embarrassed Tuesday when only 35 mayors – out of 100 who were invited – showed up for a Rosh HaShana toast. The missing mayors purposely boycotted the meeting in protest of the government's decision to freeze construction in Judea.
Mayors from the Likud and mayors from Judea took a last-minute decision to avoid the toast, which was held at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.
Barak told the mayors who did show up that the subject of construction in Judea needed to be addressed “with sensitivity and sober judgment.”
"We need to also be able to reach moments of difficult decisions, that may well await us further down the road,” he said somewhat cryptically. “This should be done in an intelligent way without losing the common fabric that unites us all.”
"There is no room for confusion,” he added. “We have one piece of land and we are all brothers even in the most difficult disputes.”
Barak added that Israel is attempting to reach understandings with Washington over the communities in Judea. “We can and must progress in the diplomatic area, it is in our interest, it is not something we need to be forced into” he said.
The State of Israel has a “supreme interest” in the creation of a two-state solution, he explained. “We are acting responsibly so that we go with the process and not against it, and so that we ensure the fabric of life of our communities,” he added.