Speaking at the tenth annual Herzliya Conference at the Interdisciplinary Center, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned of the dangers of apartheid, should Israel refrain from withdrawing from Judea and Samaria to create a Palestinian State.

As long as west of the Jordan River there is only one political entity called Israel, it will not be Jewish or democratic, he explained.

The former Prime Minister was speaking in a panel entitled Prospects of Peace: the Israeli-Palestinian Track, together with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

“If we don’t give Arabs the vote it is apartheid and is not compatible with the Zionist dream. Giving the Arabs the vote would destroy Israel as a Jewish state,” Barak stated. Accordingly, he told a packed hall, the only solution must be an end to what he termed the occupation.

Speaking to Israel’s peace camp, Barak stressed that “peace is not a religion. It is only a means to achieve the goal of a prosperous and strong State of Israel.”

However, in an appeal to Israel’s religious community, the defense minister explained that while he feels that Jews have a “connection and a right” to Judea and Samaria,” it is necessary to withdraw because of the need to be “realistic” and to recognize “practical restraints.”

Accordingly, he said, the alternative to withdrawal is Israel becoming like “Bosnia and Belfast” or “being swept gradually into the reality of one state for two nations, which is the reality of South Africa in the past.”

Barak made reference to the Biblical account of G-d promising the entire land of Canaan to Abraham, saying that expectations of that promise must be modified to fit existing realities.

David Ha’Ivri, the Spokesman for Gershon Mesika, the head of the Samaria Regional Council, representing Israeli settlers, blasted Barak for his statements.

“The Jewish people are the indigenous people of the land of Israel. This area is the center of our culture, our heritage, and our biblical claim to the land. Through G-d’s grace these areas have returned to the control of the State of Israel,” he said.

The Samaria Regional Council called for the annexation of Judea and Samaria.

While Israeli voters overwhelmingly supported nationalist candidates in the last elections, repudiating Barak and his Labor Party, Barak said that he feels that there is a “clear silent majority in favor of peace.”

Barak said that such an attitude is less taken for granted on the Arab side, but that a real change has been made “under the surface,” calling Fayyad responsible for a change in Palestinian thinking that is practical and not ideological and not trading in the concept of victimhood.

Since his ascent to the premiership, anti-Semitic content and violent incitement have not been removed from the PA media.

The Palestinian prime minister was recently accused of paying the salaries of members of the banned Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist organization, in a report from the Center for Near East Policy Research, and he has been called “an obstacle to peace” by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom.

A major theme in Fayyad’s speech was the lack of confidence the Arab side has in Israeli intentions due to continued building in Judea and Samaria and continued Israeli incursions into Arab cities in the course of counter-terrorism operations. Fayyad called for an expansion of the areas where PA security forces are allowed to operate.

He emphatically expressed the PA’s “commitment to hold on and abide by obligations,” and said that when Palestinians get a sense that the Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria is being rolled back, then peace talks will have a chance to resume and be successfully concluded.

Fayyad said that the Palestine Liberation Organization recognized Israel’s right to exist in 1993 with the signing of the Oslo accords and did not receive Israeli recognition of the Palestinian right to a state in return.

The accords, while signed, were never ratified by the PLO, and the organization’s charter still calls for the elimination of the State of Israel.

“Palestinian statehood should be the outcome of this political process,” he said, adding that his people were “shouldering the responsibility of getting ready for statehood,” explaining that governments and governance were what gave people stability and security. “The Road Map has obligations on both sides and makes a great deal of sense…the emergence of sovereignty of a Palestinian state and an end to the Israeli occupation.” He pointed out, “It’s not about declaring a state; it’s about getting ready for one… The idea here is to do everything we possibly can to be ready for statehood by 2011.”

Israeli President Shimon Peres has compared Fayyad to David Ben-Gurion, the founder of the modern state of Israel.

During the conference, Fayyad called on Israel to lift its siege on Hamas-controlled Gaza, even as the terror organization and Palestinian Authority rival lambasted him for his participation in the conference. A Hamas spokesman said that “the cooperation between the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and Israel has risen to the level of Palestinian participation in the formation of the (Israeli) occupation policies.”