Caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday he is ready to sacrifice Israel's highest office for the cause of peace.
"Even if it costs me my chair as prime minister, I will continue on the same path as there is no alternative but to move forward. It is impossible to go backward," Barak told a gathering of soldiers.
"We are putting forth all efforts with Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami and others to put an end to the violence, to terrorism and to ascertain that it is possible to restart negotiations with the Palestinians," he said.
Barak said Israel did not want "to reach peace at any price, but we hope to reach it so as not to pay the price of a larger war."
"Those who want to impose arrangements through violence will never succeed," he warned.
Barak, his political standing blighted by weeks of deadly clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli army, resigned Tuesday in a bid to win a fresh mandate in elections -- JERUSALEM (AFP)
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