Deputy prime minister says land concessions do not advance peace process; James Jone´s recent comments are not based in reality.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak´s recent comments invite increased pressure on Israel Deputy Prime Minister Moshe "Boogie" Ya´alon said in an interview with Israel Radio Tuesday.

Ya´alon said that he was convinced that Barak is moving discussion between the Palestinians and Israelis back to territorial concessions, despite the fact that this tactic has not proven to advance the stalled peace process. He added that there is no inherent connection giving back land and receiving peace.

The deputy prime minister said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu does not need to include a land-swap component in his upcoming speech at the US, in order to return back to the post-Oslo situation in which Israel made offers and accepted nothing in return from the Palestinian camp.

Ya´alon also criticized former US National Security advisor James L. Jones´s recent speech at the Herziliya Conference where he said that instability in the Middle East was sourced in the Israel-Palestine conflict, saying his position was not based in reality. (© 1995 - 2011 The Jerusalem Post. 03/09/11)