Israel's Barak says he won't duck Jerusalem issue

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday shrugged off Israeli critics of his talks with Palestinians, insisting a real peacemaker had to try to crack the difficult issue of Jerusalem.

"Peace in which there is no discussion of Jerusalem is the peace of ostriches in which you stand with your head in the sand," Barak told Israel Radio.

"I am a big believer in the peace of the brave ... I don't believe in the peace of ostriches," said Barak, who faces a battle for political survival when parliament reconvenes in six weeks after a long recess.

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In a separate interview, right-winger Ariel Sharon, leader of the main opposition Likud party, said Barak's policies were not bringing peace.

"He is ready to give up on nearly everything without getting a thing in return and more seriously without bringing about the end of the conflict," Sharon told the radio.

Barak in July became the first Israeli prime minister to consider sharing sovereignty with Palestinians over parts of Arab East Jerusalem when he met Palestinian President Yasser Arafat during the inconclusive Camp David summit.

Coalition partners abandoned Barak over his peace moves, costing him his majority in parliament, but the Israeli leader confidently predicts widespread support for any peace deal he puts to a promised nationwide referendum.

Jerusalem is the main sticking point in talks to end 52 years of conflict. The sides are at odds over sovereignty at the ancient Jewish Temple Mount, known to Moslems as the Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary.

U.S. President Bill Clinton hopes to crown his eight-year presidency with an Israeli-Palestinian treaty, despite his failure to close a deal at Camp David in July and in New York this month.

Israel and the Palestinians said on Monday that peace talks were going nowhere fast despite two days of low-level talks to forge a deal before U.S. voters elect a new president in November.

In an apparent signal to Arafat that his patience is running out, Barak has begun turning his attention to a domestic social agenda built on weakening Jewish religious control of aspects of Israeli life.

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