Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to abide by all the previous peace agreements including the Road Map that requires the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.

"Our party, the Labor party, joined the government, among other reasons, because we agreed that this government will abide by all agreements made by previous governments. That's why we think we should clearly state that we commend President Obama's initiative, that we are committed to the Road Map and that we want two states for two peoples, all this without compromising our security concerns," Barak was quoted by the website of Jerusalem Post as addressing the students in the Knesset (parliament).

The defense minister said he hoped Netanyahu would accept US President Barack Obama's Middle East peace initiative.

As for Obama's latest speech to the Arab world in Cairo, Barak said "it was important because he still told them important things about our place here and about the need to abandon the path of violence and make peace."

After meeting with Obama's Mideast envoy George Mitchell on Tuesday, Barak said Israel should cooperate with the US president seeking for an all-inclusive regional accord.

Barak said that Obama's efforts to bring an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict was "an exceptional opportunity," and said it would be right for Israel to adequately consider its path and properly navigate inside this series of challenges and opportunities.

"It would not be right for Israel to get in the way of American efforts to form a Palestinian state according to the vision of two states for two peoples," he added.

Tension between Israeli and US government is increasing as Israel is reluctant to halt settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and to endorse the two-state solution.

In a landmark address to the Muslim world, Obama said that his administration sees no legitimacy in Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank and called for a total freeze of settlement expansion.

Yet the Israeli government has so far refused to follow the call, and is trying to convince the Obama administration of accepting unofficial understandings reached with the previous US government that Israel could retain certain major settlement blocs in any final-status deal with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu will deliver a major address on his diplomatic policy on Sunday in Bar Ilan University, in which he will present the principles for achieving peace and security.

(Xinhua News Agency June 11, 2009)