WORLD NEWS

 JERUSALEM: Israel must recognize that the world will not put up with decades more of Israeli rule over the Palestinian people, the country's defense minister said in unusually frank remarks Monday.

Barak told Israel Radio on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has ``done things that didn't come naturally to it,'' like adopting the vision of two states for two peoples and curtailing settlement construction.

``But we also shouldn't delude ourselves,'' he added. ``The growing alienation between us and the United States is not good for the state of Israel.'' The way to narrow that gap is to embark on an Israeli diplomatic initiative ``that doesn't shy from dealing with all the coreissues'' dividing Israelis and Palestinians, he said.