Ehud Barak said Israel knows that U.N. investigators will not be able to penetrate Hamas' "terrorist operations" to interrogate those responsible for launching thousands of rockets into Israel and get an "unbiased conclusion." The rocket launches led to the three-week offensive earlier this year.

"And knowing the procedures by which such operations are taken, I don't think Israel has to - or will - cooperate with this interrogation," he said. Barak's comments to reporters after meeting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday came as the 15-member investigation team from the U.N. Human Rights Council, led by veteran war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone, arrived in Gaza City.

Barak acknowledged that Goldstone "personally has a lot of respect all around the world." He said he and Ban discussed Mideast issues as well as North Korea's nuclear test and the Pakistani military offensive in the Swat Valley. He expressed Israel's intention to support international efforts to help move the peace process in the region forward, he said.

Barack said Israel also expects the U.N. and world community to "exert all influence" to accelerate talks to obtain the release of Sgt. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas-linked Palestinian militants in a 2006 cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip.

Barak is scheduled to fly to Washington on Tuesday for talks with U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, and other senior officials in President Barack Obama's administration. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sending Barak to Washington in hopes of winning approval to allow at least limited construction to continue in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, apparently in exchange for removing outposts. Netanyahu on Monday rejected the U.S. demand for a settlement freeze as unreasonable, but the Obama administration has so far signaled it is not willing to budge. Barak was asked Monday whether Israel would freeze settlements to preserve its relationship with the United States, and to comment on attacks Monday by Jewish settlers against Palestinian after the Israeli government's removal of several tiny settler squatter camps. "Probably towards the end of my (Washington) visit, I will be better equipped to answer your question," he said. Netanyahu has refused to agree to negotiate the creation of a Palestinian state, which the U.S. wants. When the Israeli prime minister went to the White House last month, Obama urged him to grasp the "historic opportunity" to make peace with the Palestinians.

Barak was asked to state clearly whether Israel supports a two-state solution in which Israel and the Palestinians would live side-by-side in peace. The previous government agreed to in the road map to Mideast peace unveiled by the U.N., the U.S., the European Union and Russia in 2003.