New Israel FM strikes hard line on peace talks

[Gasopol111]

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel is not bound by the 2007 relaunch of US-backed peace talks with the Palestinians, new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Wednesday, striking a hard line on his first day in office.

Lieberman's rejection of the agreement signed in Annapolis, Maryland signalled a hawkish new approach to the peace process that could put Israel at odds with the international community and main ally the United States.

The Palestinians fired back, warning that Lieberman was an obstacle to peace and urging the international community to pressure Israel into honouring its past commitments.

"There is only one document that binds us and it is not the Annapolis conference," Lieberman said at a handover ceremony at the foreign ministry a day after being sworn in by parliament.

"Only the roadmap. The Israeli government and the Knesset (parliament) never adopted Annapolis," he said.

"We will go exactly according to the roadmap," he said. "We will never agree to skip any of the stages -- and there are 48 of them -- and go straight to the last stage on negotiations on a permanent agreement."

The roadmap is an international peace plan launched in 2003 under which Israel bound itself to the principle of a Palestinian state.

The agreement signed in Annapolis, Maryland reaffirmed the roadmap and launched negotiations aimed at creating that state by the end of 2008.

Israel's new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not support the two-state solution, saying the Palestinian economy needs to improve first.

Lieberman's comments marked a sharp break with former foreign minister Tzipi Livni who had led the Israeli delegation to the talks, and drew fire from the Palestinians.

"This minister is an obstacle to peace. He will cause harm to Israel first," Yasser Abed Rabbo, an aide to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, told AFP.

"Nothing obliges us to deal with a racist person hostile to peace such as Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Lieberman," he added.

The row erupted hours after the hawkish Netanyahu began his second term as Israeli prime minister at the helm of a right-wing government.

The 59-year-old Netanyahu heads a coalition that includes his right-wing Likud, the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu, ultra-Orthodox Shas and two small religious factions as well as the centre-left Labour party.

In his inaugural address to the 120-seat parliament on Tuesday, Netanyahu said the biggest threat Israel faced was the possibility of "a radical regime armed with nuclear weapons" -- a clear reference to arch-foe Iran.

Netanyahu made no mention of a future Palestinian state, but offered the Palestinians "all the rights to govern themselves except those that can put in danger the security and existence of the state of Israel."

The Palestinians gave a cold reception to the new government, with president Mahmud Abbas saying that Netanyahu "does not believe in peace" and urging the international community to pile pressure on Israel.

"Benjamin Netanyahu never believed in a two-state solution or accepted signed agreements and does not want to stop settlement activity," Abbas told the official Palestinian news agency.

US President Barack Obama said he looked forward to working with Netanyahu on his concerns about Iran but also reiterated his desire to advance the peace process.

"The president said he looked forward to working closely with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government to address issues of mutual concern, including Iran and Arab-Israeli peace," the White House said.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon went further, saying that the Palestinians' promised state remained a key goal for the international community.

"The secretary general... looks forward to working with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the full range of peace and security issues in the region," UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said in a statement.

"This includes the resumption of the Middle East peace process, with the aim of achieving an independent and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace with a secure Israel, and a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace as envisaged in Security Council resolutions."

The Islamist Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip and endured a devastating Israeli offensive at the turn of the year, said it did not differentiate between Israeli governments but called the new ruling coalition "racist and extreme."





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