Elul 11, 5770, 21 August 10 10:44, by David Lev
(Israelnationalnews.com) The United States on Friday announced that direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority would resume at the beginning of September. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that she invited Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and PA chief Mahmoud Abbas “to relaunch direction negotiations to resolve all final status issues, which we believe can be completed within one year.” The talks will kick off with a peace summit, which Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah will also attend.
World leaders praised the renewed talks, with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon saying in a statement Saturday that “we should all be aware that this is an opportunity that must not be wasted.” EU leaders made similar statements, with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle that “it's now up to the two parties to look ahead and have the courage to find solutions for all the key open questions.”
However, problems arose immediately after the announcement. Talks on the major issues are supposed to proceed on September 2nd, after the invited leaders get together for the summit a day earlier. Reports Saturday night said that there was not yet any agreement on the specific issues that would be discussed after the initial summit, where the working talks would take place, or at what level. In addition, PA officials saying that they would not participate in the talks if the building freeze in Judea and Samaria was not extended, while the Netanyahu government has pledged numerous times not to extend the freeze when it expires in late September. Speaking Friday, Clinton said that “without a doubt we will hit more obstacles. The enemies of peace will keep trying to defeat us and to derail these talks.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu welcomed the inception of talks, with a statement by his office saying that “the prime minister has been calling for direct negotiations for the past year and a half. He was pleased with the American clarification that the talks would be without preconditions.” Hamas denounced the talks immediately, saying its representatives would not attend, even if they were invited. “The Palestinian people will not feel bound by the results of this misleading invitation,” a Hamas spokesperson said.
Reaction was mixed on the right in Israel on the renewal of talks. MK Ofer Akunis, head of the Likud's response team, said that the American announcement was “a great victory for Israel. It took a year and a half to convince the international community and the Palestinians that direct talks is the only way to achieve a settlement. This is further evidence that when you stand up for your principles, you achieve diplomatic results.”
MK Danny Danon (Likud) said that the announcement was a positive one, assuming that Israel stated its positions clearly - “peace with the Palestinians, but without a separate Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria with its capital in Jerusalem, a Palestinian recognition of our rights in the Land of Israel, and no right of return. The Prime Minister must clarify to President Obama that Israel will not participate in diplomatic games that raise false hopes, based on positions that are against the will of the Israeli public.”
On Saturday night, Yesha Council head Danny Dayan said that “since the U.S. has stated that all the core issues will be discussed, Israel must inform the administration that it will not discuss dividing Jerusalem, removal of settlements, a return to the 1967 border, or the return of refugees.”
www.IsraelNationalNews.com
Lieberman: I expressed the facts and public opinion
By REBECCA ANNA STOIL AND JPOST.COM STAFF, 28/09/2010
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that the Palestinians are not interested in peace and the time has come for Israel to stop blaming itself for failing to achieve peace.
Lieberman made the comments during an interview with Channel 2 news while defending comments he made earlier at the UN General Assembly.
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Netanyahu: Lieberman's speech not coordinated with me
In his speech before the General Assembly, Lieberman told international leaders that he believed that Israel must arrive at an interim agreement with the Palestinians, that peace would only be possible after a number of decades, and that an ultimate agreement would require population and territorial exchanges.
The foreign minister said during the Channel 2 interview that at the UN he talked about the facts and expressed the opinions of "the majority of the Israeli public" on the issue of peace negotiations.
He said that everyone wants peace and "maybe the time has come to change the direction of negotiations."
"Peace needs to come naturally, its like a premature birth - if it comes to early then it can be dangerous," Lieberman said.
Prime Minister Netanyahu's office distanced itself almost immediately from the remarks by informing the media that his speech had not been coordinated with Netanyahu.
Despite Netanyahu’s speedy disassociation from the controversial statements made by Lieberman, Kadima jumped to the bit, accusing the prime minister of failing to maintain a united coalition on issues of foreign policy.
“The “A” Prime Minister Netanyahu talks about a final agreement and two states, Prime Minister “B” Lieberman speaks about an interim agreement and population exchange, while Prime Minister “C” Yishai does not believe in an agreement,” mocked MK Yoel Hasson (Kadima). “The Netanyahu government speaks with a number of voices and it seems as though Prime Minister Netanyahu represents only his own perspective. This shows Netanyahu’s weakness, as he is unable to advance his stance among his ministers and his coalition partners. This is a government without a head, without a leader, and without a direction.”
MK Nahman Shai (Kadima) echoed Hasson’s statements, saying that “the Prime Minister needs to decide if he is running a country or conducting a choir. The foreign minister’s statements are in complete opposition to the declared policies of the government, both regarding the connection between the Iranian problem and the peace process, as well as in his reference to the process as a gesture to the world community rather than as a vital Israeli interest.”
MK Majalee Whbee (Kadima) took his criticism a step further, blasting not simply Lieberman’s comments, but also describing Netanyahu’s response as “flaccid”, saying that it was an “additional proof that Netanyahu prefers coalitional peace over regional peace.”
Kadima was not the only party in the coalition to take the opportunity to attack Lieberman’s statements. “It is known that he who places the mission of peace on the next generation strives for war and not for peace,” complained Meretz Faction Chairman MK Ilan Gilon.
Gilon said that Israel must reach a holistic solution with the Palestinians, but that Lieberman is trying to do harm to any future agreement, leaving Israel as a policy of eternal warfare. “It is clear that the fundamentalist forces are the enemy of democracy, and they must be addressed through a strategic alliance with Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, alongside an agreement with the Palestinians while strengthening the Palestinian Authority against its enemies at home.”
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