Israel's new foreign minister angered Palestinians and raised the prospect of tension with Washington by saying today the government was not bound by a 2007 understanding on establishing a Palestinian state.
On his first day at the foreign ministry, right-winger Avigdor Lieberman said the US sponsored Annapolis declaration "has no validity", confirming a shift in stance toward the Palestinians under new prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr Lieberman, a Soviet immigrant denounced as a racist by many Arabs, also said, however, that Israel was obliged to follow the course charted by the US-backed peace "road map", a 2003 performance-based plan that made the creation of a Palestinian state contingent on the Palestinians reining in militants.
It also obliged Israel to freeze all settlement activity on Palestinian land. Netanyahu says settlements should be able to grow and that his priority in relations with the Palestinians is to improve their living standards in the occupied West Bank.
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Mr Lieberman's comments threatened regional stability and urged the United States to come out and make its opposition clear.
US president Barack Obama reaffirmed only last week his commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel to help end six decades of conflict in the Middle East.
A senior US official accompanying Obama on a visit to London said: "It remains our view that a two-state solution ... is in our interests and in the region's interests."
At a conference in November 2007 hosted at Annapolis in the US state of Maryland by Mr Obama's predecessor George W. Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to further "the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine" in negotiations with the Palestinians.
But Mr Lieberman said only Mr Bush's earlier road map, produced in 2003, was binding on Israel - a distinction in accord with Mr Netanyahu's expected emphasis on curbing violence before trying to conclude negotiations on statehood.
In the talks begun at Annapolis, Mr Olmert was effectively seeking to do both at once.
"There is only one document that binds us and that is not Annapolis, it has no validity," Mr Lieberman said in a brief speech as he took over the ministry from the centrist Tzipi Livni.
Noting that parties joining Netanyahu's coalition had agreed to honour Israel's existing foreign commitments, he added, however: "I voted against the road map ... but it is the only document approved by the government and it was ratified by the the (UN) Security Council ... as a binding document."
Mr Olmert, who resigned last year over corruption allegations, finally stepped down on Tuesday as Netanyahu was sworn in following an election on February 10th that produced a right-wing majority in parliament. Lieberman's ultranationalist party is the biggest ally of Netanyahu's Likud in the cabinet.
A political source close to Netanyahu said the remarks reflected the position of the new leader. He has not endorsed statehood for the Palestinians, in so many words. He has said instead he thinks they should govern themselves but have limited powers of authority that would not endanger Israeli security.
"There is no problem here," the political source said.
"He (Mr Lieberman) is distancing himself from the Annapolis label, as the government intends to do."
Israeli political analyst Eytan Gilboa of Bar-Ilan University said: "His purpose was simply to send a message that this is a new government and the policy of this government is going to be different ... It's a signal, a message. But the real meaning of itwill have to be explored in subsequent months."
Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, said Washington "should take a clear position against this policy before things get worse".
Mr Lieberman surprised some foreign ministry officials: "He said Annapolis goes down the drain and we're only committed to the 'road map'. So I guess that's the new path," one said.
After Mr Lieberman finished, Ms Livni, Israel's lead negotiator in the Annapolis process, leaned over and spoke to him privately.
"In spite of everything that you said, there will be a two-state solution," she told him, according to an Israeli official who was standing nearby.
At a ceremony earlier in the day, Israeli president Shimon Peres told the new prime minister that the world backed the Palestinian quest for statehood, a hint that Israel could face international isolation if it did not support that goal.
Reuters