ON HIS first day in office, Israel’s controversial new foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman dropped a political bombshell, saying Israel was not bound by the Annapolis process and that Israeli concessions will not bring peace.
The Annapolis process, launched by former US president George Bush at a gathering in Maryland in November 2007, marked the start of more than a year of intensive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The negotiations ended without a dramatic breakthrough although, according to some Israeli officials, significant progress was made.
But Mr Lieberman, who is also head of the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu, noted that neither the previous government nor the Knesset parliament had ratified Annapolis.
He said Israel remains committed to an earlier peace plan, the road map, drawn up in 2002 by the quartet of Middle East peace mediators, the US, the EU, Russia and the United Nations, and endorsed by the Israeli government.
The road map stipulates a series of measures to be taken by both sides leading to the creation of a Palestinian state, starting with Palestinian actions to end violence.
Mr Lieberman, who was branded as racist during the recent election campaign for demanding Israeli Arabs undertake a loyalty oath, wasted no time in stamping his authority on his new position. In comments during yesterday’s handover ceremony at the foreign ministry in Jerusalem, Mr Lieberman said that uttering the word “peace” 20 times a day will not result in peace.
“Those who think that through concessions they will gain respect and peace are wrong,” the new minister said. “It’s the other way around; it will lead to more wars.”
Following Mr Lieberman’s speech, outgoing foreign minister Tzipi Livni, the leader of the centrist Kadima party which now heads the opposition, whispered in his ear: “I became convinced that I was wise not to join the government.”
Palestinians reacted angrily to Mr Lieberman’s comments. Yasser Abed Rabbo, an aide to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, called the foreign minister an obstacle to peace. “Nothing obliges us to deal with a racist person hostile to peace such as Lieberman,” he said. The Palestinian president’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Radeinah, described the new Israeli policy as a challenge to the international community, calling on the US to take a clear position before “things get worse”.
Israel’s new prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, who opposes a two-state solution, stressed in a speech to the Knesset on Tuesday that Israel does not seek to rule over the Palestinians and will pursue peace negations on three levels: economic, political and security.
“We will give the Palestinians all the rights to rule themselves,” he said, “except for those that endanger Israel”.
Speaking at the prime ministerial handover ceremony yesterday, President Shimon Peres reminded Mr Netanyahu of the importance of a two-state solution.
“While strengthening Israel you must also invest supreme efforts to promote peace on all fronts,” the president said.
“The country adopted the vision of two states for two peoples, as initiated by the US administration,” added Mr Peres.