Friday
Oct092009
Israel FM Lieberman: Distance from US, No Agreement with Palestine
Friday, October 9, 2009 at 9:04
Israel-Palestine: Sacrificing the Goldstone Report to the War of Politics
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Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has reached boiling point. After the leak of a secret memorandum calling for a radical refocus of Israeli foreign policy toward the developing world, he said on Thursday that "it was not the right time to have a final peace agreement with Palestinians".
Lieberman's five-page memorandum is calling for a move from "lone dependence" on Washington, even if there is no replacement for Israel's special relationship with the United States) to broader and closer ties with other world powers.
Doing this, Israel will expand ties with "neglected" parts of the world and create a "zero-tolerance" policy for anti-Semitic expression. But here's the immediate significance: Israel will also lower international expectations of a breakthrough in negotiations with the Palestinians
For the time being, this is the only official "response" from Washington, coming when tState Department Spokesman Ian Kelly was asked about Lieberman's statement on Israel Radio:
QUESTION: Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman.
MR. KELLY: Foreign Minister.
QUESTION: He made this [statement] through Israeli radio – TV?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. No, I haven’t seen that. And we certainly see some urgency in moving beyond our facilitation of getting these talks started, to actually getting them started. And I know that Senator Mitchell, Special Envoy Mitchell is in the region. He met today with President Peres and with Foreign Minister Lieberman. And he’s also meeting, I think, now with Defense Minister Barak. He plans to see Prime Minister Netanyahu tomorrow, as well as Prime Minister Abbas tomorrow.
Receive our latest updates by email or RSS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has reached boiling point. After the leak of a secret memorandum calling for a radical refocus of Israeli foreign policy toward the developing world, he said on Thursday that "it was not the right time to have a final peace agreement with Palestinians".Lieberman's five-page memorandum is calling for a move from "lone dependence" on Washington, even if there is no replacement for Israel's special relationship with the United States) to broader and closer ties with other world powers.
Doing this, Israel will expand ties with "neglected" parts of the world and create a "zero-tolerance" policy for anti-Semitic expression. But here's the immediate significance: Israel will also lower international expectations of a breakthrough in negotiations with the Palestinians
For the time being, this is the only official "response" from Washington, coming when tState Department Spokesman Ian Kelly was asked about Lieberman's statement on Israel Radio:
QUESTION: Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman.
MR. KELLY: Foreign Minister.
QUESTION: He made this [statement] through Israeli radio – TV?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. No, I haven’t seen that. And we certainly see some urgency in moving beyond our facilitation of getting these talks started, to actually getting them started. And I know that Senator Mitchell, Special Envoy Mitchell is in the region. He met today with President Peres and with Foreign Minister Lieberman. And he’s also meeting, I think, now with Defense Minister Barak. He plans to see Prime Minister Netanyahu tomorrow, as well as Prime Minister Abbas tomorrow.
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