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Lieberman claims that Israel is ready to renew talks but not freeze settlements

February 20, 2014 at 3:33 pm

Israel’s right-wing Foreign Minister has expressed his government’s willingness to resume talks with the Palestinians “without preconditions”. Speaking to a gathering of foreign diplomats gathered to commemorate the Zionist state’s Independence Day, Avigdor Lieberman said, “We are ready for immediate talks without preconditions. However, there will be no new moratorium [on settlement construction] in Jerusalem or Judea and Samaria [the occupied West Bank]. Not for three months, not for three days and not even for three hours.”

Lieberman cast doubt on the Palestinians’ intentions and the purpose behind the insistence on such a freeze. He cited the temporary freeze when the Palestinian negotiators only returned to the talks in the final weeks of the ten-month period.


The Foreign Minister added that the reconciliation agreement signed between Fatah and Hamas raises a lot of questions in Tel Aviv. He noted that Hamas refuses to abide by the International Quartet’s conditions and continues to call for the destruction of Israel.