Lieberman: US demand to halt settlements is unacceptable and "unreasonable"

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman expressed his absolute rejection of the US demand to halt settlement construction in East Jerusalem, describing the US demand as “unreasonable.”

Israeli radio quoted Lieberman as saying that he is confident about the success of the efforts to persuade Washington to withdraw this demand, pointing at the same time to the importance of insisting on rejecting this US stance.

Another minister in the Israeli cabinet also stressed that US pressure on Israel “will definitely bring about the opposite to the declared objective. It will bring about a hardening in the policy of the Arabs and of the Palestinian Authority.”

The Likud minister Benny Begin described the US administration’s efforts to impose a peace settlement on the Palestinian and Israeli sides as an absurd idea.