Lieberman: We should manage conflict with Palestinians

Israel must manage the conflict Palestinians and not solving it now, Israeli Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, warned yesterday.

Speaking at the annual conference of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, Lieberman said:  “All we can do is work on managing the conflict with the Palestinians,” stressing that “the only solution, for now, is to reach a more limited agreement.”

“A permanent peace deal is too ambitious right now,” he reiterated.

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The Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, Lieberman noted, “is not looking for an agreement; he is only looking to buy time and stall the peace process.”

“Ehud Olmert [former Israeli prime minister] has tried to reach an agreement with the PA, but Abbas has repeatedly refused,” the Israeli official added.

The Palestinian-Israeli negotiations had stopped in April 2014 after the Israeli authorities’ refusal to halt the settlement activities in the occupied territories and the release of the Palestinian detainees in the Israeli prisons.

Last month, the PA announced a suspension of its contacts with the United States administration after the US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.