WEST BANK: Palestinian FM reacts to Israel's Lieberman's comments at UN, meets FM of Malta

Record ID: 559896

  • Title: WEST BANK: Palestinian FM reacts to Israel's Lieberman's comments at UN, meets FM of Malta
  • Date: 21st June 2009
  • Summary: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (JUNE 20, 2009) (REUTERS) PALESTINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER RIYAD AL-MALKI MEETING WITH FOREIGN MINISTER OF MALTA, TONIO BORG, HANDSHAKE AL-MALKI AND BORG ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PALESTINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER RIYAD AL-MALKI SAYING: "With the continuation of the settlement activities, it will be impossible to create a viable, contiguous Palestinian state on the '67 borders. Nobody shares with Israeli Foreign Minister (Avigdor) Lieberman this view that the construction of settlement activities in occupied Palestinian territories has no connection to the peace process or has no influence to the achieving a peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis." JOURNALIST TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (English) FOREIGN MINISTER OF MALTA, TONIO BORG SAYING: "We again call for the freezing of the settlement-activity, something which has been called by the, upon by the United Nations as well, by the Annapolis process, so I mean all this question of settlements - there is not one single, dissident voice in Europe about the harm which these settlements are causing, and the problems which they cause to the peace process." SECURITY MAN VARIOUS OF NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 6th July 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA86SWOZGC5KACNMFIN3H3H6RA9
  • Story Text: Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki says settlement building jeopardises peace process, a day after Israel's Lieberman denies it was an obstacle for the resumption of talks. Maltese Foreign Minister Tonio Borg, on a visit to the West Bank, calls for a complete halt of Israeli settlement activity.
    Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki said on Saturday (June 20) that it would be impossible to create a viable Palestinian state with the continued existence and expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
    Al-Malki comments came a day after Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, on a U.N. visit, said he saw good prospects for reviving peace talks with the Palestinians and denied that the contentious issue of Jewish settlements was an obstacle.
    "With the continuation of the settlement activities, it will be impossible to create a viable, contiguous Palestinian State on the '67 borders. Nobody shares with Israeli Foreign Minister (Avigdor) Lieberman this view that the construction of settlement activities in occupied Palestinian territories has no connection to the peace process or has no influence to the achieving a peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis," Al-Malki said during a joint news conference with his Maltese counterpart Antonio Borg in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
    Lieberman had said that Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank were "not an obstacle to achieve peace", that there had been no peace in the pre-1967 period when no settlements existed and Israel had not won peace in Gaza by abandoning settlements there when it pulled out of the territory in 2005. He described the settlements issue as an "excuse for those that try to avoid any peace talks."
    Lieberman, who is a settler, is the founder of the Yisrael Beitenu (Our Home is Israel) Party, which draws support from Russian-speaking immigrants like himself. But his hard-line rhetoric has won a large following beyond that base.
    Borg, on a visit to the region, noted that Europe shared a consensus regarding the harm that settlements are causing the peace process.
    "We again call for the freezing of the settlement-activity, something which has been called by the, upon by the United Nations as well, by the Annapolis process, so I mean all this question of settlements - there is not one single, dissident voice in Europe about the harm which these settlements are causing, and the problems which they cause to the peace process," he said after meeting with Al-Malki.
    Half a million Jews live in settlement blocs built in the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem -- areas where, with the Gaza Strip, Palestinians want to establish a state.
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