MIDDLE EAST: Israel's FM Lieberman warns of Hamas take-over of West Bank if negotiations not resumed and warns Syria of consequences of war

Record ID: 751843

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Israel's FM Lieberman warns of Hamas take-over of West Bank if negotiations not resumed and warns Syria of consequences of war
  • Date: 5th February 2010
  • Summary: BAR ILAN UNIVERSITY, RAMAT GAN, ISRAEL (FEBRUARY 4, 2010) (REUTERS) ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN WALKING INTO CONFERENCE ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN, SAYING: "I want to say to (Palestinian Prime Minister) Salam Fayyad and to (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also known as) Abu Mazen: without direct and immediat
  • Embargoed: 20th February 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6EEZ7H7RPLQSJYYD4JR2Y6RTE
  • Story Text: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday (February 4) warned Palestinian Authority's leaders that unless they resume peace talks with Israel, they may lose control over the West Bank to Hamas as they did in the Gaza Strip in 2007.
    "I want to say to (Palestinian Prime Minister) Salam Fayyad and to (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also known as) Abu Mazen: without direct and immediate negotiations, not only will you not have a state in two years, you will lose your rule over Judea and Sameria (the West Bank), just as you did in Gaza," Lieberman said during a business conference in the Israeli university of Bar Ilan near Tel Aviv.
    "Understand, it is first and foremost in your interest to resume negotiations as fast as possible. It is not an Israeli interest and it is not a favour anyone is doing for Israel," he added.
    Lieberman also responded to Syria's accusation Israel was pushing for a war.
    On Wednesday (February 3) Syrian president Bashar al-Assad said that Israel was driving the region towards war. His foreign minister said Israel was acting like a thug.
    "I think our message to Assad must be clear: in the next war not only will you lose, you and your family will lose your position. You will not, nor will anyone from the Assad family, stay in power," Lieberman said.
    Lieberman, who heads the ultranationalist party "Yisrael Beytenu", is known for his fiery rhetoric and his latest remarks drew condemnation from the Israeli opposition benches.
    Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator and a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, rejected Lieberman's comments.
    "As Palestinians, we want to resume negotiations, we don't need to be threatened or intimidated by Lieberman or anyone else. We know that we are not doing the Israelis a favour but at the same time the Israelis are not doing us a favour by resuming peace negotiations. Once the Israeli government commits to its obligations emanating from the first phase of the Road Map, stopping settlement activities including natural growth, resuming negotiations where we left them in December 2008, we will have negotiations immediately," Erekat told Reuters Television in Ramallah.
    Alon Liel, a former senior Israeli diplomat protested Lieberman's comments by returning his diplomatic passport.
    "Lieberman's statement of this morning shocked me, it was a very aggressive statement leading to a regional escalation and this is a continuation to his national pride diplomacy that resulted also in the terrible incident with the Turkish ambassador," Liel told Reuters in Jerusalem, referring to a spat between Israel and Turkey which broke after Liberman's deputy publicly dressed down Ankara's ambassador over a Turkish television drama that portrayed Israeli diplomats as masterminds of a child abduction ring.
    Despite a spike in war talk in recent days, there have been no signs that military tensions have risen between Israel and Syria.
    Indirect negotiations between Syria and Israel, mediated by Turkey, broke down during the Israeli invasion of Gaza in December 2008.
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