RAMALLAH: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman yesterday bluntly told US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell that a different approach was needed to resolve the Middle East conflict.
Lieberman told Mitchell — who came here to press Israel to accept a two-state solution — that “new ideas” must be found, because the traditional approach to the peace process taken by previous governments has proven futile and “has not brought any results or solutions,” despite the fact that Israel made dramatic concessions.
The minister cited the July 2007 war in Lebanon, the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Qatar and Mauritania scrapping diplomatic ties with the Jewish state and the fact that Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is still in Hamas captivity as proof of the diplomatic process reaching a dead end.
In his comments to the press, Lieberman made no mention of a Palestinian state, an issue that could put Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-leaning government on a collision course with US President Barack Obama. Mitchell was equally firm. He told Lieberman that the US remains committed to a two-state solution. “I reiterated to the foreign minister that US policy favors, with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a two-state solution which will have a Palestinian state living in peace alongside the Jewish state of Israel,” the US diplomat said after meeting with Lieberman.
Reacting to Lieberman’s statement, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said it means Israel will not conduct peace talks. “It’s very obvious that this government rejects a two-state solution and the agreements (already) signed,” he said.
Mitchell later met with Netanyahu who has yet to unveil his policy on peace efforts but has spoken of shifting the emphasis to stimulating the Palestinian economy instead of supporting the process accepted by the US and Israel up to now — direct negotiations toward a full peace treaty between two states.
Officials in Netanyahu’s office said his message to Mitchell was that Israel would not risk the creation of another Hamas-controlled entity on its border. Netanyahu has warned that creation of a Palestinian state could place extremists next to Israel in the West Bank.
Also, the Palestinians would have to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, a step they have refused to take so far. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because no statement had been made.
To cap Mitchell’s failure, Israeli aircraft bombed a house in the Gaza Strip yesterday in the first strike on the Hamas-ruled enclave in more than a month, the army and witnesses said.
No casualties were reported in the strike in the Maghazi refugee camp in the center of the densely populated territory.
An Israeli Army spokesman confirmed it had carried out a raid. The raid came a day after Palestinians fired a rocket at southern Israel for the first time in 10 days, also causing no injuries.
— With input from agencies
