Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday proposed trading sections of Israel where its Arab citizens live for West Bank Jewish settlements as part of any peace deal.
The controversial comments were rejected by the Palestinians.
The proposal would leave many of Israel's 1 million Arab citizens under Palestinian control.
Lieberman told reporters after meeting Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg that the proposal was “my personal view, it's not the official position of our government.” Nevertheless, Lieberman said, Israel should change its approach to the Palestinians because he said despite all good will gestures from Israel “still there's a deadlock.” He repeated Monday that the basic guiding principle for peace talks “must be not land for peace but an exchange of territory and population to create two national states.” Trading land for peace has been the foundation on which years of peace talks with the Palestinians have been based.
Lieberman's visit follows the resumption earlier this month of direct talks with the Palestinians after nearly two years.
His talks with Czech leaders were expected to focus on Czech and EU foreign policies and the Middle East peace talks.
The Czech Republic is one of Israel's strongest allies in the European Union. The Czech government pushed for closer ties between the EU and Israel when it held the 27-nation bloc's rotating presidency last year.
Schwarzenberg voiced his support for Israel Monday.
“The Czech Republic was, is and will be an ally of Israel in international politics and Europe,” Schwarzenberg said.
“This is one of the key features of Czech foreign policy.”
