Israel’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that there was “no chance” a Palestinian state would be established by 2012 — a message that threatened to cloud the latest visit by US President Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy.
The comments by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman drew swift Palestinian condemnations and could put Israel at odds with the international community, which has set a 2012 target for brokering a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
“As an optimist, I see no chance that a Palestinian state will be established by 2012,” Lieberman said at a news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “We can express interest, we can dream, but in reality, we are still far from reaching understandings and agreements on establishing an independent state by 2012.”
Russia, along with the US, EU and UN, make up the “Quartet” of Middle East negotiators — an international group that has spent nearly a decade trying to forge a peace agreement.
Later on Tuesday, Lavrov flew to Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said the talks with Aboul Gheit centered on Middle East peace talks and other regional issues.
White House envoy George Mitchell was set to mediate a fifth round of indirect talks between the sides starting yesterday. Mitchell is trying to prod Israel and the Palestinians into direct negotiations.
It wasn’t clear whether Lieberman was expressing his own opinion or government policy. A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to comment.
Lieberman is a contentious figure because of his support for redrawing Israel’s borders to push areas with heavy concentrations of Arabs out of Israel and into Palestinian jurisdiction. He also launched a failed effort in parliament to force Israeli Arabs to take a loyalty oath or lose their citizenship.
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ West Bank government accused Lieberman of defying international efforts to wrap up a deal.
“Lieberman is issuing a challenge to the international community, which is in agreement on the two-year ceiling,” Ghassan Khatib said.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called Lieberman’s comments “a severe slap to the Palestinians and the Arabs who believe in the mirage of a peace agreement.”
He said Hamas called on Abbas to stop pursuing peace with Israel.
Talks between Palestinians and Israelis resumed in May after a 17-month breakdown. The Palestinians have insisted on US mediation, saying they are frustrated by Israel’s refusal to declare a halt to all construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, lands they claim for a future state along with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
The aim is to shift gears to direct talks in late September, but much will depend on whether Israel agrees to extend a construction slowdown it has declared in the West Bank and a de facto moratorium in effect in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want for a future capital.
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