INSTANT VIEW-Israel's Lieberman renounces 2007 understandings

Wed Apr 1, 2009 9:49am EDT

April 1 (Reuters) - New Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Wednesday that Israel was not bound by understandings on the creation of a Palestinian state reached at a U.S.-sponsored conference at Annapolis in November 2007.



PAUL SALEM, DIRECTOR, CARNEGIE INSTITUTE MIDDLE EAST CENTRE, BEIRUT:

"There is no doubt (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu has a big problem with the traditional peace process. In Washington, they're worried about that. But at the same time Netanyahu knows and (Labour leader and Defence Minister Ehud) Barak knows that they have to do something about the peace process."

"(Netanyahu) is aware that if Lieberman keeps pulling in the extreme right, he will be a pariah in Europe and not favoured in Washington.

"It's not a surprise that this right-wing government is starting off by casting negative aspersions on ... Annapolis. It's a way of wasting time. Netanyahu knows he's in a difficult position."



MOUIN RABBANI, MIDDLE EAST ANALYST, AMMAN:

"Netanyahu would have very much liked to fudge things. The problem with Lieberman as foreign minister is that he's going to continue to put Netanyahu on the spot."

He said Lieberman's statement underscored the dilemma facing the new Israeli government in dealing with the United States and other powers that want to see it commit to a two-state solution.



TAMIR SHEAFER, POLITICAL ANALYST, HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM:

"He is giving the Americans a slap in the face for sure."

"This points up some of the difficulties we can expect from this coalition. It is just the beginning of some great problems this government has in store, by including such disparate elements as Lieberman and the (left-wing) Labour Party."

"There is no doubt that from an international standpoint, of diplomacy, making this type of declaration wasn't the right thing to do."

(Reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Beirut and Adam Entous and Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem)



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