Israel's Lieberman sees good peace talks prospects
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Friday he saw good prospects for reviving peace talks with the Palestinians and denied that the contentious issue of Jewish settlements was an obstacle.
His comments contrasted with Palestinian views that a speech Sunday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu undermined prospects for resuming talks, cut off by the Palestinians after Israel's New Year assault on Gaza.
"We think that we have today a good chance to start dialogue with the Palestinians," Lieberman told journalists after meeting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "What is important (is) to start talks without preconditions."
Lieberman said Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank were "not an obstacle to achieve peace." There had been no peace in the pre-1967 period when no settlements existed and Israel had not won peace in Gaza by abandoning settlements there when it pulled out of the territory in 2005, he said.
Lieberman, who is a settler, is the founder of the Yisrael Beitenu (Our Home is Israel) Party, which draws support from Russian-speaking immigrants like himself. But his hard-line rhetoric has won a large following beyond that base.
Palestinians were disappointed that Netanyahu's major policy speech made no commitment to halt settlement expansion in the West Bank. The Israeli leader did, however, accept the concept of a Palestinian state, albeit with major limitations.
At a meeting with Lieberman Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for a halt to the settlements.
But Lieberman Friday described the settlements issue as an "excuse for those that try to avoid any peace talks."
He said Israel agreed with the Obama administration on many points and had just one dispute -- on settlements. "I think it's very natural that, even with close friends, we have one disagreement, and I think even in this point we can formulate understandings, we can achieve understandings," he said.
"It's not a main issue in our region," Lieberman said, adding: "If I try to compare what happens now in Iran and what happens in Afghanistan and in Pakistan to the problem of the settlements, it's very clear what ... must be the priority of the international community."
