Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman sat down yesterday for an in-depth interview with the Haaretz newspaper. During the course of that discussion, he talked about his commitment to moving the State of Israel towards peace as envisioned by the American-sponsored Road Map to a Permanent Two-State Solution, declared in 2003. Here is some of what he had to say:
[...] Speaking to Haaretz Thursday, Lieberman tried to tone down his rhetoric slightly. “I am committed to the road map of 2003 as approved by the Israeli cabinet,” he said, referring to the outline for achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace proposed by then-president Bush. “I voted against it, but it is a cabinet resolution and I am bound by it.”
He added that the new U.S. administration itself no longer talks about the Annapolis process. “I propose following the road map, phase by phase,” he said. “I recently went quite far with my remarks, even saying that I was willing to leave my home at the Nokdim settlement if there was a cabinet resolution on the issue, but we can’t give all this up for nothing, and there must be reciprocity.”
Lieberman stressed that he would endeavor to meet all Israeli obligations regarding the road map. “Unlike others, we will carry out everything that is in writing, and there will be no contradiction between what we say and what we mean, but we will stick to the phased nature of the road map. We will conduct talks with the PA, but we want to make sure their ‘checks’ don’t bounce. The Palestinians must first of all confront terror, take control of Gaza and demilitarize Hamas. Without these, it will be difficult to move forward.”
You can find the rest of his discussion on Haaretz, and the speech to the Foreign Ministry on the Ministry website.
