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Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman on a tour of a settlement (Flash90)
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| By Israel Insider staff October 28, 2007 |
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Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman on Saturday said that his party, a key player in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition, would not support a final status agreement with the Palestinians that did not include a transfer of Israeli Arab towns for Jewish settlements.
Ahead of the summit in Annapolis slated for November, Lieberman and Yisrael Beiteinu MK Israel Hasson prepared a document to present to Olmert on Sunday outlining the party's "red lines" that it will not cross.
Lieberman reiterated his party's stance that Israel must not discuss "core issues" with the Palestinian Authority until the PA has proven that they can carry out their commitment to fight terrorism. Otherwise, Lieberman said his party would quit Olmert's government, causing its collapse.
"As long as the Palestinians have not met their obligations to fight terror, it is wrong to move to the next stage and hold talks on the core issues," the statement read, according to Haaretz.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has himself said recently that his security forces cannot combat terrorism in Judea and Samaria on their own.
Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni have already said that there would be no discussion of the "core issues" -- Jerusalem, borders, and refugees -- at the upcoming conference.
In the statement, the Yisrael Beiteinu MKs rejected the construction of a "safe passage" between the West Bank and Gaza. "The state of Israel will not allow passage between Gaza and Judea and Samaria that transverses its sovereign territory," the Jerusalem Post quoted from statement. "This situation is congruent with the one that existed prior to June 4 1967."
Lieberman also rejected the idea of the Palestinians refugees' "right of return" to Israel which the PA leadership is demanding, at least symbolically. Even on the "humanitarian level," Lieberman says, "this issue is absolute and non-negotiable."
Meanwhile, despite mounting tension, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to distribute invitations to the summit when she returns to the region in November, according to the Post.
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