(Communicated by the Foreign Minister’s Press Advisor)
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Liberman met today (Sunday 11 November 2012) and last Friday with Israeli ambassadors to the European Union.
FM Liberman, the ambassadors and senior MFA staff members discussed the Israel response to the Palestinian intent to submit a bid to the General Assembly for non-state membership of the United Nations.
At the meeting, the ambassadors presented the positions of the countries in which they serve, and expressed their opinion regarding the desired response to the Palestinian initiative.
FM Liberman and the senior MFA staff members presented a comprehensive analysis of the
situation and instructed them on the desired actions to be taken in the countries in which they serve. FM Liberman will present the political position and the desired response to the Palestinian initiative in a meeting to be held with the prime minister at the decision-makers level.
FM Liberman told the ambassadors that during the four years that the present government has been in power, Israel approached the Palestinian Authority many times with the intent of renewing direct negotiations, but the Palestinians chose to avoid the issue and preferred to blame Israel for all their problems. FM Liberman stated that the Palestinians have no interest in returning to the negotiation table, and instead prefer to erode the Israeli position further and further.
FM Liberman added that the fact that the PA chairman has not condemned or even acknowledged the recently renewed Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza to southern Israel raises once again questions as to which sector of the Palestinian population Abu Mazen represents, if at all, what responsibility does he have for these attacks, and what intrinsic value will any arrangement with him have?