Israel

Israel Foreign Minister causes further controversy

Article published on the 2009-04-02 Latest update 2009-04-03 13:27 TU

Le chef du parti nationaliste Israël Beitenou, Avigdor Lieberman, a fait son entrée officielle lundi dans la coalition d'Ehud Olmert.
(Photo : AFP)

The new Israeli Foreign Minister said on Thursday that Israel will not withdraw from the disputed Golan Heights region to achieve peace with Syria. Avignor Lieberman told the Haaretz daily that “there is no cabinet resolution regarding negotiations with Syria, and we have already said that we will not agree to withdraw from the Golan Heights.”

The Golan Heights is an area of land that was annexed by Israel in 1981, and its return to Syria would be the first step to any peace agreement.  

The comments were made a day after Avigdor Lieberman caused controversy by refusing to recognise a pivotal Israel-Palestinian peace agreement forged in November 2007.

The Annapolis Agreement included commitments to an independent Palestinian state, but Lieberman says Israel will only recognise the ‘road map’ agreement, signed in 2003. The road map lays out steps towards the creation of two independent states, but does not go as far as Annapolis.

Egypt’s foreign ministry called Lieberman’s comments about Annapolis “regrettable” on Thursday.

Opposition leaders in Israel have been criticising Lieberman’s comments since he took up the foreign ministry position on Wednesday. Opher Pines-Paz of the Labour party told public radio that he was “a strategic threat to Israel.”