US on Lieberman remarks: Our policy unchanged

In response to FM's claim that peace unattainable 'even if Israel were to offer Tel Aviv as capital of Palestine,' State Department says will continue to work toward jumpstarting direct talks

Yitzhak Benhorin|Published: 12.28.10 , 12:10

WASHINGTON - The State Department said Monday that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's statement according to which a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians is unattainable has not affected the Obama administration's commitment to the Middle East peace process.

"I've seen the remarks," State Department spokesman Mark Toner was quoted as saying by AFP. "It doesn’t change our posture or our policy one bit."

Toner added that the US would "continue to work to bring both parties back into direct negotiations and to achieve a comprehensive settlement."

Addressing the recognition of a Palestinian state by a number of South American countries, the spokesman said the measure is detrimental to the efforts to jumpstart direct talks between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

Lieberman told a conference of ambassadors on Monday that "even if we were to offer Tel Aviv as the capital of Palestine and returned to the 1948 borders they would still find a reason not to sign a deal."

The FM said he believes Israel should aim for a long-term interim arrangement and postpone decisions of borders and refugees.

"We need to prepare Plan B, and I can say that it exists on the shelf. We are making last-minute modifications, and will be ready to use Plan B at any moment," he said. "The WikiLeaks era has proven that classic diplomacy doesn't help – the best diplomacy is to say things as is."