Lieberman urges coordination with Trump administration for renewed WB construction
Defense minister calls once again for the government to coordinate with incoming US administration to develop policy understandings; ‘We must conduct ourselves responsibly to forge relationship with the US that will enable development in the settlements.’
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman called for a second time in twenty-four hours to coordinate with the incoming US administration and to forge relationships that will allow for the renewal of construction in the West Bank.
“We have to wait and to conduct matters responsibly and to build a relationship with the US which will enable the development of settlements," he said before telling his audience that the overall results of the settlement enterprise were bleak. "When I look back four years and try to reflect on what has happened in the settlements, unfortunately the results are not good. They are very low,” he lamented.
“I ask myself why we didn’t succeed in developing the settlement enterprise as we wanted. The fundamental reason is simple: it is the failure to coordinate with the United States, the failure to create a coordinated policy with the American administration," Lieberman argued.
He also reiterated his belief which he stated Wednesday night that it would be both unwise and premature to make assumptions about President-elect Donald Trump’s Israel policies. “We need to wait for the new administration and to establish policies with them together. We have to make agreements with them. No one is in our pockets.” Moreover, he urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to undertake concerted efforts rather than humiliate the president, in what appeared to be an admission that he had done so to President Obama.
Asked for his thoughts on recent criticisms levelled by Bayit Yeudi Leader Naftali Bennett over the handling of construction in the West Bank, Lieberman responded, "What is the point of using code language if you don’t actually build anything."
“I am a pragmatic right winger and I will stay that way. I am not handing out grades to other people. We won’t be swept away by arcane language. I respect Bennett and I have a totally different viewpoint to him,” Lieberman added while speaking at the Conference of Local Authorities in Ashdod.
Responding to Lieberman’s comments shortly after, Beyit Yehudi issued a statement calling him “a relentless chatter box. He should concentrate on taking out (Deputy Hamas leader) Ismail Haniyeh instead of establishing Palestine on Route 6.”
Bennett was not the only right-wing politician to be dealt a series of insults by the Yisrael Beytenu leader. Turning his focus to Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), Lieberman said “if she didn’t attack me no one would know she exists. Every attack by her is a vindication of my actions.”
