WarSclerotic

‘Netanyahu, Obama to agree on extension of peace talks,’ Israel Hayom, February 16, 2014

(Extending the “peace process” well beyond the November 2014 U.S. congressional elections. What’s in it for PM Netanyahu? — DM)

Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) says one-year extension expected • Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders would be suicidal, Akunis says • Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman: Perhaps my tone has changed, but the essence is the same.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama are set to agree on a one-year extension of the peace talks, according to Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) | Photo credit: Avi Ohayon / GPO

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama are expected to agree on a one-year extension of the current Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations at their White House meeting in early March, Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) said at a cultural event in Ramat Gan on Saturday.

Speaking of the peace process, Akunis said: “There is no confrontation with the U.S., but there are certainly some fundamental differences of opinion. An Israeli withdrawal to the June 4, 1967, borders would be like a suicidal person jumping off the roof of the Azrieli Towers [a trio of Tel Aviv skyscrapers]. This was never Likud policy — and will never be.”

The possibility of a an extension of the peace negotiations was first reported in Israel Hayom two months ago.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius on Friday in Paris. Later that day, Israel’s Channel 2 aired an interview with Lieberman in which the Yisrael Beytenu leader said that Israel would not compromise on its opposition to the right of return for Palestinian refugees and its demand for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.

In the Channel 2 interview, Lieberman denied that he has undergone any sort of political metamorphosis.

“At my advanced age, perhaps my tone has changed somewhat,” Lieberman said. “I used to have more energy, when I was younger and more vigorous, but I think that the essence is the same essence.”

Lieberman recently publicly defended U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who was widely criticized in Israel for saying that Israel may face boycotts and further delegitimization if the current peace talks with the Palestinians fail.

“I’ve always had excellent relations with Kerry, even during the previous term when he was in the Senate,” Lieberman told Channel 2.

At a cultural event in Nes Ziona on Saturday, Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz talked about the peace talks with the Palestinians, saying that the “status quo can’t go on forever.”

“It’s just a matter of time before there will be a violent Palestinian ‘tsunami’ here, on a scale we have never seen before,” Mofaz said.

Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud) referred on Saturday to the uproar caused by European Parliament President Martin Schulz’s Knesset speech earlier in the week.

“What happened in the Knesset was a tragicomedy,” Steinitz said at a cultural event in Tel Aviv on Saturday. “[Schulz] slightly stumbled on the data and facts, but the response of the [Habayit Hayehudi] ministers and MKs who walked out was unfortunate and disproportionate, in my opinion.”

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