Manama: Israel's foreign minister on Sunday called for the country's borders to be redrawn to exclude some Arab citizens, raising the explosive proposal at a time when peace talks are already threatened by the prime minister's rigid stance on colonies.
Avigdor Lieberman also rejected the foundation on which years of negotiations with the Palestinians have been based — trading annexed land for peace.
The principle guiding peace talks "must not be land for peace, but an exchange of land and people", Lieberman was quoted as saying before the weekly cabinet meeting.
His solution is to redraw Israel's borders and transfer Arabs to Palestinian rule, while incorporating residents of Jewish colonies in the West Bank within Israel's borders. No one would be uprooted from their homes, he says.
Lieberman, who himself lives in a West Bank colony, defended his proposal, saying Palestinian leaders living in 1948 areas do not recognise Israel's right to exist.
Hussam Zomlot, a Palestinian spokesman, said Lieberman's comments were unhelpful to peace efforts.
Lieberman "holds the second-most important position in the Israeli government. Therefore we are extremely discouraged by his remarks," Zomlot was quoted as saying.
"He is looking for ways to complicate the Middle East conflict with confrontations against the Arab community," said Jafar Farah, Director of the Moussawa advocacy centre for the Arab-Palestinian minority in Israel.
If Israeli Jews can't coexist with that minority, he asked, then how can they live in peace with the region's 400 million Arabs?
Asked if Lieberman's position reflected the government's, Israeli spokesman Mark Regev noted that the different parties in Netanyahu's coalition "have different political outlooks".
Meanwhile, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to yield to growing international calls for Israel to extend a freeze on colony building in the West Bank.
Israel would not risk exposing its citizens to the type of attacks launched from the Gaza Strip since Israel's withdrawal in 2006, Israeli daily Haaretz reported Netanyahu as telling his cabinet colleagues.
"I stand firmly behind Israel's security needs, to prevent a repetition of the rocket fire on Israel's citizens from Gaza," he said.
Also on Sunday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton renewed a US call for the ban to be extended.
Do you think peace talks will collapse with Israel's refusal to continue the freeze on colony building? Should they act responsibly and reverse their decision? What else can keep the talks going?
