Dubai: The Israeli government on Monday backed a bill that calls for a national referendum to be held before any withdrawal from occupied East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights, the justice ministry said.

This comes just one day after the Israeli Knesset passed a law that will force Palestinians in 1948 areas to swear their allegiance to Israel as a Jewish state — a move which Syrian President Bashar Al Assad yesterday called "fascist".

The latest developments cast a deep shadow over the latest direct talks initiative which the United States has been heavily pursuing over the past month.

Accords nullified

Speaking to Arab leaders over the weekend, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that Israel had effectively cancelled the Oslo accords, which formally launched the peace process in 1993, created the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and gave it autonomy over the West Bank and Gaza in the interim.

Saeb Erekat, Palestinian chief negotiator, told the media that Abbas went on to accuse Israel of having stripped the PNA of much of its limited powers in the Occupied Territories and of "intruding on a daily basis" into areas governed by the Palestinians.

"If Israel does not respect agreements or adhere to implementing them, then how can the PLO and the PNA adhere to them?" he asked.

Political analyst Shaker Shabat told Gulf News that "the Zionist state is built on racism. Accepting Israel as a Jewish state is not important to achieve peace, but it's [Israeli Premier Benjamin] Netanyahu's weapon to blame the failure of talks on the Palestinians."

The Palestinians yesterday rejected Netanyahu's demand for the recognition of Israel as a "Jewish state" in return for a possible halt to colony activities.

"This order has nothing to do with the peace process or with the obligations that Israel has not implemented. This is completely rejected," Erekat said.

The grim situation has left Abbas with few promising alternatives to cancelling the peace talks.

These include asking for the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders or an international mandate to govern the Palestinian territories.

"Abbas did not say he would resign or dissolve the Palestinian Authority," Erekat said, referring to far more drastic steps alluded to in the past.

— With inputs from Nasser Najjar

Leaked comments: Lieberman apologises

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Monday apologised to his Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos after comments in which he advised Europe to solve its own problems were leaked, Spanish diplomatic sources said.

Lieberman called Moratinos to discuss the comments he had made to the Spaniard and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner as they visited Israel over the weekend in a bid to reactivate the Middle East peace process, the sources said.

"Solve your own problems in Europe before you come to us with complaints. Maybe then I will be open to accepting your suggestions," the Israeli daily Haaretz quoted Lieberman as telling Moratinos and Kouchner at a dinner meeting with them on Sunday.

Lieberman said he did not expect the European Union to solve all of the world's problems, but expected it to at least take care of European issues like the Kosovo crisis and the Cyprus conflict, according to Haaretz.