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Last update - 19:54 02/07/2009
Lieberman: Settlements issue blown out of proportion
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters
Tags: Israel news, Merkel 

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday responded to remarks made earlier by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said that Israel's construction in West Bank settlements jeopardized the two-state solution, and said that the world has blown the settlements issue entirely out of proportion.

"The situation in the West Bank and the cessation of settlement construction shouldn't top the international community's agenda," Lieberman said during a meeting with Druze leaders at the home of fellow party member MK Hamad Amar in Shfaram.

"North Korea fired three missiles today, despite the warnings and the sanctions, and the world is still occupying itself with Yitzhar and Migron," he said, referring to an outpost north of Jerusalem and a West Bank settlement.
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"We have to allow the residents of the West Bank to live normal lives," Lieberman went on to say. "We can't strangle them. We must explain our stance and refrain from strangling people."

Lieberman added that "we all saw the occurrences and the dramatic events in Iran. Does the attempt to lead a normal life in Judea and Samaria top that on the international community's priority list? We have to bring things back into proportion."

The foreign minister also criticized what he termed as the Israeli government's concession policy, saying "we are certainly a government that wants to advance toward a resolution of the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict, to come up with solutions, that isn't afraid to take responsibility. But taking responsibility doesn't mean that we always have to concede. We are always loved and applauded when we concede and concede. I'm not sure that these concessions lead to any kind of result."

Earlier Thursday, Merkel demanded that Israel halt construction in the West Bank settlements, saying it endangered efforts to achieve a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

"I think it is now important to get commitments from all sides and that includes the issue of settlement building," Merkel said in a speech to the Bundestag lower house of parliament.

"I am convinced that there must be a stop to this. Otherwise we will not come to the two-state solution that is urgently needed."

Merkel's remarks are in line with the positions of the European Union and the United States, but were unusually clear-cut for the German leader, who regularly cites her country's special obligation to Israel because of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were deliberately murdered.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said U.S.-backed peace talks with Israel cannot resume until all settlement activity has ceased on captured land the Palestinians want for a state.

Washington has also called for a total halt to settlement building in the West Bank, a demand that has opened the most serious rift in U.S.-Israeli relations in a decade.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday that Israel would consider a limited moratorium on new settlement construction, but said it should be part of a broader deal bringing Arab states into the peace process.

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      1.   Lieberman & Settlements 19:55  |  Bruria 02/07/09
      2.   No comparison between Korean shell & settlements 20:20  |  Esther 02/07/09
      3.   This guy would make it as a comedian, 20:21  |  Labhras 02/07/09
      4.   I wish it were so 20:30  |  Andrew 02/07/09
      5.   Blown out of proportion ? 20:31  |  Bazmann 02/07/09
      6.   Sarkozy is right - get rid of this man 20:33  |  Pierre LeBerre 02/07/09
      7.   Lieberman 20:43  |  Edifice 02/07/09
      8.   Lieberman: Is Blown Out of Proportion! 20:45  |  Ussishkin 02/07/09
      9.   Germany was a 2 state solution? 20:52  |  ben 02/07/09
      10.   Which residents are they must we allow to live and not strangle 20:52  |  meir gush etzion 02/07/09
      11.   The nightclub bouncer`s attempt to link North Korea 21:08  |  Chris Linthwaite 02/07/09
      12.   squatter leiberman is not the man to deal w/this issue 21:08  |  who then 02/07/09
      13.   A life as normal .. 21:09  |  un2here 02/07/09
      14.   normal lives? 21:09  |  avram 02/07/09
      15.   Stack our Knesset with settlers. Watch our problems disappear. 21:27  |  Chaim 02/07/09
      16.   Strangling a people??!! 21:29  |  Adam 02/07/09
      17.   There are people dying of starvation 21:43  |  binny 02/07/09
      18.   Oh just freeze all settlement activities NOW 21:46  |  Santana 02/07/09
      19.   Funny 21:48  |  Bert 02/07/09
      20.   T`would seem that the Great Powers can`t solve the . . . 22:15  |  Zev Davis 02/07/09
      21.   Is Avigdor Lieberman an Iranian plant? 22:22  |  Mark Lincoln 02/07/09
      22.   Lieberman has Chutzpah 22:31  |  Derek 02/07/09
      23.   To # 7 Is Avigdor Lieberman an Iranian plant? 22:31  |  FM 02/07/09
      24.   Lieberman: The best thing from Israel in years 22:39  |  Natallie Durson 02/07/09
      25.   Sure, let`s prioritize 22:43  |  Axel 02/07/09
      26.   Who is he kidding 22:43  |  Dave Duncan 02/07/09
      27.   Israeli settlements and North Korean missiles 22:53  |  Colin Wright 02/07/09
      28.   He is right, no proof Jewish W.Bank blocs stop "viable" PA state 22:57  |  Dr. L. Brnd 02/07/09
      29.   Israel pays a big price for every word Senor Liberman speaks 23:38  |  Ferdinand Embari 02/07/09
      30.   SETTLEMENTS Issue 00:10  |  Joshua Banu I 03/07/09
      31.   No Equation between SETTLEMENTS and other EVILS. 00:13  |  Emilia 03/07/09
      32.   Nicolas Sarcozy is very right. 00:17  |  Francois Xavier de N 03/07/09
      33.   Lieberman is a threat to US Security- Oust him NOW! 00:31  |  Jerry 03/07/09
      34.   It`s mindboggling that because of Lieberman things are at a halt 00:42  |  Smadar 03/07/09
      35.   but teacher, he was talking too: the adolescent evasion 00:44  |  Shelley 03/07/09
      36.   MK Lieberman - BRILLIANT!! 02:15  |  James a Gentile 03/07/09
      37.   Change Orwellian double speak to "LIEBER SPEAK" 03:33  |  jim the mechanic 03/07/09
      38.   Lieberman 03:50  |  Iain 03/07/09
      39.   What I Don`t Get 04:00  |  Jeff Northridge 03/07/09
      40.   Lieberman and Diplomacy = oxyMORON 05:08  |  Really? 03/07/09
      41.   The residents of the West Bank = PALESTINIANS 09:08  |  just facts 03/07/09
      42.   Man, that`s rich..... 11:00  |  Johnboy 03/07/09
      43.   Our President Nicolas Sarcozy 11:30  |  raymond 03/07/09
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