Mofaz: No talks on core issues while coalition is on verge of collapse

With Ehud Olmert's government on the verge of being replaced, it would be wrong to reach agreements with the Palestinians on the core issues of the conflict, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz said Tuesday.

Mofaz, one of four candidates running in Kadima's upcoming primary to replace Olmert as party head, made the comment shortly before departing on a working visit to the United States - where Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni are currently also on working visits.

"At this time of change in the government, we must not reach agreements on the core issues in negotiations with the Palestinians," Mofaz said. "Anything that is decided now is very problematic, because it is happening before the change in the government and against the background of instability on the Palestinian side."

The comment was essentially a warning to Livni - who is running the negotiations while also running in the Kadima primary - not to make any firm commitments to the Palestinians before the primary, which is slated to take place in September. It was also aimed at the Bush administration, which reportedly wants to prepare a document summarizing what the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams have agreed on to date.

Mofaz also criticized the way both Livni and Olmert have handled the talks. Declaring that he would personally run the negotiations if he became prime minister, he said: "Under me, there would be unity in [the talks'] management, not division, as there is now. My involvement in the negotiations would be substantial."

Mofaz added that he opposes discussing core issues such as Jerusalem at all, because "everyone who discusses the core issues in the negotiations fails."

Instead, he said, the two sides should begin with confidence-building measures and measures aimed at reviving the Palestinian economy. In addition, he said, Israel must create "realistic" expectations.

Mofaz also criticized the cease-fire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, saying "we did not create deterrence, and we did not bring back [kidnapped soldier] Gilad Shalit."

All of his remarks were apparently aimed in part at the rightist parties - Shas, Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu - with which he hopes to form a coalition should he win the Kadima primary.

Likud, however, announced yesterday that it would not join any Kadima-led government before elections to the Knesset are held.