Lieberman: "No good reason" to continue settlement freeze

Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday that there will be "no more unilateral gestures" toward the Palestinian government and that a comprehensive peace agreement is an "unattainable" goal, Israeli media reported.

There is "no good reason to continue the settlement freeze," Lieberman said in a ceremony of his party Yisrael Beitenu. "The Israeli government declared the freeze unilaterally, and all it got us was accusations from the Palestinians", dpa reported.

The Israeli government is due to decide before September 26 on the renewal of the current building freeze in the West Bank. The 10-month moratorium approved in November did not include public buildings, East Jerusalem and plans approved before the compromise was agreed.

The issue of the moratorium is a major hurdle in peace negotiations between the Israeli government and Palestinian leaders. Palestinian negotiators have threatened to break off the talks if Israeli construction projects in the occupied territory begin anew.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, who was visiting Libya, insisted again Sunday that "if the freeze period is not extended by the end of the month, there will be no (peace) negotiations."

Lieberman said Sunday: "We are willing to discuss anything, but there will be no more unilateral gestures. We will not agree to any settlement freeze - not for six months, not for three months, not for one minute."

At the start of the meeting Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he still sees no solution to the dispute over resuming settlement-building.

Although the Israeli government seems determined to respect the planned timing on the freeze, Netanyahu seeks to offer a different compromise to keep alive the peace process started Thursday in Washington.

Regarding the negotiations, Lieberman ruled out the possibility of finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "this generation". A peace agreement is an "unattainable goal" and will not arrive "next year and not in the next generation," he said.

"There is nothing we can do about it - no historical compromise and no painful concession," Lieberman concluded.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat had warned before that if the negotiations do not lead to the creation of a Palestinian state, it would mean the victory of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, where the Islamist militant movement rules.

"We hope to achieve a Palestinian state. If that does not happen, it will signal the end of the Palestinian Authority and the victory of the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip," Erekat said. "If we do reach an agreement - it will lead to the disappearance of Hamas."