A member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet demanded Monday that he fire Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman for making disparaging remarks about the renewed peace process with the Palestinians, DPA reported.
Minority Affairs Minister Avishai Braverman, of the centre-left Labour Party, told Israel Army Radio that it was inconceivable that Lieberman, charged with presenting Israel's policies to the international community, should have no faith in the talks and even belittle it.
Lieberman, addressing activists from his nationalist Yisrael B'Teinu party on Sunday night, said peace with the Palestinians was unachievable and that Israel should instead go for a long-term interim agreement.
A peace agreement is an "unattainable goal" and it will not arrive "next year and not in the next generation," he said.
He said the 17 years since the start of the first Israeli- Palestinian peace process "should be enough time to realise what is and what is not possible."
On Monday, Lieberman told Israel Radio that he was nonetheless prepared to give the peace process a chance, but he was trying to be realistic.
"I am afraid of creating a situation with a lot of expectations that cannot be reached," he said.
Israel and the Palestinian renewed direct peace talks, after a nearly two-year hiatus, last week. The sides are due to meet next week to continue talks begun in Washington last Thursday.