Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, of the fundamentalist Israel Our Home Party, stated that the Quartet Committee must act of setting a date for general and presidential elections in the Palestinian territories, “in order to replace Abbas, who became an obstacle to peace in the region”.Lieberman sent a letter in this regard to U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and E.U High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and U.N Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.
Lieberman said that the Palestinian elections were supposed to be held in 2010, and were repeatedly postponed.
He claimed that Israel conducted several confidence-building measures towards the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank “but instead of resuming peace talks, the P.A escalated its international activities that aim at isolating Israel”, according to Lieberman.
The Israeli Foreign Minister said that Abbas does not want peace, and is not interested in the political process with Tel Aviv, adding that Abbas is currently a weak president, especially due to the recent revolutions and political changes in the Arab world.
Lieberman heads Israel Our Home party that does not recognize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, mainly the Palestinian right to independence and statehood.
During his career as a member of the Israeli Knesset, Lieberman repeatedly said that the Arabs and Palestinians in the country are a “strategic threat”, and repeatedly called for exiling them to nearby Arab countries.
The Palestinian Authority had to quit direct peace talks with Tel Aviv due to its ongoing violations, invasions, and its ongoing illegal settlement construction and expansion activities in the occupied West Bank, including in and around occupied East Jerusalem.
It is worth mentioning that in 2006, the Palestinians held general elections and the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, garnered an overwhelming majority. Israel and the United States held a campaign to isolate and disable and isolate the newly elected leadership.
Israel also went on to kidnap the majority of the elected legislators, ministers, mayors and officials.
