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Israel's Lieberman off to Europe amid tensions
AFP - Monday, May 4
JERUSALEM (AFP) - - Israel's ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman leaves on Sunday on his first official trip abroad, aiming to reassure the Europeans amid rising tensions over the stalled peace process.
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The minister, who has triggered controversy over his virulently anti-Arab stance, will tell the Europeans to be patient while Israel's new right-leaning cabinet draws up its official policy on peacemaking, officials said.
"He will ask that the Europeans wait a bit until the government presents its new policy," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP.
Lieberman's five-day tour will take him to Rome, Paris, Prague -- which currently holds the rotating EU presidency -- and Berlin.
Immediately after taking office, Lieberman sparked criticism by saying the new cabinet was not bound by the previous government's decision at a US conference in November 2007 to revive negotiations with the Palestinians.
Tensions between Israel and the European Union have risen over the past few months, with the bloc's executive arm warning that ties would not be upgraded until the new cabinet recognised the principle of the two-state solution.
Hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far refused to publicly endorse the idea of a Palestinian state, a bedrock principle of international plans for the settlement of the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Netanyahu, whose government was sworn in on March 31, insists that the economy in the occupied West Bank be improved before discussion on other questions.
He is due to present his government's policy in a meeting with US President Barack Obama, expected to take place on May 18 in Washington.
In Italy, Lieberman will have talks with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
He will then meet his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner on Tuesday but a meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy has not been decided.
"I am not saying that it's a condition, but it would be favourable if Avigdor Lieberman in the very least adheres to the decisions taken by the international community," Claude Gueant, Sarkozy's chief of staff, told French radio.
Last week, Israel warned the EU to limit its criticism of Netanyahu's cabinet or risk losing a role in the peace process, which was revived in late 2007 but has been on ice since Israel's war on Gaza in December-January.
The warning was issued in phone conversations between the deputy director of the Israeli foreign ministry's European desk, Rafi Barak, and the ambassadors of Britain, France and Germany.
"Israel asks the European Union to keep a low profile and conduct a quiet dialogue... But if these declarations continue, Europe will not be able to have involvement in the peace process and both sides will lose," Barak was quoted as telling the ambassadors.
Israel also rapped the EU after its External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said a planned upgrade of relations would not be implemented until Netanyahu commits to the principle of a two-state solution.
Lieberman, leader of the far-right Yisrael Beitenu (Israel is Our Home) party, has been described as a "racist" by critics over his anti-Arab diatribes.
He has also lashed out at Iran, saying it is a key obstacle to resolving the Middle East conflict, and has come out against resuming indirect talks with Syria.
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