Perilous
Times
Israel warns of 'harsh' consequences of Palestinian UN bid
Hardline Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned on
Wednesday there would be "harsh and grave consequences" if the
Palestinians persist with their plan to seek UN membership as a
state.
'What I can say with the greatest confidence is that from the
moment they pass a unilateral decision there will be harsh and
grave consequences,' Lieberman told an agricultural conference in
southern Israel Photo: REX
4:56PM BST 14 Sep 2011
The Telegraph UK
Speaking shortly before a meeting with EU foreign policy chief
Catherine Ashton, he did not elaborate on the possible
consequences.
"The moment has not yet come to give details of what will happen,"
he said.
In the past he has called for Israel to sever all relations with
the administration of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas should
it press on with its UN bid.
"What I can say with the greatest confidence is that from the
moment they pass a unilateral decision there will be harsh and
grave consequences," Lieberman told an agricultural conference in
southern Israel.
"I hope that we shall not come to those harsh and grave
consequences, and that common sense will prevail in all decisions
taken, in order to allow coexistence and progress with
negotiations," he added.
Some hardline Israeli ministers are calling for Israel to annex
chunks of the West Bank if the Palestinians go ahead, though
Israeli officials say they have not finalised their response to
the UN move as the Palestinians have yet to reveal its details.
"We're not saying what we'll do, a lot of our reaction is subject
to what the final resolution will say," a foreign ministry
official told AFP earlier this week on condition of anonymity.
Lieberman has accused the Palestinians of planning an
"unprecedented bloodbath" after the UN move, although they say
they will hold purely peaceful rallies.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak
earlier on Wednesday met Ashton in Jerusalem.
An EU statement said that Ashton would hold a second meeting with
Netanyahu on Wednesday evening.
It quoted Ashton as saying her mission was to ensure that the
Palestinians' UN bid would ultimately lead to renewed negotiations
with Israel.
"I met this morning with the Prime Minister and will stay longer
than I planned, at their request, so that we can talk again this
evening in order to try and further that objective," she said.
"I hope that in the coming days what we'll be able to achieve
together will be something that enables the negotiations to
start," the statement quoted her as saying.
Netanyahu's office did not immediately comment on the talks, while
a short statement from the defence ministry said only that Ashton
and Barak had discussed "relations with the Palestinians and the
situation in the region."
The EU foreign policy chief arrived from Cairo, where she met
Abbas and Arab League ministers who have been discussing
Palestinian preparations to request UN membership for a state of
Palestine.
Abbas is expected next week to present a membership request to UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who will pass it on to the 15-member
Security Council for examination.
So far, 127 countries have already recognised a Palestinian state
based on the lines that existed before the 1967 Six Day War,
including Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
The Israeli diplomatic strategy has been to seek support from
states it sees as wielding political and moral authority.
"What we were trying to look at is how we could at least get a
moral majority which would involve a large number of democratic
Western countries, without which (endorsement of the Palestinian
request) would lose a lot of its legitimacy," the foreign ministry
official said.
"It's not to say that we ignored the other countries, but we spent
more time with countries that aren't part of an automatic
Palestinian majority."
He said the 27-member European Union was key.
"You have countries ... that still haven't made a decision. It is
no coincidence that both sides have done a lot of work in Europe."
Israeli daily Haaretz reported this week that the foreign ministry
had instructed its envoys to use last weekend's attacks against
the Israeli embassy in Cairo as an argument against supporting the
Palestinian campaign.
"What we saw in Cairo demonstrates that despite (Abbas) and other
senior Palestinians' declarations that they are not planning a
violent confrontation, the violence could also come from the
street," the paper quoted from what it said was an internal
foreign ministry document.
The ministry would not confirm or deny the story.
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Tuesday
that Washington would "leave no stone unturned" in efforts to
deflect the Palestinians from the UN path and get them and the
Israelis back into negotiations.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was sending US envoys
David Hale and Dennis Ross to hold talks with Netanyahu and Abbas.
Hale is expected to meet Abbas in Ramallah on Wednesday evening.
Netanyahu's office declined to comment on his schedule.