Israeli settler foreign minister, Lieberman, rejects US demands on freezing illegal Israeli settlement activities

Lieberman restates rejection of settlement freeze

Date: 18 / 06 / 2009 Time: 20:59
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (who lives in an Israeli settlement built illegally on Palestinian lands) reiterated on Thursday his rejection of US calls for a total halt to expansion of illegal West Bank settlements.

"Everything has to be instilled on mutual trust, we aren't fooling anyone, we're not going to change the demographics in Judea and Samaria and change existing settlements - we will not have our own people strangled,” he said following a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, according to news reports.

"Everywhere people are born, people die, and we cannot accept a vision of stopping completely the settlements. We have to keep the natural growth," Lieberman was quoted as saying.

This remark came after Clinton had said that a total settlement freeze was an "important and essential" step toward Palestine-Israel peace, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Clinton also said that Israeli leaders have in the past shifted their stance on the issue, and expected the current government to evolve in the same way.

Ask about the apparent growing dispute between the US and Israel over settlements, Lieberman said, "There are many issues currently discussed by the United States and ourselves, at least 20 different points, and I think that we agree on 19 of those points."

"So we can disagree on one issue, since both sides want to reach an understanding on that as well. No one is interested in deepening controversy, both sides are interested to find an agreed-upon formula, and we will reach an understanding," he said.

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