JERUSALEM: Israel’s hardline Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned on Monday that negotiating the borders of a Palestinian state without security arrangements for Israel would be a "historic mistake."
"It would be a dramatic mistake, a historic mistake and strategic mistake to talk about borders before we complete the security discussions," Lieberman told Israel’s army radio.
Lieberman’s comments came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding talks in the United States about getting the stalled peace process back on track.
The Palestinians halted talks after Israel refused to renew a partial freeze on settlement construction that expired at the end of September, just weeks after the two sides embarked upon direct peace talks.
Diplomatic efforts to break the impasse have focused on several proposals, one of which suggested negotiators outline the borders of a future Palestinian state, thereby establishing areas where Israel could continue building.
The Palestinians want to build their future state on all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas which were captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, with minor territorial exchanges that would allow Israel to keep the larger blocs of settlements.
Lieberman, a fiery ultra-nationalist, frequently expresses his own views on the peace process that stand at odds with the official positions of Netanyahu.
US-led diplomatic efforts to unblock the process have been unfruitful, although the administration is expected to step up pressure on both sides in the wake of last week’s mid-term elections.
Netanyahu met on Sunday with Vice President Joe Biden in New Orleans where they are both attending a summit of Jewish organizations. On Monday, he was to travel to New York for a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
In early October, Arab League foreign ministers said they would give Washington a month’s grace period to break the impasse, but last week extended that until the end of the month.
