Annapolis Deal Was A Waste Of Time

Israel foreign minister rejects Annapolis deal

Israel's new foreign minister says Tel Aviv is not bound by the 2007 Annapolis deal to pursue the creation of a Palestinian state.

"There is only one document that binds us and it is not the Annapolis conference, it has no validity," ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman said at a handover ceremony at the foreign ministry a day after being sworn in by parliament.

"The Israeli government never ratified Annapolis, nor did the parliament," he added.

Lieberman's comments marked a sharp break with former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who had led the Israeli delegation to the Annapolis peace talks with the Palestinians.

A political source close to new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Reuters that Lieberman's remarks largely reflected the premier's position.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, an aide to acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmud Abbas, was quoted by AFP as saying that Lieberman was 'an obstacle to peace'.

"Nothing obliges us to deal with a racist person hostile to peace such as Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Lieberman," he added.

During the Annapolis conference, the then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to pursue 'the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine' in peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

However, his government failed to meet a 2008 end deadline for reaching a two-state agreement with the Palestinians.

Lieberman, meanwhile, said that Israel would instead pursue the 'Road Map' which is an international peace plan launched in 2003, under which Israel bound itself to the principle of a Palestinian state and vowed to freeze all settlement activity in the occupied territories.

Netanyahu, whose right-wing government was sworn in on Tuesday, said during his inauguration speech that Israel would continue peace talks with Palestinians but declined to express support for a two state solution.

Israel has also announced in recent months the construction of hundreds of new Jewish homes in al-Quds although both the Annapolis summit and the Road Map oblige Israel to stop settlement activities in East al-Quds and the West Bank.