Liberman: Abbas is ‘illegitimate leader’ who doesn’t strive for peace

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Tuesday leveled harsh criticism of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, claiming the Palestinian leader does not represent his people, and has no intention of reaching a final peace agreement with Israel.

“There is no one to sign an agreement that would dramatically change reality,” Liberman said at at a conference hosted by the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

“What’s needed is strong leadership who enjoys support on the ground, but [Abbas] is not a legitimate leader,” he said.

The defense minister further charged that Israel previously offered Abbas “half of Jerusalem, the evacuation of the West Bank and to re-open talks regarding the issue of refugees.”

He continued: “And what answer did we get in the end? No.”

In his remarks, Liberman went on to say the international community’s “over-involvement” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was counterproductive to regional peace efforts.

“What I propose to everyone — to the Europeans, the Americans, the Russians — is first of all not to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Forget about it,” he said.

“Whoever wants to help solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should first forget it. The over-involvement of the world powers, especially Europe, is only disrupting. They don’t contribute anything to the problem’s solution, they only complicate things.”

Liberman’s speech at the INSS conference came hours after he announced that the government had approved the construction of approximately 2,500 homes in the West Bank.

That decision came two days after a Jerusalem planning committee approved the construction of 566 housing units in East Jerusalem, and on the heels of a phone conversation on Sunday between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, in which the two discussed their plans for the region.

Trump is viewed as being more favorable to Israeli settlement policies than Obama, and has repeatedly declared that he will move the US embassy to Jerusalem despite the city’s disputed status and strenuous opposition from Arab leaders.

Most of the housing units approved by Liberman and Netanyahu on Tuesday will be built in the main settlement blocs, mostly in the city of Ariel and in Givat Ze’ev, outside Jerusalem. Around 100 are to be located in the settlement of Beit El near the de facto Palestinian capital of Ramallah.

At the conference, Liberman denied the new settlement homes were a drastic change in policy due to Trump entering the White House.

“There’s nothing new in this. We always built, including under the Obama administration,” he said.

Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.