Liberman ‘doubts’ Israel and Palestinians can reach peace deal

Ahead of another visit by US peace envoy Jason Greenblatt to the region, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman says he “doubts” a peace deal can be reached directly with the Palestinians.

Rather, he is recommending the US and Israel focus on normalizing ties with moderate Arab states “until there will be no choice for the Palestinians” but to reconcile with Israel as well.

A peace deal needs “a lot of goodwill,” he says at the start of the weekly Yisrael Beytenu faction meeting. He points to PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s condemnation of the killing of Palestinian attackers who had killed an Israeli police officer Hadas Malka by Damascus Gate in June and the recent decision by UNESCO to declare the Hebron Tomb of the Patriarchs an “endangered” site, at the Palestinians’ prodding.

“I ask, where is the goodwill?” he says.

“Let’s leave the bilateral route aside,” he says of peace efforts. He urges Israel to “invest all its effort” in normalizing with Arab state, leaving the Palestinians no choice but to follow suit.

Liberman also denies that Israel is negotiating with Hamas for the release of the bodies of two IDF soldiers. But he says unspecified efforts to return the bodies are “unceasing.”

“There is no breakthrough, period,” he says, disputing reports.

— Marissa Newman