In a telephone call, Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Israel expected a more objective and constructive approach from the international community. Ban is to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton , Middle East Quartet representative Tony Blair and US Middle East envoy George Mitchell in Moscow on Friday to discuss the stalled Middle East peace process. Ban is also expected to travel to Israel on Saturday.
"We are getting the feeling that all of the effort and positive steps Israel has taken over the last year, including [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's] Bar-Ilan speech, the settlement freeze and the removal of checkpoints have been taken for granted by the international community," Lieberman was quoted by ‘Haaretz’ as telling Ban, adding: "There has been no encouragement or incentive toward Israel as a result of these steps, only additional pressure, complaints and demands.”
In a radio interview on Tuesday, Lieberman said any ban on Jewish building in east Jerusalem was unacceptable: “There can’t be a situation where only Jews are prohibited from building in Jerusalem, while Arabs are allowed to both build and buy.”
In New York,l Ban Ki-moon openly criticized Lieberman for releasing information about the telephone call to the media. "Normal diplomatic practice is that you agree in advance" on the release of information about such conversations to the media. Ban added that that the point of that practice was "to preserve confidentiality and diplomatic and political sensitivities."
Meanwhile, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Baroness Catherine Ashton, said in Cairo at the start of her tour of the Middle East that Israel was endangering the chances for talks with the Palestinians. She called all settlements beyond the 1967 Green Line “illegal”. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also strongly criticized Israel’s plan to build 1,600 new houses in east Jerusalem and said this was a “severe backlash” for the peace process.
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told a meeting of his Likud Party that construction in east Jerusalem would continue.
On Tuesday, Palestinians staged violent riots against the Israeli plans to build 1,600 new homes in Ramat Shlomo, an outskirt of Jerusalem. Dozens of masked youths pelted Israeli police with rocks and set tyres ablaze across east Jerusalem (see picture).
