Ex-foreign minister: Israel not a peace partner

[cali]

By MATTI FRIEDMAN – 1 hour ago

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's former chief peace negotiator said Thursday that a scathing rejection of recent negotiations by the country's new foreign minister shows the new government is not a partner for peace with the Palestinians.

In a speech delivered the day he took on his job as top diplomat, hard-line politician Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday that Israeli concessions would only bring more war and rejected peace talks with the Palestinians that the previous government began at a U.S.-sponsored conference in 2007.

That drew criticism from his predecessor, Tzipi Livni, who was the country's top negotiator in those talks and is now leader of the political opposition.

"What happened yesterday is that the Israeli government announced that Israel isn't relevant, isn't a partner," Livni told Army Radio.

She said hard-line parties have in the past avoided peace efforts with the "pathetic excuse" that there was no partner on the other side. "From today, Israel has announced that it is not a partner," she said.

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