Fears for peace process as Israel's new govt takes over

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel’s new government has started off business on a hawkish note, with remarks by its top diplomat sparking fears Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might bury troubled peace talks.
But even as Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman casts doubts on the future of relations with the Palestinians and Syria.
A day after being criticised for saying Israel was not bound by a US-backed agreement to restart talks with the Palestinians, Lieberman rejected any withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for peace with neighbour Syria.
“There is no cabinet resolution regarding negotiations with Syria, and we have already said that we will not agree to withdraw from the Golan Heights,” Lieberman told the Haaretz daily. The Golan is a strategic plateau that Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981. Damascus wants it back as part of any peace treaty.
Lieberman had already sparked furious reactions from Palestinians already worried about a cabinet led by Netanyahu, who opposes giving them a state.
“This minister is an obstacle to peace. He will cause harm to Israel first,” Yasser Abed Rabbo, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, told AFP.
“Nothing obliges us to deal with a racist person hostile to peace such as Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Lieberman,” he added. Tzipi Livni, from whom Lieberman took over the foreign ministry, said that with his statements “Israel in effect announced that it was no longer a partner” in the peace process and called on Netanyahu to distance himself from the comments.