Israeli FM breaks ranks with Netanyahu over peace talks with Palestinians

United Nations, Sept.29 (ANI): Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has broken ranks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's peace strategy, telling the UN General Assembly that Israel should drop plans to negotiate a peace deal within the next year, and pursue a two-stage interim pact that could lead to decades of negotiations and the redrawing of Israel's borders to separate Arabs and Israelis.

The remarks, which triggered a walkout by the Palestinian delegation, prompted an immediate disavowal by Netanyahu's office.

Netanyahu has vowed to participate in U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that aim at leading to the creation of a Palestinian state within a year.

"The content of the foreign ministers speech at the United Nations was not coordinated with the prime minister. Prime Minister Netanyahu is the one who is managing the political negotiations of the state of Israel," according to a statement from Netanyahu's office

The split in the Israel government underscored the friction within Netanyahu's coalition government, which includes Liberman's ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu, over peace talks.

Netanyahu has vowed to seek a final settlement pact that would lead to the creation of a Palestinian state within a year.

The land-for-peace formula has been at the foundation of every major effort since the 1967 Arab Israeli war, with the Palestinians insisting that Israel relinquish control of all Arab land that was seized by Israel during the war. (ANI)