Obama trying to force agreement on Israel

Lieberman: Israel must not be tempted to adopt US President Barack Obama's
suggestion to declare a two-month settlement construction moratorium, as it
may lead to a forced (peace) agreement with the Palestinians and a return to
the 1967 borders, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday.

During closed-door discussions with fellow members of his Yisrael Beiteinu
party, Lieberman said, "The pressure won’t work. We are not leaving the
coalition in order to bolster the majority in government, which is against
continuing the settlement construction moratorium."

According to the foreign minister, five, maybe even six Likud ministers -
Moshe Yaalon, Yossi Peled, Silvan Shalom, Yuli Edelstein and possibly Gilad
Erdan - would vote against Obama's proposal.

"During my recent visit to the US I learned that Washington is planning to
force a permanent agreement on Israel – two states for two peoples along the
1967 borders, plus-minus 3 or 4% of the territory exchanged," Lieberman
said. "This is the objective of a continued freeze – to give the US and the
international community two months to come up with a solution that will be
forced on Israel."

According to the FM, in two months' time "The US, along with the Quartet,
the Arab League and the Palestinians will tell Israel, 'This is the
solution, take it or leave it. If you don't, there is a price – a
confrontation with the international community'. Therefore, we must not quit
the coalition. It's the only way to solidify a majority against the freeze,
which is a decoy."
 Lieberman told the Yisrael Beiteinu members that President Shimon Peres
promised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he would get Shas spiritual
leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's approval for a two-month moratorium, but added
that Shas was being pressured by its supporters in the West Bank, mainly in
Beitar and Emanuel, "who are not willing to hear of another freeze."

The FM said Defense Minister Ehud Barak's support for another moratorium
stems from his fear that "in two months his friends from Labor will force
him to leave the coalition and lose his portfolio."

Lieberman said Netanyahu's fellow Likud members are also angry with him for
"not responding to what Barak is doing."
 The FM also spoke of his controversial speech before the UN General
Assembly. "Arthur J. Finkelstein told me not to deliver the speech, but I
decided otherwise. I decided that I had to speak from the heart, and tell
the world the truth as I see it."