Israel rebuffs Obama, no moving back to pre-1967 war borders

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated:

Israel's right wing government on Sunday refused to withdraw to the Jewish states' pre-1967 war borders.

Israel's right wing government on Sunday refused to withdraw to the Jewish states' pre-1967 war borders and even rebuffed US president Barack Obama's advice to dismantle settlements in the Palestinian land, linking it to a comprehensive peace plan.

Hardline foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman ruled out withdrawal saying that it will further endanger Israel.
 
"A return to the borders of '67 in today's circumstances, as they are pressuring us [to do], this is not peace, not security and it is not the end of the (Israel-Palestinian) conflict", Lieberman said before the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.
  
"The result will be the transfer of the conflict to inside the '67 borders," the hardliner Foreign minister said.
  
Israel's close ally, the US, has been pressurizing Jerusalem to take steps to dismantle illegal outposts in the West Bank in a gesture that could rekindle stalled peace process with the Palestinian Authority (PA).
  
However, despite mounting pressures from US president Barrack Obama, Lieberman insisted that any such gesture should be linked to a 'comprehensive programme' and not through 'piecemeal' efforts.
 
"The evacuation of outposts needs to be part of a sensitive, comprehensive programme and not piecemeal," the controversial anti-Arab leader said.