(Haaretz).Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday that he had deliberately chosen to avoid taking part in the debate over West Bank settlement, as his own residence in a settlement would pose a conflict of interest.
"As far as I am concerned, there is a conflict of interest when someone who lives in a settlement, in an isolate town that is not even counted among the settlements, takes part in the issue," he said.
"I would not want to be accused of this when I have made it a calculated choice not to engage in negotiations on the issue with the Americans," he said. U.S.-Israeli relations are "more important than the will of a foreign minister," Lieberman said.
"There is no alternative to our relationship with the U.S., but we will never give up our red lines," he added.
