Monday, September 13, 2010

FM Lieberman to Meet Clinton on chance of talks; Lieberman to address the UNGA in NY

(Shlomo Cezana. Israel Hayom, via coteret).Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman will meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Over the past few weeks Lieberman has expressed pessimism about the prospects for success in reaching an agreement with the Palestinians. “The minister will voice his positions and the reasons behind them,” said a Lieberman confidante. In this context, a decision was made that, for the first time, the Foreign Minister will address the UN General Assembly in New York at the end of the month, where he will replace the Prime Minister, who is busy negotiating with the Palestinians.

(Yediot).Foreign Mnister Avigdor Lieberman cancelled a planned visit to Washington because of a personal request of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who wants to meet him in order to convince him to support peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Lieberman was supposed to participate in an international conference and had several scheduled meetings with senior administration officials, including US Vice President Joe Biden. A few days ago his office received a personal request from Hillary Clinton to schedule a meeting between them. Clinton, who will arrive in Jerusalem on Wednesday apparently wants to “embrace” Lieberman and convince him to support talks with the Palestinians.

Washington is concerned with Lieberman’s statement that peace with the Palestinians will not be achieved this year nor in the next generation. Its possible that one of the requests from Lieberman will be to decrease the frequency of statements that create a negative atmosphere for the talks. According to sources in the Foreign Ministry Clinton faces a difficult challenge: Lieberman is not expected to be convinced easily and he believes that the talks have no real chance.