Foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman tells gathering of foreign diplomats gathered at Beit Hanassi for an Independence Day event on Tuesday, that J'lem is ready to immediately talk to the Palestinians but rejects Abbas's demand for a renewed building freeze or any other preconditions.
"We are ready to immediately renew the negotiations without preconditions."
"But there will no building freeze in Jerusalem or in [the West Bank], not for three months, not for three days and not even for three hours."
"The Palestinians wasted nine months, during which Israel froze settlement building in an unilateral gesture."
"They are only looking for excuses in order to prevent negotiations that would bring about an agreement. The Palestinians are suffering from an abundance of security, and are convinced that they enjoy the international community's certain support, where they believe they can attain more than would be on the table in negotiations with Israel."
Addressing the recent reconciliation agreement reached by rival Palestinian factions, he said that:
"the unity deal between Fatah and Hamas while Hamas favors a world without Jews, says more about Fatah than it does about Hamas, Israel has the right to cast doubt and wonder about the true intentions of Fatah."