April 1st, 2009
Israel's new ultra-nationalist foreign minister has said it is not bound by a US-sponsored 2007 agreement to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians.
"The Annapolis conference, it has no validity," Avigdor Lieberman said.
He was speaking at a handover ceremony at the foreign ministry, prompting his predecessor Tzipi Livni to interrupt and diplomats to shift uncomfortably.
At Annapolis, each side agreed to further discussions aimed at creating an independent Palestinian state.
Palestinian officials described Mr Lieberman as an "obstacle to peace" whose policies would rebound negatively on Israel.
"Nothing obliges us to deal with a racist person hostile to peace such as Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Lieberman," Yasser Abed Rabbo said in comments to AFP news agency.
Correspondents say officials at the foreign ministry seemed taken aback at such a sudden and public repudiation of one of the main planks of Israeli diplomatic activity.
"There is one document that obligates us - and that's not the Annapolis conference, it has no validity," Mr Lieberman said.
The document he was referring to was the international peace plan known as the Road Map, signed in 2003, while "the Israeli government never ratified Annapolis, nor did parliament".
Source: BBC
