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Israel "Not Ready to Pay for the Pleasure of Talking with the Palestinians"
(Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israel's Russian-language radio on Tuesday: "We are ready for any negotiations - either direct or through mediators. But still, we believe that direct negotiations are the only real alternative for reaching an agreement. The refusal of direct negotiations would be indicative of the actual intentions of our counterparts. And again, why should we pay an additional price for the pleasure of negotiating with the Palestinians through a mediator? They're conditioning their willingness to talk through the Americans on a lot of requirements. I'm not ready to pay for the pleasure of talking with them." Q: What do you think about the latest statements of Salam Fayyad, who is actually threatening to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state? Lieberman: "Lots of agreements and obligations have emerged since the Oslo accords, and we [the current government] abide by them all, though we were not responsible for the Oslo accords. A unilateral decision by the Palestinian authorities to announce their independence would release us from all of our obligations. Then, we can respond by unilateral decisions of our own, such as extending our sovereignty over settlement blocs in the West Bank, construction in the E-1 zone [adjacent to Jerusalem], and so forth."