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Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had grim predictions for Monday’s peace talks in Amman, saying the Palestinian Authority has no plans to make peace in the foreseeable future.
"The only way forward is to manage the conflict, and not to end the conflict," Lieberman said at a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting, hours before Israeli and Palestinian delegations were set to meet in the Jordanian capital.
Lieberman said the Palestinian Authority agreed to peace talks in Jordan because they could not refuse an invitation by Jordanian King Abdullah II.
According to the foreign minister, the PA leadership is waiting for the Quartet deadline for Israelis and Palestinians to formulate proposals for borders and security to expire.
When that happens, on January 26, the PA will launch an "anti-Israel" campaign at the United Nations and UN Security Council, picking up where they left off vis a vis their "failed" statehood bid, according to the foreign minister.
Israeli and Palestinian officials are scheduled to meet in Amman on Monday for the second time in a week, though Palestinian officials say the gap between the two sides on security and border issues remains as wide as ever.
Unlike the meeting last Tuesday, this time representatives of the Quartet – the US, EU, Russia and UN – will not be in attendance. Jordan will host the talks at the Foreign Ministry in Amman.
Palestinian officials in Ramallah said they did not expect Monday’s meeting between chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat and Israeli envoy Yitzhak Molcho to achieve a breakthrough in the current stalemate.
PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo characterized the talks in Jordan as only “exploratory meetings” and not serious negotiations.