Israel's hard-line foreign minister warned Palestinians yesterday against plans to unilaterally declare independence next year, saying such a move could prompt Israel to annex parts of the West Bank and annul past peace agreements.
The remarks by Avigdor Lieberman took aim at a Palestinian policy that has emerged as US attempts to restart peace talks have stalled.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, whose Western-backed government has a limited governing role in the Israeli-controlled West Bank, has announced plans to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state, possibly as early as the summer of 2011 even without a peace deal.
Israeli Foreign Minister also reiterated that there would be no halt to construction in east Jerusalem despite international demands for a complete settlement freeze.
"We cannot freeze construction in Jerusalem, neither in the east nor the west, neither for Arabs nor for Jews, because it would jeopardise our sovereignty as a state in our own capital," he told public radio.