Israel clashes with EU

This is an interesting story not receiving much publicity, but once again, we see the approaching September date as significant.

Israeli Foreign Minister A. Lieberman, has now made what is an obvious response to a previous written statement by Catherine Ashton Ashton in bid to save Middle East peace process, where she stated the following:

"The EU official in a letter over the weekend said the Quartet - the EU, Russia, the UN and the US - should hold a high-level meeting before the summer which spells out that Israel must pull back to its 1967 borders in return for security guarantees from the Palestinian side."

Now Mr Lieberman weighs in, after already having made this statement earlier in the week:

For his part, Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday called the Ashton plan "naive", saying she should concentrate on bigger events unfolding in Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen instead.

"This is an attempt to distort the international community's correct set of priorities," he told Israel's Army Radio. "The attempt to give top priority to the Palestinian issue is naive."

Now this:

'Palestinian state declaration means the end of talks'

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a meeting with his EU counterpart Catherine Ashton on Friday that if the Palestinians unilaterally declare statehood, it will bring an end to the Oslo Accords."

A move like that will be a violation of all the agreements that were signed until today," Lieberman said. "Israel will no longer be committed to the agreements signed with the Palestinians in the past 18 years.

"He added: "In light of [PA President Mahmoud] Abbas's current stance, the chances for negotiations are zero."

"Abbas is not interested in an agreement," the foreign minister explained. "He wants conflict, because that is his personal interest, even though it is against the Palestinians' interest, and many oppose him."

Ashton arrived in Israel on Friday after visiting Jordan.

According to her spokesman, Ashton came to Israel to urge all sides to return to the negotiating table.

In an official statement, the spokesman said, "We are well aware that September is fast approaching. With the events of the Arab Spring and following President Obama's speech, it is more urgent than ever to engage in meaningful negotiations and move the Peace Process forward."

Point-counterpoint.

As we approach September - which is the known deadline for the UN to vote on "Palestinian" statehood, independent from any negotiations with Israel, we are now seeing the positioning and the posturing from various world leaders.

This process will be fascinating to watch, and we are a mere 3 months away from this critical deadline.