Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's Foreign Minister. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday that Israel should not engage in diplomatic negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) until there are elections in the West Bank and Gaza, which will clarify who controls those territories.

“[PA President Mahmoud Abbas] is not authorized to sign any agreement with us on behalf of the Palestinians,” Lieberman said, according to Israel Hayom. “Without new [Palestinian] elections, we cannot take any far-reaching steps with Abbas. Whoever succeeds him will say, ‘It’s your problem, you signed on ice.'”

Lieberman said Abbas, whose Fatah party is currently part of a unity government with the Hamas terrorist group, has been consistently opposed to reaching a peace agreement with Israel.

“The reality has changed, but for us it is as if nothing has changed since the Oslo Accords,” he said. “The diagnosis was wrong. Our conflict is not with the Palestinians. The conflict is three-dimensional—with the Arab states, the Palestinians, and Israeli Arabs.”