Israel Renegs on Annapolis

On his first day in office Israel's new foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Israel was changing its policies on the peace process and was not bound by commitments it made, at the U.S.-sponsored Annapolis conference, to pursue the creation of a Palestinian state.

Hey! Isn't one of the conditions that Israel, the U.S. and the EU laid down for Hamas to comply with, before they will officially deal with them, is "to recognize all previous agreements negotiated between the PA and Israel ?"

So why would Lieberman, on day one, make a statement designed to piss off the U.S. and make the P.A. doubt Israel's sincerity in trying to acheive a peace agreement? Well, one reason might be that he (and his PM) are not interested in an agreement.

They know that what they are willing to offer will never be acceptable to, even the most moderate, Palestinean leader. So why not goad the PA a bit? Maybe they will refuse to sit down with you until you agree not back out of signed agreements. Then you can blame them for their "intransigence."