Lieberman: Peace must be based on exchange of territory

Foreign minister puts forward proposal at UN General Assembly for population and territory swap which would lead to eventual peace with Palestinians.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Lieberman 311 AP (photo credit: AP)
Lieberman 311 AP
(photo credit: AP)
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Tuesday that "a final agreement between Israel and the Palestinians has to be based on a program of exchange of territory and populations."
Lieberman presented the United Nations General Assembly with his controversial draft for a population and territory swap which would be part of an eventual peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
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According to Lieberman's plan part of Israel's Arab population would be transferred to a newly created Palestinian state in return for the evacuation of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
"We are not talking about population transfer but about defining borders so as to best reflect the demographic reality," Lieberman said.
The foreign minister made it clear that his proposals were not similar to those put forward in the past by Israel's extreme right, to evict Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza altogether.
Lieberman also discussed the peace negotiations and said that a Palestinian state is not a guarantee of peace and could take decades.
"Palestinians have wasted time by refusing to accept settlement moratorium," Lieberman added.
The foreign minister also stressed that Israel withdrew from Gaza but that despite this, rockets are still being fired at Israel.