Foreign minister meets hawkish Israeli counterpart

Foreign affairs minister George Vella today met the ultra-rightwing Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Leiberman to discuss the latest developments on the exhausted peace process in the Middle East as well as relations between the two countries.

Leiberman who vies the peace process with scepticism welcomed the visit to Israel by Vella as a further sign of growing co-operation in various sectors and the increased 'people to people' contacts through tourism and commercial exchanges.

The hawkish Israeli minister, whose party Yisrael Beiteinu had once called for the execution of Arab-Israeli MPs who met leaders of Hamas, said that the situation concerning the Israeli-Palestinian question is presently not an encouraging one and that as an active member of the European Union, Malta has a role in addressing these developments.

Leiberman is openly sceptical about the process and believes a permanent peace deal is impossible.

The two ministers agreed to conduct political consultations on a regular basis to make better use of existing potential in sectorial cooperation and exchange of views on regional developments.

On the Middle East Peace Process, Vella reiterated the position that disproportionate use of force in Gaza and continued settlement construction on Palestinian land as delineated by pre-1967 borders were serious setbacks to the possibility of reaching a durable solution.

He underlined Malta's commitment to a Two State Solution that is also based on an undisputed right of Israel to live within safe and secured borders.

Vella also held meetings with the Leader of the Opposition Isaac Herzog, Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni and the Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs Committee, Ze'ev Elkin. He also visited the Vad Yashem Memorial in Jerusalem where he laid a wreath in remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust.