Israel’s Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar expressed the hope that current discussions with the United States "will enable us in a very short time, maybe next month, to renew Israeli-Palestinian peace talks."
Speaking to Jewish journalists in Berlin where he attended Monday a conference organized by the European Council of Jewish Communities (ECJC), he said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is dealing with that”. He stressed however that “something more significant must happen.”
“Even though we will find a solution to the tactical problem and come back to the negotiations, if we couldn’t meet the Palestinians’ will to move forward, it will be simply impossible to move forward.”
The Likud Minister believes that the Palestinian Authority "s not truly interested in promoting the peace process." "They are today interested in delegitimizing Israel and trying to isolate us in the international community,” he added.
"They want to make achievements in the political international arena by using this strategy but without paying the price of a compromise with Israel," he said.
“The issue of building in the settlements is simply an excuse. For ten months during which there was a freeze, they didn’t come to the negotiations. It’s only two weeks before the end of the moratorium that they decided to enter the talks.”
Gideon Sa’ar also said that the world Jewry should be sometimes consulted by the Israeli leadership on peace process issues. “If we ask the Jews in the world for support, we also must consider a partnership in terms of consultation,” he said.
“Of course this will not replace the formal democratic institutions in Israel, the Knesset and the government, which are those who will be making decisions on the peace process. But it is important to give a place to world Jewry,” he continued.