Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu distanced himself from Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's call to the Middle East Quartet to help oust Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
An official in Netanyahu’s office said Lieberman's message "does not reflect the Prime Minister's or government's position."
"The Palestinian Authority President is causing problems in the negotiations but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to continue his efforts to conduct a dialogue with the Palestinians. Israel does not interfere in the elections of others outside the country,” he said.
Netanyahu met Lieberman and expressed his opposition to the Foreign Minister's letter which was sent to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
In the letter to Ashton, Lieberman accused Abbas of “acting to undermine attempts to renew the peace process”.
"The Palestinian Authority is a tyrannical and corrupt regime," Lieberman wrote in his letter. "In light of the weak status of Abbas and his policy of refusing to renew the negotiations, which constitutes an obstacle to peace, it is time to consider a creative solution and to think out of the box to strengthen the Palestinian leadership. Elections in the authority may bring about a significant change in the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians."
Lieberman wrote that Abbas was obstructing the talks and hindering their progress.
"Despite a slew of goodwill gestures carried out by Israel in the past year and efforts to restart the talks under Jordanian sponsorship, Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) continues his policy of obstruction,” the Foreign Minister added.
On Thursday, Lieberman accused Abbas of waging a form of "diplomatic terror" against Israel that is as dangerous as the violent threat posed by Hamas.
Speaking to Israeli public radio, Lieberman accused the Palestinians of using two forms of "terror" to attack Israel, with Hamas which rules Gaza managing the armed version and Abbas taking the diplomatic track.
"There is a division of labour between (Hamas premier Ismail) Haniya and Abu Mazen," he said, using the alias of the Palestinian president.
"Haniya and (exiled Hamas chief) Khaled Meshaal are leading armed
terrorism, Abu Mazen leads diplomatic terrorism and I'm not sure which is more dangerous to us."