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Israeli PM backtracks on joint statement with Poland ahead of visit to Warsaw

12 June 2013 18:36 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday backtracked on a joint statement with the Polish government on Israeli-Palestinian peace process, hours ahead of his official visit to Warsaw, the Ha'aretz daily reported, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Netanyahu and six other ministers will head to Warsaw later in the day to take part in a summit meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and other officials.

Officials from both Israel and Poland drafted a joint statement to be carried out by the two regarding the efforts to resume the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

However, Netanyahu decided to backtrack on the statement, causing diplomatic embarrassment, and officials at Netanyahu's office explained that the statement was drafted by low-ranking officials and without the authorization of the Israeli National Security Council chief Yaakov Amidror.

According to the statement's draft, obtained by Ha'aretz, it charges that "both governments agree on the urgent need for progress toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, through direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions."

"Unilateral steps by either party are counterproductive achieving a sustainable, lasting peace," the statement read further, referring to the Palestinian National Authority's possible approach to international agencies to be accepted as an official state.

The Israeli officials added that the statement was only a " protocol document" that did not fully represent the Israeli government's position.

"The government did not vote on the wording of the statement, nor was it coordinated with the ministers," a well-placed official at Netanyahu's office was quoted as saying.

The negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians came to a halt in 2010 over Israel's expansion of settlement in the West Bank and east Jerusalem along with the endorsement of the two- state solution.

While Netanyahu and other officials declared their willingness to resume peace talks based on the two-state solution, several members of the Likud party like deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon publicly spoke out against the plan.