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Jerusalem (AFP) Sept 29, 2010 When Israel's prime minister is forced to declare that his foreign minister, addressing the United Nations, does not speak for the government, it's a sign that something is deeply flawed with the country's diplomacy. But observers say that although the public dressing down highlights the foreign policy schizophrenia of Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line coalition as it pursues peace, it is mostly Israel's messy internal politics spilling into the international arena. The Israel premier on Tuesday issued a statement distancing himself from a speech by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to the UN General Assembly, in which he outlined controversial ideas for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement. The foreign minister's broadside, in which he proposed solutions which differ from the official Israeli line, came as Netanyahu faces heavy pressure to keep peace talks with the Palestinians alive. "During the past few weeks, Netanyahu invested a great deal of effort in trying to convince the leaders of the world that he is serious about peace with the Palestinians," commentator Aluf Benn wrote in the Haaretz newspaper. "Now comes Lieberman, Israel's most senior diplomat, and tells all those leaders that it's all crap, that Netanyahu is faking," he wrote. While Netanyahu has vowed to try reach a comprehensive peace deal within a year, Lieberman said real peace would take decades and suggested a series of interim accords instead. He also outlined his deeply-controversial plan to make mostly-Arab regions of Israel part of a future Palestinian state in exchange for Israel's keeping large settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank. It's not the first time Israel has had a prime minister and foreign minister at odds with each other. Since the establishment of the state in 1948, almost every Israeli government has been a coalition, and within this fragmented political system, the prestigious post of foreign minister is often given to a leading rival. Last year's elections were no exception: Lieberman's ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu (Israel is Our Home) came in as the third largest party, making Lieberman a kingmaker. But this time, the tough-talking former nightclub bouncer may have gone too far. "We have had this in the past, but to contradict the prime minister in such a brutal way in such a forum is unprecedented," said Alon Liel, a former head of the foreign ministry. "It's a humiliation to the prime minister and an insult to diplomacy," he told AFP. Lieberman, who has a reputation as a straight-talking firebrand with a virulent anti-Arab stance, defended his speech. "This position is supported by a vast majority of the people," he told Israel public radio from New York. "My positions are not new; there is no political coalition manoeuvre. These are my basic positions that I have been presenting for years," he said. However, many believe that this is not so much a dispute over Israel's stance in peace talks, but another illustration of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's famous adage: "Israel has no foreign policy, only a domestic political system." Commentators say Lieberman was trying to position himself favourably with hawkish voters disillusioned with Netanyahu's recent embrace of the peace process. He was also taking revenge on Netanyahu for sidelining him as chief diplomat, and keeping him away from both the peace talks and from relations with Israel's main allies. "His audience are his voters back in Israel. So he flouted all the rules of diplomacy to proclaim 'his truth'," wrote Haaretz commentator Yossi Verter. "But since when has a foreign minister gone to the UN to expound 'his truth' rather than his government's policy? And who in Israel will believe that this was not belated revenge -- served cold, as he prefers it -- on Netanyahu?" And Lieberman may have succeeded. "It looks like he placed a roadside bomb in the path of the prime minister," Trade Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told public radio. Following Lieberman's address, the media immediately pounced on Netanyahu as weak and humiliated for not taking the wayward minister to task. "In any respectable country the prime minister would have sacked our fiery foreign minister overnight, but there is no danger that would happen here," wrote the Maariv daily.
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