The European Union decision June 20 to endorse the French Middle East Peace Initiative was influenced by the perception at the highest levels in Brussels that the Israeli government has taken a sharp turn toward an annexation policy with the entry of Avigdor Liberman into the Ministry of Defense.

Indeed, the resolution of the EU council of foreign ministers to support the French initiative and to call for an international peace conference on a two-state solution before the end of the year is a challenge to the Benjamin Netanyahu government. The Israeli government is concerned that this move will drive the Barack Obama administration to embrace a two-state solution policy platform as a legacy for the next US president.

The Netanyahu-Liberman government, in the meantime, continues with “business as usual” in regard to funding West Bank settlements and decision-making by Liberman to deepen the occupation.

Liberman has entered the Defense Ministry with a pretentious voice of moderation. Nevertheless, it was only a matter of days before he expressed again his real extremist views, which he now can translate into actions. In a briefing to defense correspondents June 15, a very senior Defense Ministry source threatened Hamas that in the next war it will be wiped out and criticized Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for his extremist views on Israel and for his political weaknesses in Palestine. The source also related that Liberman ordered the cancellation of the VIP permit to enter Israel for the one man in the PLO charged by Abbas to maintain relations and communication with Israeli public opinion: Mohammed Madani, head of the Palestinian committee for interaction with Israel.