line foreign minister warned Palestinians Tuesday against plans to unilaterally declare independence next year, saying such a move could prompt Israel to annex parts of the West Bank and annul past peace agreements. The remarks by Avigdor Lieberman took aim at a Palestinian policy that has emerged as US attempts to restart peace talks have stalled. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has announced plans to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state, possibly as early as the summer of 2011 – even without a peace deal. Lieberman warned that Israel would not tolerate such a step, and could revoke a series of agreements made under the so-called Oslo interim peace accords of the 1990s or even annex parts of the West Bank. “Any unilateral decision will release us from all of our commitments and will allow us also to make unilateral decisions,” Lieberman was quoted as saying by the Ynet news Web site. In a separate development, the Israeli military said late Monday that two investigations had found wrongdoing by its soldiers in the killing of four Palestinians in the West Bank last month. Meanwhile, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the United States has reached a dead end in its attempts to revive Middle East peace talks, citing Israeli building on occupied land. Israel must also cancel plans for more building in parts of Jerusalem, he said it captured, along with the West Bank in 1967, Erekat added.
