The Knesset's right-wing parties on Thursday demanded that President Shimon Peres tone down his comments regarding the peace process and refrain from holding meetings on the matter, saying that such meetings were "outside the president's job description." Earlier Thursday, Peres met with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and said that Israel and the US should move on to the second stage of the Road Map peace plan and establish a Palestinian state with provisional borders, which would become permanent "in a short span of time."
"Recently, rumors have been circulated that along with pressure on Israel to agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria - an act which is not in the government's platform and contradicts the policy of most of its component parties - the president has been holding diplomatic meetings such as the one he held today with Solana in an effort to increase the pressure on Israel to this end," read the letter, signed by the National Union, which is not part of the coalition.
The signatories said that they "greatly respect the president and the presidency, but we cannot accept a situation where the president deviates from his job and butts into diplomatic issues."
The letter concluded with a request that Peres cancel such meetings that have already been scheduled and explain the "limitations" of his post to those he intended to meet.
Habayit Hayehudi, which is a member of the coalition, sent a similar letter to the president, in which MK Zevulun Orlev wrote that the party does not want to face a situation where they would be "forced to struggle politically and diplomatically against the opinions and stances of the president. Please look positively on our request and respect it."
The Israeli NRG news site reported that a senior member of Kadima had said that the president's involvement in diplomatic issues was "out of proportion."
No comments:
Post a Comment