Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League Mohamed Sobeih slammed a recent suggestion by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman that the peace negotiations should focus on "an exchange of land and people." Lieberman has made inflammatory statements of late regarding the future of Arabs in Israel. Sobeih said Lieberman's comments could only come from a "short-sighted fool." He also urged the US administration and the Diplomatic Quartet to respond to the statements. Sobeih said Lieberman and a number of other ministers in the Israeli government are trying to undermine the peace process, and he accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of turning a blind eye. Asked how much can be expected from the US administration, Sobeih told Al-Masry Al-Youm: “We have to wait and see. Nobody is optimistic, even in Israel.” Meanwhile, a new report by the Arab League offers details of an Israeli assault on the Palestinian economy, as well as physical encroachments on Jerusalem in the form of the confiscation of large swathes of farmland. The report also discusses Israeli attempts to disconnect the city's economy from the West Bank, joining it instead to the Israeli economy. Israeli occupiers have transferred a number of Arab-installed public utilities outside of Jerusalem, according to the report. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
