Israeli Foreign Minister Says Abbas Should Quit
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Monday called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas the “greatest obstacle” to regional order, telling reporters in Jerusalem it would be a “blessing” if the Palestinian leader were to resign.
“If there is one obstacle that should be removed immediately, it is Abu Mazen [Abbas,” he said. “If he were to return the keys and resign, it would not be a threat, but a blessing.”
“The only thing that interests Abu Mazen is to inscribe himself in the history books as he who brought about the Palestinian state and the reconciliation with Abbas,” Lieberman added. “Anyone who succeeds him would be better for Israel. If Abu Mazen goes, there would be a chance to reignite the peace process.”
Referring to the report in Haaretz earlier Monday regarding the defense establishment’s recommendation that Israel release Fatah prisoners as a gesture to Abbas, Lieberman said he had never heard of such a proposal and would oppose the move vehemently.
“I don’t know of any such recommendation, and I completely oppose every gesture,” he said. “I would not agree in any way if recommendations such as these were brought to cabinet.”
Lieberman added that there are plenty of Palestinian with whom Israel can hold dialogue, besides Abbas. “There is no lack of Palestinians who studied in the West,” he said, ” educated people with Western values with whom we can talk.”
For more, go to Haaretz.com
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 3
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Should Diaspora Jews be buried in Israel? A rabbi responds
-
Fast Forward In first Sunday address, Pope Leo XIV calls for ceasefire in Gaza, release of hostages
-
Fast Forward Huckabee denies rift between Netanyahu and Trump as US actions in Middle East appear to leave out Israel
-
Fast Forward Federal security grants to synagogues are resuming after two-month Trump freeze
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.