RELOCATION OF POPULACE

70. Lieberman, Israel's far right foreign minister, is contemplating a new plan ("blue print" he calls it) to solve the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It demands most of the country's large Palestinian minority (majority before they were expelled by the Jews in 1948) to be stripped of citizenship and relocated outside Israel's future borders. He accused many of Israel's 1.3 million Palestinians of acting against Israel and their leaders "actively assisting those who want to destroy the Jewish state. (which had destroyed the Palestinian state in 1948). True peace he claimed can come only when landswaps and exchange of populated territories, creating two largely homogeneous states. Netanyahu's government has all but stopped paying lip service to US sponsored "proximity" talks with the Palestinians following an outrage of global public opinion after Israeli attacks on Gaza 18 months ago and on a Gaza bound flotilla four weeks ago in which nine peace activists were killed. Israel's relations with the international community are likely to deteriorate further later this year when a ten month partial freeze on settlement expansion in the West Bank expires. Other looming diplomatic frustrations for Israel are the return of the Goldstone report to the United Nations, accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza. However Israel is expected to push ahead with its unilateral policies towards Palestinians and refuse to engage in a meaning full peace process regardless of international repercussions.