In other news, Israeli army radio is reporting Israel plans to allocate $250 million over the next two years for settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite pressure to halt settlement activity from the Obama administration. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week and rejected calls for a freeze on the settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.

Avigdor Lieberman: “I think, and I say again, settlements are not an obstacle to achieve peace. We know that even before ’67, before we even established even one settlement, the situation was the same.”

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki challenged Lieberman’s claim.

Riyad al-Maliki: “With the continuation of the settlement activities, it will be impossible to create a viable, contiguous Palestinian state on the ’67 borders. Nobody shares with Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman this view that the construction of settlement activities in occupied Palestinian territories has no connection to the peace process or has no influence to the achieving a peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis.”