UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed Israel’s newly sworn-in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu upon his forming his coalition government. The UN chief furthermore called upon the Prime Minister to establish a Palestinian State. “The secretary general welcomes the formation of a new government in Israel and looks forward to working with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the full range of peace and security issues in the region," UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said in a statement released on Wednesday. "This includes the resumption of the Middle East peace process, with the aim of achieving an independent and viable Palestinian State living side-by-side in peace with a secure Israel, and a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace as envisaged in Security Council resolutions," the statement added. Ban's statement came just hours after statements made by the newly installed Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman , who stated that Israel is not obligated to the Annapolis Conference proposals. Lieberman additionally clarified that his government is only obligated to the Road Map peace agreement, which was ratified during Ariel Sharon’s tenure as Prime Minister. Despite the reaction of criticism from the international community, Dr. Ron Breiman, spokesman of the Hatikva faction of the pro-Land of Israel National Union party, responded positively to Lieberman’s remarks. “Israel’s new government wants peace. But not the way of Oslo-Annapolis, which encourages terror and distances peace,” Breiman said in a statement. “It’s time to clearly state that a Palestinian State and peace are contradictions, and the ‘two-state solution’ is a course for disaster for the Jewish State,” the Hatikva party spokesman added.
