FM Liberman: PM's words got twisted, Israel wouldn't leave settlers under Palestinian rule

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Thursday during a tour of the Golan Heights that Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett "did the right thing when he apologized to the prime minister...It's okay to argue with the prime minister, but not to lash out at him." Liberman's comments come after a tense three-day spat between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Bennett ended. "I don't understand why the prime minister's words were spread as they were. There was never any intention to leave Israelis under Palestinian sovereignty. I am happy that this affair has ended as it has," the foreign minister continued. Netanyahu demanded that Bennett apologize to him on Wednesday for his recent bitter criticism, or leave the government. Bennett criticized Netanyahu days earlier for saying that Jews could possibly live under Palestinian sovereignty. Bennett addressed his earlier remarks on Wednesday afternoon, saying he never intended to insult the prime minister. “There are people who are trying to turn a significant debate about the future of our land and its security into a personal attack that never happened, and if the prime minister was insulted, that was not my intention,” Bennett said at a conference by the Dead Sea. “I respect Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his leadership under difficult conditions, support him when needed and criticize him when needed, because that is my responsibility.” Still, the Bayit Yehudi chairman repeated that “imposing Palestinian sovereignty on Israeli citizens is dangerous, and it was my responsibility to take this idea off the agenda immediately.” Bennett defended his right to criticize Netanyahu. In fact, senior sources in Bayit Yehudi insisted he did not apologize at all, but sources close to the prime minister accepted it as an apology. During a tour of the Golan Heights, the foreign minister said that "An agreement with the Palestinians must include an understanding with the international community that the Golan Heights are an inseparable part of Israel."The minister was on a tour of the Golan Heights when he addressed the affair: "I can say with certainty that there was no intention to leave Israeli settlers under Palestinian sovereignty. I don't know how and why they gave the interpretation that was given, but there was no and there will be no such move. I'm glad that the matter ended the way it did." The minister took what he defined as "the best political opportunity possible" to "ratify, amid the events in Syria and the negotiations we are handling – to regulate the issue of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights." Lieberman recalled that on December 14, 1981, the Golan Heights Law was passed, thereby expanding Israeli law to the Golan region, but that Resolution 497, passed by the Security Council on December 17, demanded that Israel rescind its annexation of the Golan Heights. Lieberman told the press: "Part of the same package deal of the comprehensive political agreement, must include our understanding with the international government, and first and foremost with the United States, that the Golan Heights is an integral, inseparable part of the State of Israel." The foreign minister noted the aims of the coalition in which he governs, saying that one target was "to double the population of Katzrin in the next five years. The State of Israel recently approved important measures: one regarding the development of Druze villages in the Golan Heights, one on the development of the Golan Regional Council, and the last – that we're still waiting on – regards the development of the Katzrin Regional Council."