By NNN-KUNA
Ramallah : Israeli right wing cabinet member Avigdor Libermann has threatened to resign from the ministerial pack if the Palestinians and Israelis embark on final status talks.
The threat, which was carried by Israeli radio quoting cabinet sources Sunday, indicate that final status negotiations between the two sides were imminent.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s cabinet, which includes several parties, could be forced to resign if some of its member parties pull out of the coalition.
Libermann, who is the Minister of Strategic Affairs in Olmert’s cabinet, slammed calls for setting Palestinian activist Marwan Barghouti free after many years of detention in Israeli jails.
Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences in Israeli jails, is the secretary-general of the Palestinian Fatah Movement in the West Bank. “If Barghouti is set free, he would become allied with the Hamas movement,” Libermann said.
Israel’s Deputy Army Minister had indicated on Saturday that Barghouti could be set free within a package calling for the release of an Israeli soldier, detained by the Palestinian resistance forces in Gaza.