The Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, affirmed that ‘the ball is in the Palestinian court,’ reports al-Jazeera.

He referred to the restart of the peace talks, after the announcement made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a plan that includes a halt on the construction of West Bank settlements.

‘The Palestinians will make their considerations based on internal considerations that don’t need to concern us,’ Lieberman said, adding that ‘instead, we should care about our friends in the world.’ As announced on Israel’s Army Radio on Thursday, Lieberman said that the freeze on construction will mobilize international support for Israel,  as it will demonstrate Israel’s support for restarting the political peace process.

However, Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz revealed on Thursday that Israel does not have the means to apply the freeze due to a lack of settlement inspectors. There are currently only 14 in the West Bank.

Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, expressed his hopes for the restart of peace talks with the Palestinians and urged the establishment of a budge for the surveillance of the settlements, but Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz rejected the request.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, offered the 10-month suspension of settlement construction.

Yaser Abd Rabbo, secretary of the PLO’s executive commission, assured that the Israeli proposal would be rejected by the Palestinians, who called it a ‘political trick’ which did not offer anything new to the peace talks. He asked the United States to place more pressure on Israel as the US and the international community welcomed the initiative as ‘a step in the right direction.’

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