CONCERN was mounting last night over Israel's plans to appoint as foreign minister an ultra-nationalist politician who based his election campaign on stoking fear of and hatred against the country's Arab minority.
However, European Union countries are poised to give Avigdor Lieberman a chance unless the guidelines of the new right-wing coalition headed by Benjamin Netanyahu contain elements directed against Israel's Arab minority, a European diplomat said last night.
On the surface, Mr Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beytenu party, seems the most unlikely candidate for the job. This is especially true for a country whose strategic interests depend on forging or maintaining relations with neighbouring Arab countries. But he emerged from last month's elections with 15 seats, enabling him to demand the post from Mr Netanyahu.
Mr Lieberman recently said that the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, a key moderate interlocutor between Israel and the Arab world, should "go to hell", a statement that dismayed Egyptian leaders who remember him suggesting years ago that Israel bomb the Aswan Dam in the event of a war with Egypt.
Mr Lieberman has also said Palestinian prisoners should be drowned in the Dead Sea and that Israeli-Arab lawmakers who meet militants should be executed for treason.
However, his supporters stress that he supports a two-state solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, and has said he would be willing vacate his home on the West Bank settlement of Nokdim as part of a territorial withdrawal. But it is doubtful he would agree to cede enough West Bank land for a viable Palestinian state.
His key campaign slogan was "only Lieberman understands Arabic", indicating he would know how to handle the Arab citizens of Israel, whom his campaign depicted as fifth columnists. He is seeking to enforce a loyalty oath in which all citizens would have to pledge allegiance to Israel as a Jewish state.
Spokesmen for Mr Lieberman and Mr Netanyahu say the two have agreed he will become foreign minister as part of a deal expected to be signed in days.
British Jewish leaders are concerned about Mr Lieberman's rise. When he visited the UK recently, no-one from the Jewish Board of Deputies or Jewish Leadership Council would meet him, the Jewish Chronicle reported.
It quoted Simon Hochhauser, an executive member of the council, as saying in his personal capacity that "I think his views are appalling. It's a great shame that he may well be part of a government. I think it gives more excuses not only for those who are anti-Israel, but for those who are increasingly expressing anti-Semitic views."
Yossi Alpher, a leading Israeli analyst and former director of the Jaffee Centre for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv, said the appointment was "extremely problematic for Israel's international relations. He added: "Can you imagine Cairo agreeing to host a visit by him or his managing negotiations with the PLO after the way he talks about the Israeli Arab population."
Mr Alpher believes the United States will have no choice but to deal with him. "He will try to be on his best behaviour, more moderate than in the past," Mr Alpher said.
Israeli army radio reported yesterday that government officials were working on improving Mr Lieberman's image.
A foreign ministry official said: "It is no secret he has a bad image and there has been talk about what to do if and when he became foreign minister. But there is no specific public relations plan or marketing plan; it will be up to him to present the image he chooses to present."
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