Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos met Tuesday with former Minister Yossi Beilin in Madrid and told him that "Europe will not accept a situation in which the Netanyahu government evades its predecessors' decisions in regards to the peace process."
Moratinos, who is about to visit Israel after being invited by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, said that the goal of his visit was "to prevent the collapse of the peace process, demand that the government commits to past decisions and clarify that Europe will not accept a situation in which a democratically elected government renounces the peace process." Beilin told Moratinos that while the new American administration gives hope to the peace process, the right-wing Israeli government is more exposed to the international demands to resume the process.
The coming weeks are expected to bring an international diplomatic attack on Israel in a bid to reignite the peace process. US President Barack Obama's special envoy, George Mitchell, is expected to arrive in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Mitchell's visit will be held on the backdrop of a verbal dispute between Washington and the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem following Minister Avigdor Lieberman's statement that the Annapolis process is no longer valid.
Israel is also being pressured by the European Union, and particularly by the European Commission in Brussels. Lieberman is expected to meet Friday with the Russian foreign minister, who wishes to hold an international conference on the peace process in Moscow.
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