By Anees Barghouthy
JERUSALEM
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Friday that Israel is ready to resume direct peace talks with the Palestinians.
"It is clear that any strategic breakthrough in the peace talks is possible only as part of the regional comprehensive solution and we ready for direct peace talks in anywhere any place," Lieberman told a joint press conference with European Union's Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini.
U.S.-brokered Palestinian-Israeli talks ground to a halt in April after Israel failed to honor an earlier promise to release a number of Palestinian prisoners.
Palestinian officials now plan to present a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council, which, according to recent statements by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, would seek to achieve a "two-state solution," providing the Palestinians with a sovereign state – with East Jerusalem as its capital – inside pre-1967 borders.
On Wednesday, an Israeli officer was killed when a Palestinian driver ran over Israeli pedestrians in East Jerusalem. Another Israeli succumbed to his injuries on Friday.
Israeli forces shot and killed the Palestinian attacker at the scene of the attack.
Two weeks ago, an Israeli baby was killed and eight people were injured when a Palestinian driver ran over pedestrians in Jerusalem in a similar vehicular attack.
The atmosphere in the historic city became even tenser after Israel closed the Al-Aqsa mosque complex last week following the shooting of an extremist Jewish rabbi in West Jerusalem.
Israeli authorities reopened the mosque compound on Friday following a day of violent clashes with Palestinian protesters.
Lieberman accused Abbas of supporting "terrorism", citing his condolences letter to the family of a Palestinian, who was shot dead by Israeli forces in East Jerusalem for allegedly shooting an extremist rabbi in west Jerusalem last week.
"What we have seen in previous days includes terrorist attacks is a direct result of incitement from Mahmodu Abbas," he said.
The EU foreign policy chief, for her part, said that the European body has a potential political role to play more important than it was in the past.
"I strongly believe that the EU has a potential political role to play here [that is] even higher and more important than it was in the past,” she said.
Mogherini said that the E.U. stands at the side of Israel when it comes to its security.
"There is a need for a regional approach. Israel's security and safety will never be guaranteed unless there is a regional framework that fully allows that," she said. "The EU is and will remain ready to work in this direction with all partners of the region as well."
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