JERUSALEM — An Israeli Cabinet minister said Tuesday that top officials doubt a peace deal with the Palestinians can be reached soon even though the prime minister has committed to try to reach an agreement within a year.

The Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which resumed last month after a breakdown of nearly two years, have already run aground over Israel’s refusal to renew a moratorium on West Bank settlement construction.

“I don’t know a single minister in the septet who thinks it’s possible to reach a deal in the foreseeable future,” said Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon.

Yaalon was referring to the seven-member decision-making body in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet.

Yaalon, speaking to Army Radio, accused the Palestinians of being intransigent and of carrying out repeated violence and incitement since 1993.

He claimed the Palestinians have refused to declare an end to their conflict with Israel, even under a peace deal, suggesting that further demands for territorial concessions could follow.

However, an official in the prime minister’s office disputed Yaalon’s take on the matter, noting that Netanyahu, who leads the septet, had reiterated his goal of reaching peace within one year during a parliamentary speech on Monday.

“He believes firmly that if both sides show creativity and flexibility and are ready to take tough decisions, then peace is possible. But it has to be a two-way street. It can’t just be the Palestinians making demands and Israel making concessions,” said the official. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to respond to another minister’s public comments.

The Palestinians say Israel has not lived up to its commitment under an internationally backed 2003 peace blueprint that, among other things, called for an all-out settlement freeze.

 

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