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JERUSALEM: Two Israeli ministers on Tuesday called for a freeze on already stalled negotiations with Syria and the Palestinians until the Jewish state elects a new government early next year.
"Negotiations with the Palestinians and the Syrians cannot advance during the election period with us and the United States," said Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit, a member of outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party.
"In the current political situation no agreement can be ratified by the transitional government and parliament. There can be no significant progress and the Syrians and the Palestinians understand this," he told public radio.
National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, a senior member of the left-of-centre Labour Party, said the interim government "cannot make strategic decisions affecting the existence of the state of Israel."
"On security issues it must act, but as far as political issues are concerned, it is better wait for the results of the elections and the formation of the next government," the former defence minister told public radio.
Israel is expected to hold snap elections early next year after Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni failed to assemble a new coalition that would allow her to replace Olmert, who has resigned to battle corruption allegations.
Israel formally relaunched peace talks with the Palestinians at a US-hosted conference in November 2007 with the goal of ending their decades-old conflict by the end of this year -- but the talks have made little visible progress.
Israel meanwhile entered into indirect Turkish-brokered talks with Syria in May, reviving negotiations that had collapsed in 2000 over the fate of the Golan Heights.
Israel captured the strategic plateau in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed it in 1981. Syria has said the entire territory, which runs down to the shore of the Sea of Galilee -- Israel's main source of fresh water -- must be returned.
The fifth round of talks between the two neighbours -- who have technically been at war for 60 years -- was postponed in mid-September at Israel's request.
- AFP /ls
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