Following his meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (19 June 2009), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Liberman spoke to the press:
"We have our position, we don’t have any preconditions. I think that we have the right to our position; the Palestinians have the right to their position. It’s important to start with talks without preconditions and every side will try to convince the other side...
Settlements are not an obstacle to achieve peace. We know that even before '67, before we established even one settlement, the situation was the same. During 19 years, between '48 and '67, there was bloodshed, there was terror, tension, friction. The opposite is also true. During the disengagement, Israel evacuated 24 settlements; we transported 10,000 Jews and we got in return Hamas in power in Gaza and Kassam missiles...
We have many understandings with the Obama administration. We agree with the President’s vision about regional peace. We agree on many points and we have one dispute. I think it’s very natural that even with close friends we have one disagreement and I think even on this point we can formulate an understanding, we can achieve understanding."