Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced that the settlement freeze will not continue, in a Tuesday meeting with Finnish President Tarja Halonen.
"There is no chance that the [building] freeze will continue," the Foreign Minister added. "On September 26, life in Judea and Samaria will once again be normal lives, and if the Palestinians want normal lives for their people, too, the only way is to return to direct negotiations without preconditions."
"It is important that direct talks with the Palestinians are renewed and the entire Israeli government supports this, but we will not agree to pay for it," Lieberman said.
This comes days after sources said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will offer to extend the construction freeze to all areas outside of the major settlement blocs, in his meeting with US President Barak Obama on Tuesday. This move would indicate Obama's acceptance of former US President George W. Bush's agreement with former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, which is considered instrumental in bringing about the 2005 disengagement from Gaza.
Habayit Hayehudi hinted on Monday that they would leave Netanyahu's coalition should the building freeze continue beyond the end of September.