Many people were surprised by comments that new Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman made to the Israel Defense Forces’ General Staff this week, just a few hours after a reception in his honor at the Defense Ministry on May 31. “When there is a clash of values between the unity of the people and territorial integrity, the people are more important,” Liberman said.

While Liberman was addressing the General Staff, Israeli mayors were meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Palestinian Authority (PA) headquarters, the Muqata, in Ramallah. At that meeting, they were treated to a no less surprising statement. “If Liberman truly supports the two-state solution, nothing will prevent us from negotiating with him,” said Abbas. “If Liberman really means that, the Palestinians will forget that he accused them of being diplomatic terrorists and will judge him on his future actions.”

These moderate statements by the two leaders, which were made almost simultaneously, were no coincidence. Al-Monitor was informed that the tempered remarks were preceded by a series of messages sent by the Palestinians, saying that they do not reject the idea of a meeting between the Palestinian president and Israel’s new minister of defense.

After word began circulating May 18 that Liberman was to replace Moshe Ya’alon as minister of defense, a brainstorming team was created at the Muqata to work out where Israel is headed. The conclusion was that Liberman, after facing sharp criticism surrounding his appointment as minister of defense, would attempt to shatter his image as an extremist, regardless of whether he himself is responsible for that image or whether it was built by others.