MOSCOW. Oct 17 (Interfax) - Israel is ready to accept the Quartet's proposal and meet with Palestinian representatives on October 23, said Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
Lieberman told Interfax by telephone that the Quartet on the Middle East made an announcement in New York in September and Israel said it was ready to start direct talks without preconditions.
Lieberman was answering Interfax's question about whether Israel was prepared to hold talks with Palestine in Jordan on October 23, as the Quartet proposed.
But he also said that Israel would never accept the world community's demand that the construction of settlements in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem be halted.
The freezing of construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria is out of the question, he said.
Lieberman described the world community's calls to halt the construction of housing in East Jerusalem as hypocritical, adding that construction is mostly run by private individuals in this region, including foreign nationals, not by state organizations.
Each time Israel makes concessions in the Middle East settlement, they are taken for granted and fresh demands are made, he said.
The Quartet's initiative, announced in New York after its ministerial meeting in September, envisions a resumption of direct Palestinian-Israeli talks within a month and the attainment of final results by the end of 2012.