JERUSALEM — Israel’s foreign minister urged the international community to help oust Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose policies he called an obstacle to peace, in a letter released Wednesday.
Avigdor Lieberman wrote to the Quartet of Mideast mediators — the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, and Russia — this week calling for new elections in the Palestinian Authority to replace Abbas, accusing the Palestinian Authority of being ‘‘a despotic government riddled with corruption.’’
‘‘Despite Mr. Abbas’s delays, general elections in the Palestinian Authority should be held and a new, legitimate, hopefully realistic leadership should be elected’’ he wrote. ‘‘Only such a leadership can bring progress with Israel. We must maximize the holding of new elections in the PA alongside the tremendous changes in the Arab world, in order to bring a serious change between Israel and the Palestinians.’’
Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, rejected Lieberman’s statement, calling it an ‘‘incitement to violence’’ that ‘‘doesn’t contribute in any way to an atmosphere of peace.’’ He urged Israel and the international community to condemn the letter.
Elections for new Palestinian leadership were scheduled for 2010, but have repeatedly been delayed because of the bitter dispute between Abbas’s Fatah and the militant Hamas, bitter rivals that had a violent falling-out in 2007 and now separately govern the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel also sought to quickly disassociate himself from the letter.
‘‘While Abbas has created difficulties for restarting negotiations, the government of Israel remains committed to continuing efforts to restart a dialogue with the Palestinians,’’ said an official in the prime minister’s office who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Lieberman, who leads a hard-line party in Israel, is known for inflammatory rhetoric that has at times agitated his partners in government.