Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Wednesday that if the Palestinian Authority (PA) makes a formal request for the United Nations to approve its statehood status, Israel should take a series of punitive steps against it. These should include annulling the Oslo Accords and annexing settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria, he said.

By annexing blocs, he said, Israel would no longer have to freeze construction in these areas and could build freely, he said. 

Lieberman also denied a report in Yediot Acharonot, according to which he warned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that his coalition would fall apart if he did not punish the PA for its decision to declare independence unilaterally.

He also said that there was no justification for publishing the report just as Israel is headed to the UN to fight a diplomatic battle.