Jerusalem - Setting the stage for a possible showdown with the United States and the European Union, new Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday that Israel was not bound by the internationally-endorsed Annapolis peace process, which forms the basis for the current Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Instead, Lieberman said in a speech at the foreign ministry as he assumed his ministerial duties, Israel would be bound by the "road map" peace plan, a performance-based initiative from 2003, which like the Annapolis process, was intended to end with an Israeli- Palestinian peace treaty and an independent Palestinian state.

"There is only one document that obligates us, and it is not the Annapolis document, " Lieberman said.

The Annapolis peace conference of November 2007 was attended by 40 countries, including leading Arab states, and paved the way for peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, which entered a hiatus when Israel began an election campaign last year.

But Lieberman said the Israeli government and parliament had never ratified the statement from the Annapolis conference, in which Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed to "immediately launch good faith bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues..."

He said Israel would abide strictly by the road map, which was launched and great fanfare in 2003, but quagmired quickly afterward, as Israelis and Palestinians accused each other, and the international community accused them both, of non-compliance with its clauses.

The first stage of the plan, never completed, called on Palestinians to rein in militants, and on Israel to cease settlement activity.

"We will never agree to jump over all the clauses and go to the last one, which is negotiations over a final status agreement," Lieberman said.

Lieberman, leader of the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beteinu party, was a controversial choice for the foreign ministry, given his hardline views and blunt language.

It was unclear whether his remarks Wednesday reflected the overall view of the government, or of new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who assumed power on Wednesday.

Introducing his government to the Knesset Wednesday, Netanyahu said Israel wanted a "comprehensive peace", but made no mention of the creation of a Palestinian state.

His coalition agreement with the left-to-centre Labour Party commits the government to working toward a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

World leaders have urged the new Israeli government to continue the existing Israel-Palestinian peace process, as did outgoing Premier Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres Wednesday morning, during the ceremony transferring power from the outgoing government to Netanyahu's incoming one. (dpa)