Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni yesterday threatened to quit the government if any of the Israeli settlements built on the occupied Palestinian territories was annexed to Israel.

Lapid also called for the identification of the future borders of Israel in order to know how to deal with the Palestinians in future talks. He blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the failure of the peace process with the Palestinians.

"If there is any effort to annex even one settlement unilaterally, Yesh Atid will not just leave the government, it will bring it down," Lapid said.

Calling for Israel to stop building more settlements, he said: "There is no reason to continue building settlements in areas that will not remain part of Israel in any future agreement, or to invest billions in infrastructure that, at the end of the day, will be given as a present to the Palestinians."