February 11, 2009 5:39 PM
- Text
Israel Rejects Iraq Study Group Proposals
(CBS/AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday rejected a U.S. advisory group's conclusion that a concerted effort to resolve Israel's conflict with its neighbors will help stabilize the situation in Iraq, saying there is no connection between the two issues.
Olmert also rebuffed the group's recommendation that Israel open negotiations with Syria, but said Israelis want "with all our might" to restart peace talks with the Palestinians.
The Iraq Study Group report, released Wednesday in Washington, calls for direct talks between Israel and its neighbors, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians and says resolving the Israeli-Arab conflict would improve conditions in Iraq.
Olmert rejected that finding. "The attempt to create a linkage between the Iraqi issue and the Mideast issue — we have a different view," Olmert said during the prime minister's annual meeting with Israeli journalists. "To the best of my knowledge, President Bush, throughout the recent years, also had a different view on this."
Most Israelis oppose handing the Golan Heights back to a radical regime like Syria, as the study group recommends, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger. Israel is also concerned about the report's call for the U.S. to open a dialogue with Iran. Israeli officials say the best strategy to stop Iran's nuclear program is isolation, not dialogue.
In other developments:
A panel appointed by the Palestine Liberation Organization has 
recommended that the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas (right), dissolve the militant Hamas-led government and call new elections as early as March, an official close to the president said. Abbas sought the committee's recommendations after declaring last week that his efforts to form a more moderate coalition government with Hamas had reached a dead end. Hamas denounced the notion of early elections.
Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition called Thursday for its supporters to take to the streets this weekend in a massive show of force, stepping up the pressure on the U.S.-backed government, which has vowed not to give in to protesters. Street demonstrations by Hezbollah and other pro-Syrian parties, which want to pressure Prime Minister Fuad Saniora into quitting, were in their seventh day with no end in sight to the deepening political crisis that is threatening to tear the country apart.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said negotiations for the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants are in their final stage, according to a newspaper report. Militants linked to the Islamic militant group Hamas, which leads the Palestinian government, crossed the Gaza border into Israel and captured Cpl. Gilad Shalit in June.
Olmert will meet with Pope Benedict XVI during a trip to Europe next week. Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, said the meeting will take place at the Vatican on Wednesday. There were no immediate details on the agenda.
Wealthy Israeli businessman Avi Shaked is offering the ruling Islamic militant group Hamas a billion dollars in investments in the Palestinian territories, if it abandons violence and makes peace with Israel, reports Berger. Shaked says Israelis and Palestinians are "cousins" who should be able to talk. It's a high risk investment but Shaked knows all about that. He made his fortune running Internet gambling sites.
Answering reporters' questions for more than an hour, Olmert said conditions were not ripe to reopen long-dormant talks with Syria and added that he received no indications from Mr. Bush during his recent visit to Washington that the U.S. would push Israel to start such talks.
Palestinian officials were more receptive to the panel's recommendations.
"We welcome the Hamilton-Baker report and hope the U.S. administration will translate it into deeds," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. "The region needs peace, the region needs dialogue and we have always stuck to dialogue toward a comprehensive peace."
Syrian President Bashar Assad has called in recent months for a new round of talks with Israel. Syria is a key backer of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Hezbollah, the Lebanese guerrilla group that battled Israel during an inconclusive month-long war last summer.
While some top Israeli officials have urged Olmert to accept Assad's offer, the prime minister said he didn't think talks would change Syria's close ties to radical anti-Israel groups.
"I don't think there is a Syrian desire for war with us. We certainly don't have a desire to fight with them. That doesn't mean conditions are ripe for us to negotiate with them," he said.
Olmert, however, said that Israel was deeply interested in restarting talks with the Palestinians and said Israel would work "with all our might" to make them happen.
He also welcomed a peace initiative put forward by Saudi Arabia, saying it contains "interesting innovations that should not be ignored." However, he did not fully endorse the plan, first floated in 2002, which called for Israel to withdraw from all of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, a stipulation Israel rejects.
Olmert also rejected suggestions that Israel's recent cease-fire with Palestinian militants in Gaza would allow the militants to rearm and regroup for another round of fighting, saying that Israel would not allow that to happen.
He said that despite occasional rocket attacks by Gaza militants at Israel, "we will continue to show restraint."
Olmert also addressed the controversy over Iran's nuclear ambitions, reiterating Israel's position that it will not tolerate a nuclear Iran, but will not take unilateral action, preferring that the dispute should be settled by the international community as a whole.
He also reiterated his support for the U.S. war in Iraq, a position that caused some controversy during his U.S. trip last month.
"We always felt, like other nations in our region, that the removal of Saddam Hussein was a major, major contribution to stability in our part of the world," he said.
Olmert also rebuffed the group's recommendation that Israel open negotiations with Syria, but said Israelis want "with all our might" to restart peace talks with the Palestinians.
The Iraq Study Group report, released Wednesday in Washington, calls for direct talks between Israel and its neighbors, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians and says resolving the Israeli-Arab conflict would improve conditions in Iraq.
Olmert rejected that finding. "The attempt to create a linkage between the Iraqi issue and the Mideast issue — we have a different view," Olmert said during the prime minister's annual meeting with Israeli journalists. "To the best of my knowledge, President Bush, throughout the recent years, also had a different view on this."
Most Israelis oppose handing the Golan Heights back to a radical regime like Syria, as the study group recommends, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger. Israel is also concerned about the report's call for the U.S. to open a dialogue with Iran. Israeli officials say the best strategy to stop Iran's nuclear program is isolation, not dialogue.
In other developments:
recommended that the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas (right), dissolve the militant Hamas-led government and call new elections as early as March, an official close to the president said. Abbas sought the committee's recommendations after declaring last week that his efforts to form a more moderate coalition government with Hamas had reached a dead end. Hamas denounced the notion of early elections.Answering reporters' questions for more than an hour, Olmert said conditions were not ripe to reopen long-dormant talks with Syria and added that he received no indications from Mr. Bush during his recent visit to Washington that the U.S. would push Israel to start such talks.
Palestinian officials were more receptive to the panel's recommendations.
"We welcome the Hamilton-Baker report and hope the U.S. administration will translate it into deeds," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. "The region needs peace, the region needs dialogue and we have always stuck to dialogue toward a comprehensive peace."
Syrian President Bashar Assad has called in recent months for a new round of talks with Israel. Syria is a key backer of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Hezbollah, the Lebanese guerrilla group that battled Israel during an inconclusive month-long war last summer.
While some top Israeli officials have urged Olmert to accept Assad's offer, the prime minister said he didn't think talks would change Syria's close ties to radical anti-Israel groups.
"I don't think there is a Syrian desire for war with us. We certainly don't have a desire to fight with them. That doesn't mean conditions are ripe for us to negotiate with them," he said.
Olmert, however, said that Israel was deeply interested in restarting talks with the Palestinians and said Israel would work "with all our might" to make them happen.
He also welcomed a peace initiative put forward by Saudi Arabia, saying it contains "interesting innovations that should not be ignored." However, he did not fully endorse the plan, first floated in 2002, which called for Israel to withdraw from all of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, a stipulation Israel rejects.
Olmert also rejected suggestions that Israel's recent cease-fire with Palestinian militants in Gaza would allow the militants to rearm and regroup for another round of fighting, saying that Israel would not allow that to happen.
He said that despite occasional rocket attacks by Gaza militants at Israel, "we will continue to show restraint."
Olmert also addressed the controversy over Iran's nuclear ambitions, reiterating Israel's position that it will not tolerate a nuclear Iran, but will not take unilateral action, preferring that the dispute should be settled by the international community as a whole.
He also reiterated his support for the U.S. war in Iraq, a position that caused some controversy during his U.S. trip last month.
"We always felt, like other nations in our region, that the removal of Saddam Hussein was a major, major contribution to stability in our part of the world," he said.
Popular Now in World
- Pakistani fishermen reel in 40-foot whale shark
- Iran: We can attack U.S. interests "anywhere"
- Iran allegedly cuts off Internet access
- Syria rebels bloodied, battered, but defiant
- "Voluptuous" Ukrainian nurse abandons Qaddafi
- Girl with Two Heads Born in Philippines
- Booze and bikinis in a new Egypt
- Cockpit error sent 737 into Pacific nose dive
- Israel To U.S.: Don't Delay Iraq Attack
- 23 women convicted of child pornography in Sweden
- Syria's Christians stand by Assad
- Stephen Hawking: Heaven is "a fairy story"
- 130 Doctors Without Borders staff go missing
- GlobalPost: Qaddafi apparently sodomized
- Greek Cruise Ship Sinks
- Costa Concordia wreck seen from space
- Iran helping al Qaeda? War "hysteria" builds
Latest CBS News Headlines
on Facebook
on CBS News
- Lawmaker's stock trades draw ethics investigation
- Hackers hit CIA, U.N. Web sites
- Movie Scores: How the critics rated the new movies
- Setback in Greek deal sends investors into bonds
on Facebook
- Adele sings a cappella for Anderson Cooper
- Josh Powell had "incestuous" images on his home computer, authorities say
- Adele sings a cappella for Anderson Cooper
on CBS News
