Haaretz
SEptember 24, 2006
NEW YORK - Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni warned in her address to the UN General Assembly
yesterday that Iranian leaders pose the biggest threat to international
values.
"There is no greater challenge to our values than that
posed by the leaders of Iran," Livni said. "They deny and mock the
Holocaust. They speak proudly and openly of their desire to wipe Israel
off the map. And now, by their actions, they pursue the weapons to achieve
this objective, to imperil the region and to threaten the world."
Livni added that Iran's support for Hezbollah in south Lebanon
demonstrated the threat it poses to the region, and said that the world
must ensure that Security Council Resolution 1701 is enforced.
She
struck a more conciliatory tone toward the Palestinians, saying that
Israel has no desire to rule over them and bilateral negotiations. is the
only way to resolve the conflict is Senior political sources in New York
said yesterday that the U.S. administration and Israel are "fully
coordinated at all levels" over policy toward the Palestinian Authority.
The comment was in response to the statement issued Wednesday in
New York by representatives of the United States, United Nations, European
Union and Russia - the so-called Quartet - welcoming the efforts of PA
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to form a unity government, "in the hope that the
platform of such a government would reflect Quartet principles."
Diplomats in New York interpreted the statement as a sign of
erosion in U.S. opposition to Hamas being part of a Palestinian
government.
Israeli sources, however, said yesterday that the
statement effectively demanded that Abbas form a government that accepts
the Quartet's previously stated principles: recognizing Israel, renouncing
violence and accepting Israeli-Palestinian agreements.
"Israel's
position does not differ from that of the international community, which
holds that a prerequisite for any talks with the PA government is
acceptance of the three conditions that would enable implementation of the
road map," a political source told Haaretz yesterday.
The sources
also said that the Security Council session that was scheduled to discuss
a new Arab League peace initiative last night would not go beyond speeches
and statements. The U.S. reportedly conditioned its participation in the
session upon advance agreement that the council president would not issue
a presidential statement, or even a press release.
The meeting was
expected to be attended by the foreign ministers of all five permanent
Security Council members. It was unclear at press time whether Livni would
attend.