The United Nations Security Council has for 10 years said that a
military nuclear program in Iran is unacceptable but may soon be forced
to define what unacceptable means, former US secretary of state Henry
Kissinger said at the Presidential Conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Diplomacy
should be given a chance, Kissinger said after receiving the
Presidential Award of Distinction from President Shimon Peres. But "the
question is at what point one concludes that negotiations have reached
their limit."
Those two decisions should not be made unilaterally, he said: "It is something we should all do together."
Speaking
of the changing nature of the world and the Middle East, Kissinger went
on to describe Israel as, in many respects, "an island of stability and
domestic cohesion" in a region in the midst of uprisings.
The
former US secretary of state spoke after being presented by Peres with
Israel's first-ever Presidential Award of Distinction.
Prior to
presenting the award, Peres praised Kissinger for his past work that
brought peace to Israel and made its borders more secure.
Noting
that Kissinger facilitated Israel's first peace treaty - with Egypt, and
through his efforts toward peace with Syria helped create secure
borders that have lasted for 40 years and ended the menacing behavior of
the USSR toward Israel following the Yom Kippur War, Peres called
Kissinger "one of, if not the greatest statesman" of the past century.
"You are an inspiration for those who seek peace and those who seek understanding between nations and peoples," Peres said.