Says most Arab states opposed to Teheran having nukes, expresses hope of progress in Syrian talks.
By GREER FAY CASHMANPeres speaks 224.88(photo credit: AP)
"I do not support military action against Iran, but the world must become a united front and impose harsh economic sanctions on Iran," President Shimon Peres said on Friday.
Speaking at the Ambrosetti Forum, an annual gathering of global political and business leaders in this Italian lakeside resort, Peres said that most of the Arab states were opposed to Teheran having nuclear weapons, and the world at large would not allow terrorists and extremists to have nuclear weapons of mass destruction at their disposal.
He said he was certain that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the next president of the United States would share that opinion, as would the leaders of Europe. "It is up to all of us to stop the Iranian threat," Peres said.
Iran today, the president said, did not represent its magnificent history, but rather stood for extremism and religious fanaticism, and presented a tangible and existential danger to the Middle East and the entire world.
Peres also expressed support for the indirect peace talks with Damascus currently being mediated by Turkey. He suggested that Syrian President Bashar Assad make a move like that of then-Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, whose visit to Jerusalem in 1977 resulted in the signing of a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt two years later.
"I think if President Assad will visit in Israel or alternatively invite the prime minister of Israel to go to Damascus we shall see a major change," Peres told the gathering. "I believe the best way is to start with a meeting and then have negotiations."
Responding to comments made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the same conference about the possibility of a peace agreement by the end of the year, Peres said, "We have to try to reach agreement... We have to act on the supposition that it is possible."
Peres also referred to the vote due in January to choose Abbas's succesor, and said that democracy should be implemented not only on election day but, perhaps more importantly, on the day after. It was unacceptable, he said, for any party to use democratic tools to impose a military dictatorship, terrorism, murder and fanatic religious coercion.
Hamas should not be allowed to participate in an election as long as it continued to carry out a policy of terrorist, Peres said.
AP contributed to this report
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