Shimon Peres: Qatar and Turkey must be punished for supporting terror

Livni urges Israel to initiate better ties with moderates in the Arab world amid threat of extremist terrorist groups operating in the region.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Shimon Peres: Qatar and Turkey must be punished for supporting terror (Video: ICT)
Former president Shimon Peres opened the 14th annual International Conference of the Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya on Monday by saying that the international community must include Israel in its fight against terror.
"Terror is a system that needs to be addressed religiously, militarily, nationally and financially. The world needs to join together to fight terror and Israel must be a part of that," he said.
"Terrorism is tearing apart the Arab world. It has destroyed Yemen, Libya, Iraq and will only continue. Terrorism has to be fought with an all-out war and people cannot shy away because of the beheadings."
Peres also gave strong support to the use of tough economic sanctions against Qatar and Turkey to punish them for financing terror.
He also took a look at the national situation and praised Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for being a partner for peace.
"Now that we're in a cease-fire period, we can say that while the Palestinian Authority has a pro-terror camp, there is also a pro-peace camp, the latter of which is with the PA's head, Mahmoud Abbas."
The former president praised Abbas for taking a vocal stance against terror and against Hamas. "Whoever tries to downplay his words is in the wrong."
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni called for Israel to adopt diplomatic initiatives to better connect it to moderates in the Arab world in light of the threat of extremist terrorist groups operating in the region
"We fight relentlessly against the violent extremists, but the moderates are the ones we reach peace with," she said at the counter-terrorism conference hosted by the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya.
Livni rejected what she said was the tendency of international leaders to urge dialogue with terrorists in order to understand them and thereby stop their actions. She added that terrorists interpret such maneuvers as weakness.
"I say, regarding terror, there's no dialogue, there's no understanding and there's nothing to comprehend about suicide bombers and decapitators," she charged, referring to tactics used by Palestinian terrorists along with those implemented by Islamic State militants.
Livni added that "today the Arab world clearly sees the significant danger of the terrorist threat." 
"Those who use terrorism to explain why we mustn't negotiate are the ones hurting our ability to negotiate," she stressed.
Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) called for a permanent solution rather than more cease-fires, though did not say exactly how that would be achieved.
"The purpose of leadership isn't to keep delaying things," he said. We need to arrive at a regional solution in which there will be a demilitarized Palestinian state including with a Gaza that puts down its weapons -- alongside the State of Israel."
He added, however, that formal negotiations are not always possible. "It's important to remember that there are some officials with whom it is impossible to negotiate unless it is with the aim of a gun or better yet, through the optical viewfinder of a guided missile," Lapid said.
Regarding the fight against terror, the finance minister said Israel has to "chase after the heads of terror everywhere in the world and to wipe them out. It also must take a tough stance against the money trails that finance terror."
"We have the strongest military in the Middle East and the most precise intelligence than ever before."