Iranian leader: We'd support an Israeli-Palestianian peace agreement Muriel Kane

Published: Sunday April 26, 2009





Print This Email This Israel's new hardline prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, insists that he will not consider peace talks with the Palestinians until the US has taken action to curb Iran's nuclear and regional ambitions. This has been seen as a serious stumbling block to President Obama's belief that progress on Israeli-Palestinian talks must come first and will provide him with increased leverage over Iran.



Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, however, may have thrown a wild card into the stalemate on Sunday when he told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that he would be fine with supporting any peace agreement the Palestinians might reach with Israel.



"If the Palestinian people negotiate an agreement with Israel and the Palestinian people vote and support that agreement, a two state solution, will Iran support it? " Stephanopoulos asked?



"Nobody should interfere," Ahmadinejad replied. "Allow the Palestinian people to decide for themselves, whatever they decide. It is the right of all human beings."



"But if they choose a two state solution, if they choose to recognize Israel's existence, Iran will as well? " Stephanopoulos pursued.



To that, Ahmadinejad replied, "Let me approach this from another perspective. If the Palestinians decide that the Zionist regime needs to leave all Palestinian lands, would the American administration accept their decision? Will they accept this Palestinian point of view?



"Whatever decision they take is fine with us," he emphasized. "We are not going to determine anything. Whatever decision they take, we will support that."



Ahmadinejad had used very similar language last September in an interview with Amy Goodman for Democracy Now! When asked then if he would support a two-state solution, he replied, "Wherever people decide, we will respect it. I mean, its very much in correspondence with our proposal to allow Palestinian people to decide through free referendums."



Stephanopoulos began Sunday's interview by pointing to the now-famous photograph of President Obama shaking hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and asking Ahmadinejad if he would like to see a similar picture of himself with Obama.



"Well, we are calling for peace and security for all," Ahmadinejad replied. "We would like international relations to be based on justice and friendship. Wherever a hostile relationship turns into friendship, that would make us happy."



He added, however, "You need to appreciate that the American administration, 29 years ago, unilaterally cut its relations with Iran. ... Now they say that we have given up that enmity. That's fine. ... But an administration which, up until yesterday, was saying that I'm going to kill you, and today says that I'm not going to kill you -- is that sufficient?"



"We are always ready to talk with no preconditions," Ahmadinejad insisted. "We welcome change. We are praying to the Almighty for that. And we will help to bring change about."







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