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GA special report / Peres to Obama: To help Israel, be a great president for the U.S.
By Bradley Burston and Raphael Ahren, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: israel news, GA, Shimon Peres 

Full coverage of the 2008 GA conference

President Shimon Peres, relating a conversation he had with Barack Obama, said Monday that when Obama asked him what he could do for Israel, Peres replied, "Be a great president of the United States."

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peaking to the United Jewish Communities General Assembly in Jerusalem, Peres dismissed fears that traditionally strong U.S. Israeli-relations would change under an Obama administration.

"People say: Will he be nice to Israel or not? I am not an expert, but I want to tell you that I don't have the slightest doubt that the relations between the United States and Israel will remain warm, profound, responsible," Peres said, to prolonged cheers.

"When Obama asked me what can he do for Israel, I told him: Be a great president of the United States. Because a president of the United States, by definition, has to fight terror, has to fight pollution, has to fight poverty, has to fight wars."

The president said there was no one in the world beside the United States who was leading that struggle. "America is not the policeman of the world. America is the country that tells other people to remain free."

There was no reason to believe that Israel and the United States should be in conflict, he added. "What the United States wants, we want as well. They want peace in the Middle East - so do we. There is no [other] candidate to make peace in Middle East but Israel.

Peres, noting that the United States would like to see the Middle East democratic, remarked, "I don't know if it's that simple, because there are some Muslims who think that democracy is another religion, not a different system. They think: I am a Muslim, why should be a democrat?'

"But when it comes to democracy, Israel has shown the strength of democracy even when you are outnumbered and you are outgunned and your under pressure. We didn't do this for America, we did it for ourselves, as America, too, does it for itself."

Peres recalled that when Obama visited Israel during the campaign. "When he asked for some advice, I told him: I shall talk to from a young man to a young man. Though, I am a young man senior and you are a young man junior, but I want to tell you that if someone will come to you and say: The future belongs to the young men, if you hear this old phrase said, throw him out. Because the present belongs to the young men. The future belongs to people like myself. We have time for the future. The young people don't have much time."

'Mideast peace will show Muslims that Iran needn't dominate'

Peres also told delegates to the General Assembly that one reason for Israel to make peace with the Palestinians and end the occupation was to show the Sunnis of the Middle East that they need not be dominated by Iran and submit to a fanatical Shi'ite minority.

He said he believed that there was a chance for peace, one that would probably not include Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, but which might include the majority of Arab and Muslim countries.

He added that this would require courageous decisions and that concessions would have to be made.

"Some of the Arab intellectuals have told me: 'You are worried about Iran. We are worried about Iran. More than you. You can stand your ground. But Iran is the greatest danger for us - not because of their bombs or their long-range missiles, but because of their ambitions.'

"This is the only country in the world today that has imperial ambitions. Actually, they want to run the Middle East," Peres said.

"They want to run the Middle East, in the name of religion - their version of religion. The Persians in Iran are all-told 35 million people. The Iranians are 70 million, half of them minorities, and half are Persians. And it is the Persians who are the producers of the ayatollahs and the fanatic people. They want to control 350 million people [of the Middle East], 90 percent of whom are Sunni."

Peres went on to say that the Sunni majority of the Middle East is closely watching what Israel does, to see if Israel "can conclude an agreement with the Palestinians on an accepted basis - which is two states for the two peoples: none of us wants to have one state and two states warring with each other, we've had enough of it."

He said that although it is said that negotiations with the Palestinians have been moving in slow-motion, "we have concluded some important parts."

"When you negotiate with the other side, you begin to negotiate with your own people. They say: why do you offer so much? Why do you give away so much? Why are you so soft? And you can't convince anybody that you're not soft."

"Peace is a little bit like marriage. You have to close your eyes and accept what is possible to accept," Peres said, to laughter and applause. "And the nation that is like a good mother telling a girl she could have a better boy, and a boy that he could have a better girl. So the mothers and the fathers themselves compromise.

"I think we are mature. We don't really want to govern another people. It is against our tradition to occupy the lands of others, or to occupy the land where other people are living, which means that we are occupying the people as well as the land."

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    Full coverage of the 2008 GA conference
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      1.   Join the Discussion 10:25  |  Jewish Refugee 17/11/08
      2.   Rubbish. US is the only country with imperial ambitions. 11:04  |  Michael 17/11/08
      3.   No need for two States 11:11  |  l 17/11/08
      4.   No Palestinian State 11:21  |  lady from USA 17/11/08
      5.   Peres is absolutely right, if Israel would be "the good guy"..... 11:51  |  Swiss (Dino) 17/11/08
      6.   after the conversation, peres was medicated 11:56  |  Jaydee 17/11/08
      7.   Israel and Palestine and Arab States... 11:57  |  Yosemite 17/11/08
      8.   He makes a nice joke 13:05  |  Jean 17/11/08
      9.   Lady from USA 13:26  |  Tareq 17/11/08
      10.   Peace through talk? Don`t count on it 13:51  |  Natallie Durson 17/11/08
      11.   Peres and All that Money 15:03  |  Ralph Levy 17/11/08
      12.   The world of Islam 15:07  |  Brod 17/11/08
      13.   Americas interest and Israels interest lie in opposite directions 15:09  |  Natallie Durson 17/11/08
      14.   "dominated by iran" 17:40  |  Ibrahim 17/11/08
      15.   Peres should say Labour tradition, not Jewish tradition 18:12  |  Piece process etc. 17/11/08
      16.   GA not GI 18:22  |  Patriot 17/11/08
      17.   question 18:27  |  riddle Yiddel 17/11/08
      18.   Difference between PRESIDENT Shimon Peres and former PARTY 18:30  |  H.H.M. 17/11/08
      19.   # 13 durson, you are a broken record 18:38  |  dan 17/11/08
      20.   14 ibrahim 18:47  |  dan 17/11/08
      21.   Does Mr Peres realized that OCCUPATION has lasted 41 YEARS 19:05  |  Garry 17/11/08
      22.   Stop nuclear weaponry discussions in p o p u l i s t i c, 19:35  |  H.H.M. 17/11/08
      23.   Difference between PRESIDENT Shimon Peresand former PARTY 19:48  |  H.H.M. 17/11/08
      24.   response to #21 21:58  |  bronxite10 17/11/08
      25.   Shimon Peres - - The Architect of Oslo 16:27  |  Johnny Weintraub 18/11/08
      26.   Crazy old man 20:45  |  Tarek 18/11/08
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