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Last update - 12:09 22/06/2009
Netanyahu: Change in Iran could bring peaceful Israel ties
By Reuters
Tags: Iran, Israel news

Peaceful relations between Israel and Iran would be possible if new leadership took power in Tehran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with a German newspaper.

"There is no conflict between the Iranian people and the people of Israel and under a different regime the friendly relations that prevailed in the past could be restored," Netanyahu told German daily Bild.

Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called the Holocaust a "great deception" and said Israel should be wiped from the map, was officially re-elected in a June 12 vote that the opposition has denounced as a fraud.
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The election has provoked the most violent unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution which ousted the U.S.-backed shah. Iran has accused the West and its media of playing a role in fomenting unrest.

Netanyahu said he had "no doubts" that Iran's citizens would choose a different government if allowed to vote freely.

"What we have seen in Iran is a powerful desire on the part of the Iranian people to be free," he said.

In the interview, Netanyahu also touched on ties with the Palestinians.

He said Israel shared the view of other governments around the world that the Palestinians should be allowed to live peacefully and freely alongside Israel.

"What hasn't been expressed clearly enough was the consensus that exists on the Israeli side and that has characterized successive governments," he said.

"We want to live peacefully next to the Palestinians and we don't want to govern them. We want them to have all the powers to govern themselves -except those handful of powers that could threaten Israel."

But he reiterated there were conditions to Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state, including that such a state be demilitarized and that it recognise Israel as a nation.

"We don't want to have another Iran next to our borders," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu said Sunday that he would not second-guess U.S. President Barack Obama's approach on Iran, following the Tehran government's political crackdown.

In an interview with American network NBC's "Meet the Press," Netanyahu said that the world was sympathetic to the Iranians' protest of the recent contested election, but added it was unclear whether the unrest would spur change in Tehran's policies.

"I have no doubt everybody in the world is sympathetic to the Iranians' desire for freedom," Netanyahu said when asked about the street demonstrations that have erupted in Iran since the disputed June 12 election.

Netanyahu told NBC that he knows Obama wants the Iranian people to be free, adding that free people everywhere were amazed by the willingness of the Iranian people to stand up for their rights.

"I think it's too early to say what will transpire in Iran and on the international stage," said Netanyahu, who spoke from here. He reiterated Israel's position that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

President Shimon Peres, meanwhile, applauded Iran's pro-reform protesters Sunday, saying the young should raise their voice for freedom - an explicit message of support from a country that sees itself as most endangered by the hard-line government in Tehran.

Peres suggested the protesters could bring down their leaders.

"Let the young people raise their voice for freedom, let the Iranian women ... voice their thirst for equality," Peres told a gathering of world Jewish leaders.

"I really don't know what will disappear first, their enriched uranium, or their poor government," said Peres. "Hopefully, the poor government will disappear."

Israeli officials have said little so far about the Iranian protest movement, which has topped news broadcasts since demonstrations erupted more than a week ago. Initially, officials indicated they saw little difference between Ahmadinejad and his rival, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who asserts he won the election.

"Israeli leaders may be reluctant to openly support the protesters because being identified with Israel could do them more harm than good," said political scientist Shlomo Aronson of Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

The head of the Mossad, Meir Dagan, said last week that Iran may obtain the technology to build an atomic weapon by 2014.

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      1.   I`d rather Israel staying away from this subject. 11:06  |  S 22/06/09
      2.   Don`t count on it 11:08  |  Natallie Durson 22/06/09
      3.   BILD is NOT a newspaper 11:18  |  Sarah 22/06/09
      4.   Don`t count on it not happening Natalie 11:38  |  The Prophet 22/06/09
      5.   Netanyahu using the Iran crisis 11:39  |  Chris Linthwaite 22/06/09
      6.   Jealousy of Natalie Durson 11:44  |  Chichi 22/06/09
      7.   No 3. The Sun is the most widely read paper in Britain 11:48  |  Dan 22/06/09
      8.   Regime change in Israel first 11:51  |  Matty Groves 22/06/09
      9.   Would Israel support the right of a ... 12:38  |  Roscoe Robson 22/06/09
      10.   Natalie Durson 12:48  |  Iranian Jew 22/06/09
      11.   Iranian Jew i doubt u 13:05  |  knows iranians 22/06/09
      12.   Natalie is not a person - a name representing a handful of 13:06  |  world observer 22/06/09
      13.   Chichi - Are you having a laugh? 13:18  |  Matty Groves 22/06/09
      14.   Answer to Iranian Jew on Durson`s facts of life 13:40  |  Israeli citizen 22/06/09
      15.   #14 Israeli Citizen 13:58  |  Chris Linthwaite 22/06/09
      16.   Sarah - BILD is NOT a newspaper 14:18  |  Anita 22/06/09
      17.   to #9 Roscoe 14:48  |  Susan 22/06/09
      18.   talks too much 15:22  |  Michael 22/06/09
      19.   the only thing that will bring a change is saudi peace deal 15:30  |  yawn 22/06/09
      20.   #2 Doom And Gloom 15:56  |  Bill Foonman 22/06/09
      21.   # 15 chris Laithwaite: here is what I have to say--to you 15:59  |  Israeli citizen 22/06/09
      22.   To Iranian Jew 16:08  |  Liat 22/06/09
      23.   asy world observer--why dont you answer their questions 17:43  |  Oliver 22/06/09
      24.   iran: the ultimate democracy 17:46  |  david 22/06/09
      25.   Netanyahu lives in a different world 18:37  |  American in NY 22/06/09
      26.   Susan # 17 Democracies ? 18:42  |  American in NY 22/06/09
      27.   Anita, #16, correct, but 18:43  |  christoph 22/06/09
      28.   wishful thinking 20:03  |  Forever Palestinian 22/06/09
      29.   Bibi comments designed to help Ahmadinejad??? 20:32  |  Voice of Reason 22/06/09
      30.   Be warned things could easily turn for the worse 20:46  |  Kris Lazar 22/06/09
      31.   #25 Netanyahu lives in a different World. 20:48  |  H 22/06/09
      32.   Hello Israeli citizen@14 You know what?You Took the Words out Of 21:02  |  Whiskey/Bravo 22/06/09
      33.   Chichi hilarious 21:05  |  LOL 22/06/09
      34.   Matty please refresh your memory@13 about Gaza etc. 21:13  |  Whiskey/BRAVO 22/06/09
      35.   TO: Natallie, Chris, Matty and the likes 21:14  |  Good 22/06/09
      36.   To Kris Lazar.@?.The same could`ve been said about SSR! 21:26  |  Whiskey/Bravo 22/06/09
      37.   Net: Chg n Eye ran, mean peace? 21:33  |  Roshe 22/06/09
      38.   People that hate Israel must read Chi Chi and learn 21:59  |  JP 22/06/09
      39.   #35 Good of Florida 22:28  |  Chris Linthwaite 22/06/09
      40.   Hypocrisy 22:28  |  tarek 22/06/09
      41.   Good - Room for improvement 23:18  |  Matty Groves 22/06/09
      42.   Netanyahu`s remark reveals his tenuous grasp on reality 23:29  |  Apratheid 22/06/09
      43.   SPOT ON ,MR NETANYAHU!!! 23:37  |  Ian 22/06/09
      44.   Obviosly none of ou know anything about Iran. The election was 23:53  |  Apartheid 22/06/09
      45.   #26 American NUTJOB in NY 00:43  |  *BEN JABO 23/06/09
      46.   # 17 Susan: wrong recall of history on democracies fighting 01:07  |  Darth Zaider (Ed) 23/06/09
      47.   The Peace Dividend 03:21  |  Shaul Ben-Yimini 23/06/09
      48.   Whisky/Bravo - The same could`ve been said about SSR! 03:33  |  Mark Lincoln 23/06/09
      49.   Israel wants 03:34  |  Guy from NYC 23/06/09
      50.   change in "israel" would bring peaceful ties with arab states 07:21  |  eric 23/06/09
      51.   #26 American in NY 16:57  |  *BEN JABO 23/06/09
      52.   American in NY - My abject apologies 19:31  |  *BEN JABO 23/06/09
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