Israel's ambassador to the United Nations criticized the U.S. administration on Wednesday for granting an entrance visa to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and allowing him to address the UN General Assembly.

The Israeli delegation to the General Assembly, including Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, boycotted Ahmadinejad, who has said he wants to wipe Israel off the map and dismissed the Holocaust as a myth.

"We didn't think it was correct to honor this man with our presence. I am very sorry that he was even allowed to speak at the UN," Danny Gillerman, Israel's ambassador to the UN, said.

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"I ask myself if the American administration didn't have an opportunity, even at the expense of violating its agreements with the UN, not to give an entrance visa to this man," Gillerman told Israel Radio.

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Ahmadinejad accused "some permanent members" of the UN Security Council of using the powerful body as a tool of "threat and coercion" to promote their own agendas.

The Iranian leader accused Western nations of guiding the Security Council's decisions on the conflict in Lebanon and on his own country's nuclear issues.

He said the Security Council has been "practically incapacitated" in its desire to reach a cease-fire in Lebanon during the conflict this past summer due to the Western nations' permanent positions on the council.

Ahmadinjad said Iran's nuclear activities are "transparent, peaceful and under the watchful eye" of United Nations inspectors, and reiterated his nation's commitment to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

He also accused the West of abusing the United Nations to try to deny Iran the right to peaceful nuclear technology which Western states enjoyed.

"The abuse of the Security Council, as an instrument of threat and coercion, is indeed a source of grave concern," he said.

He said the United States, Britain and others themselves benefited from nuclear energy and the fuel cycle. "Some of them have abused nuclear technology for non-peaceful ends including the production of nuclear bombs, and some even have a bleak record of using them against humanity."

Earlier, U.S. President George W. Bush accused Iran's rulers of spending their resources on funding terrorists and pursuing nuclear weapons and demanded that Iran abandon what he called "its nuclear weapons ambitions."

Ahmadinejad also referred to the Palestinian situation as a "great tragedy," and asked "could any member of the United Nations accept such a tragedy in his own homeland?"

Jordan: No end to violence until end of occupation
Jordan's King Abdullah II said Tuesday that until Israel ends its occupation of Palestinian lands and gives Palestinian their rights, the cycle of violence will continue in the region and its effects will be felt throughout the world.

"I come before you today with a deep sense of urgency," Abdullah told the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly. "Never has it been more important for the world community to act decisively for peace in my region."

He said the recent crises in the Middle East showed that "there can be no just global order when aggression and occupation are permitted to take the place of international law."

"Our youths are asking, 'where is the justice, where is the will of the global community?' We must answer them by establishing a lasting peace based on the international legality we have pledged to uphold," he said.

"This means a new focus on the core problem. The region's contemporary crises are outgrowths of a central grievance, felt throughout the Middle East and indeed the world. The grievance, plain and simply, is Israeli occupation and the denial, over decades, of Palestinian rights. Until we end that wrong, conflict will breed more conflict, year after year."

He reiterated a 2002 Arab League initiative that called for "an independent Palestinian state, living side-by-side with a secure Israel."

"Events show clearly that there can be no unilateral solution to the conflict. There must be a genuine partnership among all parties, in the context of international legality and justice," he said.

"We must make peace a priority. And we must do so now. No session of this
great institution could make a greater contribution to a future of justice and hope," he said.

Bush: We are not fighting Islam, but its extremists
In his address to the General Assembly on Tuesday, Bush said that the United States was not seeking to destroy Islam but to protect itself against those "who pervert Islam to sow death and destruction."

Bush insisted the world must support moderates in the Middle East over extremists. He sought to assure Muslims that the United States is not at war against Islam, saying "my country desires peace. Extremists in your midst spread propaganda claiming that the West is engaged in a war against Islam. This propaganda is false."

"We respect Islam, but we will protect our people from those who pervert Islam to sow death and destruction," he added.

Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Bush said he had directed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to lead a diplomatic effort aimed at getting Israel and the Palestinians to resolve their differences.

Bush said Rice would "engage moderate leaders across the region" to help Palestinians reform their security services and support Israeli and Palestinian leaders as they try to settle their dispute.

The U.S. leader accused Syria of turning itself into "a crossroads for terrorism," saying the country was becoming a "tool of Iran."

"In your midst, Hamas and Hezbollah are working to destabilize the region, and your government is turning your country into a tool of Iran," Bush told Syrians.

Bush also accused Iran's rulers of using their people's resources to fund terrorists and pursue nuclear weapons but, facing uncertain international support, vowed to seek a diplomatic solution.

Assailing the leaders of Iran and Syria, Bush told Iranians, "the greatest obstacle to this future is that your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear weapons."

Secretary-General Kofi Annan delivered an emotional and searing farewell to world leaders on Tuesday, appealing for nations and peoples to unite to combat widespread contempt for human rights, religious divisions spawned by terrorist fears, brutal conflicts, and an unjust world economy.

Annan's opening address to the UN General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting hit many issues on the ambitious agenda that leaders of the UN's 192 member nations confront - reviving a stalled Mideast peace process, curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions, getting U.N. peacekeepers into conflict-wracked Darfur and promoting democracy.

Ahmadinejad skips Bush's GA address
Iranian President Ahmadinejad, who has defended his country's right to peaceful nuclear technology, skipped Bush's speech, avoiding any possible contact with the U.S. leader as they spar over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

"Iran must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions," Bush declared after telling reporters he would push for sanctions if Tehran continued to stall on UN demands to suspend uranium enrichment, which the West suspects is aimed at making a bomb.

Bush has pressed Iran to halt uranium enrichment and return at once to
international talks on its nuclear program, threatening consequences if
Tehran does not.

French President Jacques Chirac said in his address that "dialogue must prevail" in the stand-off with Iran. In contrast to Bush, he told the assembly: "We do not aim to call regimes into question."

Ahmadinejad was scheduled to speak to the world body Tuesday evening. Earlier this month, Ahmadinejad proposed a debate with Bush at the General Assembly's ministerial meeting.

The White House did not respond to that suggestion but dismissed a previous TV debate proposal from Ahmadinejad as a "diversion" from serious concerns over Iran's nuclear program.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said neither he nor any other top U.S. official will be present Tuesday night for Ahmadinejad's address.

Bolton said the United States would have a "junior note-taker in the U.S. seat" and would later evaluate Ahmadinejad's remarks.

"Here is a man that denies the existence of the Holocaust," Bolton told FOX news television. "He's called for Israel to be wiped off the map."

Bolton also accused Ahmadinejad of speaking at a "charming seminar" called "The World without the United States."

The United States and Iran have not had formal diplomatic ties since shortly after the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran and are in the midst of a dispute over Iran's alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Chirac warns against setting deadline for Iran
Iran's defiant pursuit of a nuclear program was at the top of the agenda when Bush met earlier with French President Chirac at the Waldorf Astoria hotel where the U.S. delegation was staying.

The French leader is balking at the U.S. drive to sanction Iran for defying Security Council demands that it freeze uranium enrichment.

Chirac said on Tuesday he opposed setting a deadline for sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, saying dialogue should be allowed to run its course.

Chirac said he and Bush were on the same wavelength about the terms for starting nuclear negotiations with Tehran.

Asked how long major powers should wait for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment before imposing sanctions, he replied: "We are committed to a negotiation and therefore to dialogue, so we're not going to start by setting deadlines that are a few hours long. This is a process that is under way and I hope it will run its course."