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Netanyahu
to Sarkozy: Jerusalem will Never
be Divided
Opposition
leader Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier Tuesday during a meeting with
visiting Sarkozy that Jerusalem would never be divided in a future
peace agreement with the Palestinians. "Jerusalem is the historic
capital of the Jewish people. Jerusalem will not be divided, and only
Israeli control in the city will guarantee freedom of worship for all
religions," Netanyahu, the chairman of the right-wing Likud party,
said.
Netanyahu's
comments came after the French president told the Knesset on Monday
that the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and a
Palestinian state was a condition for peace. The Palestinians, he said,
"have the right to a viable state of their own." He added that such a
state would "ensure Israel's security."
Sarkozy also met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem on
Tuesday, at the end of a three-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian
territories.
Sarkozy is slated to get a look at a new electric car, a French-Israeli
project, in an event to be hosted by President Shimon Peres.
His first presidential visit to Israel, accompanied by his wife Carla
Bruni and eager photojournalists, has been marked by mutual warmth and
expressions of a renaissance in Franco-Israeli relations. Much of the
visit has been carried live on Israeli television, in particular a tour
of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
Sarkozy also told the Knesset that Israel must end its settlement
activity in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and said that there would
be "no peace without a solution to the problem of the Palestinian
refugees," a key sticking point in negotiations between the two sides.
The French leader also urged Israel to "encourage legislation that
would entice settlers to leave the West Bank."
He also spoke strongly against the Iranian nuclear threat. "A nuclear
Iran is intolerable," Sarkozy told the lawmakers. "Anyone trying to
destroy Israel will find France blocking the way."
The electric powered vehicle that will be presented to Sarkozy on
Tuesday is at the center of a joint venture between automotive giant
Renault-Nissan, which is building the car, and Project Better Place of
Israel, which came up with the business model and is supposed to
operate a recharging grid to be built across Israel beginning in 2009.
Source: Ha'aretz
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