Azerbaijan, Baku / Тrend corr K. Ramazanova / Israel intends to make peace with Palestine despite statements by Teheran on the futility of the negotiations which took place this week in Annapolis through the initiative of the US President George Bush and the wish by HAMAS to resist peace between Palestine and Israel.
"All countries in the world want Palestine and Israel to achieve an agreement. The two countries also want to discuss the problem despite Iran's unwillingness," Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan Artur Lenk said to Trend on 29 November.
The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said earlier that the conference on the Middle East settlement which took place in Annapolis, US, was a failure. "Organizers of the conference carry out a political propaganda and say that Arabic countries sat down at the same table with Zionist regime ( Israel). Let a referendum be held in the Arabic countries in order to reveal whether the peoples in those countries had agreed to participate in the conference," he said.
The Annapolis forum included delegations from over 40 countries, including Russia which was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Representatives of 12 Arabic countries, as well as the administration of the League of Arabic Countries, were in attendance.
As a result of the forum, the United States, Israel and the Palestine administration announced the establishment of a trilateral mechanism for controlling the fulfilment of the requirements of the plan on the Middle East settlement - Road Map. The United States undertook monitoring and estimation to fulfil its obligations by Israel and Palestinian National Administration (PNA).
All countries, including Europe, Middle East, as well as the Muslim world, Arabic and Christian countries, and certainly Israel, wish for a peaceful process between Palestine and Israel to be restored, the Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan noted.
"Ahmadinejad may make whatever statements he wants. But all Iran's neighbours participated in the Annapolis conference, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Palestine, Jordan and Iraq," the Ambassador said. " Israel will do its best to achieve an agreement and to solve the problem by the end of 2007. Other countries, including Azerbaijan, support Israel and Palestine in this way,"
Commenting on the position of the Islamic movement against Palestine (HAMAS) which had stated that the Annapolis negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli delegations without HAMAS are futile and they would not let the interests of the Palestinian nation be violated, and urged Israel to make concessions on the establishment of a Palestinian state, Lenk said: "HAMAS, which keeps Gaza under control, still believes that violence, terror and suicide are the way to settle the problem."
According to the Ambassador, the way to improve the live of Palestinians is through negotiation and peace.