Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Israel did not want to fight in Gaza or Lebanon again, nor would it get involved in the Syrian war, stressing that this was the Israeli approach at the current time.
The minister, however, warned that his country would not allow Iranians to acquire nuclear arms or to build a military base in Syria that would threaten Israel’s stability.
Speaking during a political seminar on the regional situation in the Middle East hosted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Lieberman said that Israel was seeking a comprehensive solution with the Arab world to settle the Palestinian issue.
He stressed, on the other hand, that there “is no peace, and no peace process,” pointing out that the real conflict “is not between Israel and the Palestinians, but between Israel and the Arab world.”
“The Palestinians do not have the ability to sign an agreement alone. There is no Palestinian Authority at present, but different factions on the ground in different places,” he stated.
Lieberman went on to say that peace in the Middle East was not realistic, but an illusion. “The biggest problem in the Middle East is not Israel, but its Arab society,” he noted.
The Israeli defense minister stressed that his country did not want to fight a new war in Gaza or Lebanon, nor to get involved in the Syrian war, but wanted to live in peace. He added that Israel’s goal at the present time was to develop security, economy and society.
On the Iranian issue, Lieberman said that Israel would not allow Tehran and the Iranian regime to possess nuclear weapons or to build military bases or warplanes in Syria that threaten Israeli security.
He hoped that Iran had the necessary intelligence not to provoke Israel and create a new conflict, saying: “We have no ambitions to hurt Iran.”
