At an international summit attended by President Shimon Peres on Sunday, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa echoed remarks made by chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, saying that Israel, not Iran, posed a nuclear threat to the Middle East.
Most Arab states do not feel that Iran is a main issue of concern, Moussa said at the World Economic Forum in Jordan, adding that the major nuclear threat was posed by Israel, not Teheran.
Moussa went on to stress that a West Bank settlement freeze should be a precondition for negotiations with Israel.
The Arab League head called on Arab leaders who plan to meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to demand that Israel freeze building in settlements and stop demolishing Arab homes.
"A freeze on settlements must be a precondition for negotiations," he said.
Peres responded to Moussa’s comments, and told Israel Radio that the Arab League secretary general "must first ask Iran why it wants to wipe Israel off the map and then worry about nuclear weapons."
On the sidelines of the summit on Saturday, Erekat said that Israel, and not Iran, posed a threat to peace and stability in the Middle East.
"There is a line in Israel saying that Iran is a danger to the region. This is absurd and unacceptable," said Erekat, according to Iran’s FARS news agency.
The senior Palestinian official reportedly railed against "the Israeli occupation," calling it "the real threat," and "the gate to instability and destruction in the region."
Erekat emphasized that Israel was deliberately trying to portray Iran as a threat in a order to divert international attention from its refusal to accept the establishment of a Palestinian state.
He went on to call for an end to the Israeli occupation, and said the Palestinians must assume their responsibilities by "helping themselves rather than turning to others for help."
Later on Sunday, Peres is scheduled to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah.
The leaders are expected to discuss the Arab peace initiative and efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear program, Army Radio reported.
Peres will return to Israel on Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, Hussein a-Sheikh, the Palestinian Authority’s minister for civil affairs, said that he hoped US President Barack Obama would exert pressure on Netanyahu in their meeting on Monday to immediately freeze settlement activity and agree to the principle of a two-state solution.
A-Sheikh told Israel Radio that PA President Mahmoud Abbas had not refused to meet Netanyahu, but said it was vital such a meeting leads to real results that give hope to both Israelis and Palestinians.