BICOM

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday that Germany shared Israel’s goal of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, but they disagreed on how that should be achieved.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she said: “We are very convinced and strongly share Israel’s position that everything must be done to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Where we are not always united is on the path to this goal.” She also said Iran must remove its troops from Syria and reduce its influence over the country “toward zero,” although she acknowledged that this is “a difficult project”. Merkel added that: “There is absolutely no question that the fact that Iranian forces are standing near the Golan Heights is a threat to Israel.” She also confirmed that she had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the issue. The press conference took place after a bilateral meeting between the two leaders and the annual meeting of senior Israeli and German Government ministers.

Asked about potential Israeli-Palestinian talks Merkel said: “We favour and stand for the project of a two-state solution. There can be many solutions, of course, but I still think that [two states] is the most sensible solution. In this context, I expressed on Germany’s behalf the concern regarding the settlement policy, which makes efforts to achieve a two-state solution more difficult.” The Chancellor said Netanyahu asked her to “continue to encourage the Palestinian side to come to the negotiation table,” and she pledged to call Abbas in the near future to “ask him several questions, including about the situation in Gaza.”

Netanyahu paid tribute to the friendship between the two countries and repeated his opposition to the nuclear agreement with Iran. He said the Iranian threat in the region is pushing Israel and Arab states closer “as never before,” which “paves the way for peace between Israel and the Arab states”. He added: “I think ultimately it will help us reach peace with our Palestinian neighbours if they decide to embrace peace instead of trying to squeeze Israel into impossible conditions that won’t allow it to effectively survive here.”