Netanyahu's father says son won't allow Palestinian statehood

PNA tells Obama no bargaining on settlements issue, Netanyahu asks Abbas for meeting in Beersheba

Solana calls on UN to unilaterally recognize Palestinian state

Splits inside Israeli leadership circles over new military reshuffle

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said Israel's calls on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to take part with it in its Mediterranean Sea operations as a "kind of military handing in order to beleaguer the Middle East issue and any chances for peace".

"We have been following up these (Israeli) calls and we wish to see well-awareness of the hazard involved in such calls in light of a current dispute and a clear Israeli intransigence and exaggerated talk about Israeli security, which should never be at the expense of security in the Mediterranean region," Moussa said in statements commenting on recent Israeli calls.

Israel is seeking to deepen its ties with NATO as a means of improving relations with its Arab neighbors, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Thursday.

Shalom was speaking after meeting in Jerusalem with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who is on what is being called a historic visit - the first ever by a NATO chief to Israel.

"This visit reflects the mutual goal shared by Israel and NATO, to deepen our ongoing ties and to realize the great potential for cooperation, which exists between us," Shalom said.

According to Shalom, Israel and NATO countries "share common democratic values and institutions" as well as "similar challenges and threats" including "global terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

"We have no doubt that Israel will gain immensely from closer ties with NATO, and we also believe that Israel has much to offer NATO in return," Shalom said.

"We also believe that greater engagement by NATO with the countries of the Middle East will enhance our effort to promote peaceful and normal contacts between Israel and our Arab neighbors, to the benefit of all," he said.

Israel participated in a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in December - the first of its kind at such a high level - as part of the Mediterranean Dialogue, a group that includes Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

That meeting was intended to enable NATO to beef-up its counter-terrorism efforts and other cooperation with Middle Eastern and North African countries.

But Scheffer said that participating in the Mediterranean dialogue was not "a first step to a future membership" in NATO.

In an interview with the Israeli daily Ha'aretz published on Thursday, Scheffer said that nevertheless, NATO looked forward to "an increased political and practical" relationship with Israel and a deepening of the "political dimension" of the dialogue.

Areas of "practical" cooperation, Scheffer said, could include intelligence, border security, naval patrols and the fight against arms smuggling.

According to the paper quoting unnamed sources, NATO - under pressure from France, Belgium and Britain - recently was forced to limit the scope of expanding relations with Israel in order to maintain an even-handed approach to countries in the region.

Scheffer said there are two principles that guide the Mediterranean Dialogue: "Each participant should be in a position to move its bilateral relation with NATO at its own rhythm" nevertheless, "given the sensitivities in the region, to keep everybody on board in this dialogue and to take account of the overall even-handedness of the process at large."

Experts gathered for a conference on Israel's national security in December suggested that closer Israel-NATO ties could even help solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But Scheffer said that greater NATO involvement, such as stationing peacekeeping troops, would only occur after an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is signed.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told a press conference only after Israel imposes a settlement freeze will peace talks resume.

Abbas made the statements at a press conference with the visiting Romanian President Traian Basescu in Ramallah Sunday. He called on Israel to endorse the two-state principal and impose a settlement freeze before embarking on talks for a permanent agreement, Ynetnews.com said.

A peaceful solution with Israel will lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, living in peace and security alongside Israel, the Maan News Agency quoted Abbas as saying.

The Palestinian leader's comments came in response to statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at a cabinet meeting in Beersheba Sunday where he called on Abbas to meet with him.

"Let us make peace, diplomatic peace and economic peace. Let us cooperate on these projects … let us meet here (Beersheba) and begin to advance peace for the benefit of both our peoples," a statement issued by Netanyahu's office quoted him as saying.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman Monday said Abbas' authority appears to be waning, prompting him to toughen his demands.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has said that he wants the U.N. to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank to put pressure on Israel if it cannot strike a peace with the Palestinians.

Israeli officials quickly dismissed the proposal.

Solana's spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said Monday that his weekend speech in London was meant to add to international efforts to put "maximum pressure" on both sides to get back to peace talks. She said his comments were made in a personal capacity and did not represent a shift in policy among European Union member states.

Solana said mediators trying to get the two sides back to peace talks should set a deadline for a peace accord and suggested the United Nations Security Council "proclaim the adoption of a two-state solution" and welcome a Palestinian state as "a full member of the U.N." if negotiations fail.

"If the two parties are not able to stick to it, then a solution backed by the International community should be put on the table," Solana said.

Solana did not address how a Palestinian state should be set up.

Solana, who will step down at the end of the year, represents the EU abroad and takes his orders from the 27 EU governments.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman dismissed his remarks as an attempt "to leave a legacy."

Lieberman told Israel Radio that previous peace accords in the Middle East "were never achieved by coercion but only by direct communication."

The resumption of peace talks is largely being held up at present by the issue of Israeli settlements, a major sticking point between the two sides. The Palestinians say they will go back to the table only when Israel freezes settlement construction, a call echoed by the U.S. But Israel insists on continuing some construction to allow for the growth of settler families.

Israel's new government has made new appointments in the army embarking on a reshuffle process among the regime's military officials.

Israel's Military Attaché in Washington, Major General Benny Gantz has been appointed as Deputy Chief of General Staff. Gantz would replace Major-General Dan Harel.

There are reports that Major General Yoav Galant, the Commander of the Southern Command who was a possible candidate for the post of deputy chief of general staff would be appointed as the head of Ground Forces Command, The Jerusalem Post reported on Friday.

Major-General Amos Yadlin will continue to run the Military Intelligence for a fifth year.

The appointments came amid reports that there is disagreement between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of General Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi over the issue with the latter favoring Commander of Northern Command Major-General Gadi Eizenkot as his deputy.

Meanwhile, in a controversial interview with Israel's Channel II News, the father of Prime Minister Netanyahu says that his son does not support a Palestinian state. The elder Netanyahu claims that the Prime Minister told him he deliberately placed impossible conditions before the Palestinians.

Channel 2 reported Wednesday night that the prime minister had told his father, 100-year-old historian Benzion Netanyahu, that he purposely set the conditions knowing that the Palestinians would never agree to them.

"He doesn't support [a Palestinian state]," the father said in a phone interview. "He set conditions that they won't ever accept. That's what he told me. He set the conditions and they won't accept even one of them," he said in an interview.

“He does not support. He supports such conditions that they (the Arabs) will never accept it. That is what I heard from him. I didn’t propose these conditions, he did. They will never accept these conditions. Not one of them.”

When asked about his own personal opinion about a Palestinian state, the senior Netanyahu stated, "Herzl and Nordau (fathers of the Zionist movement) did not labor to create a Palestinian state. This land is Jewish land, and not a land for the Arabs. There is no place here for Arabs, and there wont be a place here for the Arabs. They will never agree to the conditions".