News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) President-elect Shimon Peres, whose inauguration ceremony has just begun, is wasting no time in giving inflammatory interviews. Speaking with the Associated Press before the ceremony, Peres said "we must get rid of the Territories," using the left-wing terminology for parts of the Land of Israel liberated in 1967.

Peres, who had promised to be a President who would unite Israelis, claimed that the need for "getting rid" of Judea and Samaria reflected the will of the majority of Israelis. "I won't hide my views," he said. "However, I will respect the minority and I will not insult them. I have changed my job but not my beliefs."