News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Vice Prime Minister Chaim Ramon vowed Friday morning that Israel will not agree to divide Jerusalem before the Palestinian Authority (PA) proves that it can control terror and guarantee security. He told Voice of Israel government radio that "there could be no better partner for peace than PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas ." However, he immediately added that Abbas's ability to live up to commitments is "problematic."

The Vice Prime Minister, who is the chief architect of the division of the city and who is a close confidante of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, also promised that no plan will be carried out before "there is mutual recognition" of the rights of Jews and Arabs who live beyond the 1949 Armistice Lines.