News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Speaking to diplomats assembled in his Jerusalem residence, President Shimon Peres said Thursday that Israel’s history and conflict with the Palestinian Authority could have been dramatically different if Arab leaders had accepted the United Nations partition plan of 1947.  “If the Arabs had accepted the UN’s 1947 partition plan, we would not have needed to wait for Annapolis” to reach a peace deal, he said.

Peres went further, saying that if Arabs had accepted the partition plan, there would be a state called “Palestine” next to Israel.  In addition, he said, “all the people who were killed in wars would be alive today.”