News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) In an interview with the Italian daily La Stampa, Israel's parliament speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) said that the Palestinian Authority (PA) would be given autonomy but not a real state. "The Palestinian state cannot be a real state, but it will have only autonomy. It would have the sovereignty but not the ability to threaten Israel's existence," he said. Rivlin arrived in Rome on Monday for talks with Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini and Italy's parliament speaker Gianfranco Fini.

The Knesset speaker said he was against the division of Jerusalem. "To divide once again the sovereignty of Jerusalem would mean to transform it into a Middle Eastern Belfast, a volcano that would spark conflict in the entire region," Rivlin said. In regard to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and the Gaza-ruling Hamas, Rivlin said that Israel is not willing to reach an agreement solely with Abbas who "has understood that peace with Israel is a strategic need for the Palestinian people," but "does not control Hamas, which rejects Israel's right to exist."