No stopping settlements, Israeli PM says

Olmert calls for Iran sanctions on Japan trip

TOKYO (Agencies)

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert signaled in a Japanese television interview broadcast on Monday that construction of settlements, which largely angers Palestinians, would not be stopped.

Olmert, who arrived in Japan later in the day for a three-day visit, expressed his unwillingness to freeze construction of new homes amid the latest development in an occupied east Jerusalem settlement.

"First of all it is difficult (to stop construction) because you are talking about living entities," Olmert told broadcaster NHK before his departure for Tokyo.

"You are talking about people living there. They need to live, they need to express their desire to live. They have children, they want to get married, they want to have homes."

Israel began constructing 66 new homes last month in Maaleh Hazeitim, the Ras al-Amud area of east Jerusalem which Israel occupied and annexed in the 1967 war and which Palestinians want as the capital of their future state.

The development comes as Israel and the Palestinians are engaged in the most serious peace talks in years aimed at solving the thorniest issues of the Middle East conflict, including the future status of Jerusalem.

The settlement construction has also drawn strong criticism from the United States, which has backed the renewed peace talks which were relaunched at an international peace conference in the US city of Annapolis last November.

Olmert said he was prepared to make "painful concessions" if a peace process "will lead to a full, comprehensive, permanent, free of terror peace."

Iran

Olmert also called for new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear drive as he started a rare visit to Japan, which maintains trade ties with the Islamic republic.

"I hope that further sanctions will be taken against Iran," Olmert told reporters on his plane as he arrived for the four-day stay that will include talks with his counterpart Yasuo Fukuda and an audience with Emperor Akihito.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Friday in its latest report that it had made "quite good progress" in its four year-probe into the Iranian nuclear drive.

But crucially, the nuclear watchdog headed by Mohamed ElBaradei said it was still not in a position to determine if Iran's nuclear drive was peaceful.

"The ElBaradei report shows that Iran is pursuing its nuclear program. If the report had been drafted by Israel, it would have been much clearer," Olmert said.

"The basic fact doesn't change. There is a plan to make non-conventional weapons and it must be stopped," he said.

Japan has maintained cordial ties with Iran both before and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which transformed Tehran from one of the Israel's closest friends to a vociferous foe.

Japan is dependent on the Middle East for nearly all of its oil. Tokyo has taken a lower profile than its Western allies in pressuring on its nuclear drive, although in 2006 pulled out of a project to develop Iran's largest onshore oil field.

Olmert suggested a link, which has been alleged before, between Iran and Japan's arch-rival North Korea, which tested an atom bomb in 2006.

"Iran is the epitome of recklessness, of extremity, of irresponsibility on the highest political level," Olmert told Japanese public broadcaster NHK ahead of his visit.

"And I think North Korea as well. The combination of these two together is certainly dangerous for the stability of the region," he added.

Japan has been seeking a greater role in the Middle East peace process in recent years in line with its aspirations for larger global influence. It has been a major donor the Palestinian Authority and spearheaded a project to create jobs in the West Bank by building an agro-industrial park.

Olmert is the first Israeli prime minister since 1997 to visit Japan and his trip is largely aimed at stepping up business with the world's second largest economy.

Olmert traveled to Tokyo ahead of a meeting of the five permanent members of the Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- along with Germany on possibly stepping up sanctions on Iran.