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Settled by late september? larry, the whole settlement issue was supposed to be discussed in the final peace what are called final status peace negotiations, which means how to achieve a final peace, this is one of the issues we have to resolve. seven months ago, i did something quite extraordinary, that is, no other prime minister in israel s history did this. i put on a temporary freeze of ten months on new construction in the settlements in order to encourage the palestinians to get into the peace talks. seven months have passed by. they don t come in. they say, oh, we need, now, another extension. and the answer is, right now, listen, we don t need any pretext and preconditions. let s just get into the talks. and one of the things we ll discuss, right away, is the issue of settlements. that s what i propose doing. in any case, what is important is to get down and talk. that s the important thing. larry: president clinton once ....
Position of friendship and basic alliance that is there. really continued by all leaders, wherever they are. that will be the case yesterday. mr. prime minister, have there been times though since president obama took office where you felt that friendship or that tie weaken? no, a lot of things that the public is not aware of, that throughout the year and some that i ve been in office, we ve had continuous cooperation in the fields of security, in the fields of intelligence, in the fields of vital strategic importance to israel and the united states. and that seems to go unnoticed or unremarked. people always focus on differences of views that we may have. they re minor compared to the things that unite us. we have israel is the only democracy in the middle east. ....
So, i changed that policy and i m glad i did it, because i think there s clarity. and there s common sense in it. i m sorry that not everyone can see that. i think fair-minded people can see it and, in fact, do. does it pain you personally to have a former president of the united states be so critical of your country? well, i m sorry he thinks that. i think the majority, the overwhelming majority of americans, see things differently. i think i think successful presidents, including this one, see things differently. and the important thing is to is to be true to the facts. the facts are that israel was attacked from gaza. the fact is that we had that iran sends weapons into gaza so they d be fired on us. the fact is that this regime, hamas, is holding an israeli soldier that they kidnapped for ....
Were at the lowest ebb in 35 years. do you buy that? look, no, i don t. i think the support for israel and the american people and the intertwining of interests and cooperation between our governments is increasing all the time. it s obscured by the bumps on the road. there s no question the road is going towards and going upwards. i have no doubt about that. larry: all right, let s get into some things. mr. prime minister, you say that you want to have direct talks with the palestinians. so when are you and president abbas of the palestinian authority going to sit down? when s it going to happen? it s so frustrating to the world. that s a very that s an excellent question that i ve been asking for a year and a quarter, ever since i got into office. on day one that i got in, i said president abbas, the palestinian president, meet me and let s ....
You know, i used to teach him. he is now 15. but in the last couple of years, he teaches me. so, yes, i draw enormous reservoirs of strength and relaxation. i think that is needed for all leaders, but especially for the leaders of israel. larry: four years ago, the former prime minister ariel sharon suffered a stroke. is he still alive? do you ever go to see him? what is that story? it s a tragedy. ariel sharon was a great leader of israel. in my mind, the greatest general israel has had in modern times, has contributed a lot to the country and, unfortunately, has suffered, as you say, the stroke. we can all pray that somehow he miraculously recover, but that has not happened yet. but i think the people of israel value his contributions. ....