FM: No agreement to J'lem freeze

Israel has not agreed to freeze construction in east Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday. He said life in the capital would continue as in any other city in Israel.

Similar comments were recently made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite US envoy George Mitchell's announcement that proximity talks with the Palestinians had begun and are based on an Israeli promise not to build in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo.

"Jerusalem is a united city, which is open to everyone, Jews, Christians and Muslims, and so it will be in the future as well," Lieberman said on Jerusalem Day.

Regarding the proximity talks, the foreign minister said negotiations for peace are a long and complex process that can take some time. He emphasized the importance of peaceful talks and said that at no point, no matter what difficulties may present themselves, should violence or terror be employed.

Lieberman added that a stable peace can be achieved in the region, and that Israel has already proven in the past its desire and ability to make peace with its neighbors

'Arms-laden plane meant for Hamas'

Lieberman also told the reporters that an aircraft loaded with North Korean weapons seized in Bangkok in December was bound for Hamas and Hezbollah.

The foreign minister said North Korea, Syria and Iran are cooperating as a new "axis of evil" and pose the biggest threat to world security because they are building and spreading weapons of mass destruction.

"We saw this kind of cooperation only two or maybe three months ago with the North Korean plane in Bangkok with huge numbers of different weapons with the intention to smuggle these weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah," Lieberman told reporters in Tokyo.

On December 12, Thai authorities seized a plane with 35 tons of weapons on board from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang when it landed in Bangkok.

Flight documents indicated the plane's destination was Iran, but officials there denied they were importing weapons. North Korea is barred under UN sanctions from exporting weapons.

Analysts have said that while the aircraft may have been heading for Iran, the weapons could actually have been earmarked for radical Middle Eastern groups like Hamas and Hezbollah which Iran has bankrolled and supplied with weapons in the past.

Lieberman did not elaborate on his claims that the weapons were destined for those two groups. He said that Iran should be dealt tough sanctions by the UN Security Council.

"Iran is not Israel's problem. It is the biggest threat to the world," he said. "We think the best way (to deal with it) is tough sanctions from the Security Council framework."