US Vice President Joe Biden, who is in Israel for ‘proximity talks’ between Israelis and the Palestinians, has reiterated Washington’s commitment to Israel’s security.

There is absolutely no space between the two sides in terms of Israel’s security, Biden assured in a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres.

The Israeli president for his turn said Tel Aviv trusted the US administration and also called on Washington to “protect Israel against Tehran’s nuclear threat.”

Biden, who is on a four-day tour of the Middle East, expressed optimism on the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

“I hope the beginning of what is referred to as indirect or proximity talks, I hope it is a vehicle, a vehicle by which we can begin to allay that layer of mistrust that has built up in the last several years,” Biden said.

Biden, who also met with Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, is due to travel to the West Bank on Wednesday to hold talks with the Palestinian Authority leaders.

The visit comes one day after Israeli authorities announced plans to build 112 new housing units in the occupied West Bank, prompting warnings from the Palestinian negotiators against sabotaging peace efforts.

The construction plans come in contrast to a 10-month freeze Israel announced in November on its illegal settlement activity in the West Bank.

But Washington defended the decision, saying it was not in breach of the November moratorium.

Israeli President Shimon Peres declares Tehran as the main obstacle to the creation of a viable Palestinian State.

“The big problem today is Iran,” He said in an interview with German television channel, ARD.

The 86-year-old politician who arrived in the German capital of Berlin on an official visit to mark the so-called ‘International Holocaust Remembrance Day,’ was especially critical of Iran’s support for the Islamic resistance movements in the region, namely Hamas and Hezbollah.

Iran’s connections with the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas, he claimed, has until now prevented the creation of a Palestinian state.

Observers in the region, however, insists that Israel’s preconditions on the creation of a Palestinian state render a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian state impossible.

Tel Aviv says a future Palestinian state would have to be demilitarized, cede control of its airspace to Israel and recognize the territory occupied and run by the regime in Tel Aviv as the ‘Jewish homeland.’

Israel also geographically separates Gaza and the West Bank, strangling trade and other exchanges between the two territories at will.

“Iran supports Hezbollah, which has divided Lebanon,” Peres claimed. “They bought 80,000 missiles. We must refer to the source, to the heart of the problem.”

According to observers, the Israeli president is infamous for making baseless claims during his foreign tours in efforts to demonize Hezbollah and Hamas. Such claims have been refuted and condemned by Lebanese officials and other world leaders, namely the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erodogan.

Referring to efforts to contain Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, the Israeli leader also expressed concern for a world where “nuclear proliferation is no longer controllable.”

Israel, the sole possessor of nuclear warheads in the Middle East, accuses Tehran of making efforts to build a nuclear bomb and has openly threatened Iran with military strikes should the country continue enriching uranium.

As one of the four countries that have refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Tel Aviv has maintained the policy of neither admitting nor denying its possession of nuclear warheads. However, it is widely believed that Israel has some 200 nuclear warheads in its arsenal.

The doctrine of nuclear ambiguity has enabled Israel to deter foes for decades in a region with only one alleged nuclear power.

In order to maintain its military advantage, Tel Aviv insists on preventing other Muslim countries, especially in the Middle East, from acquiring nuclear capabilities while remaining outside of the international nuclear non-proliferation system.

Peres’ visit to Germany comes after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Chancellor Angela Merkel last week in a bid to press Berlin to sell six Dolphin-class diesel submarine to Tel Aviv.

Israel had previously received three submarines as a donation from the government of the then German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

The Dolphin submarines are among the most sophisticated and capable submarines in the world that could be equipped with nuclear missiles.

Built in German shipyards for the Israel Navy, the submarine is capable of carrying American-supplied Harpoon cruise missiles equipped with nuclear warheads.

While the restrictive German export regulations bar the sale of weapons to crisis areas, the German government has justified the submarine sale by invoking its “special responsibility” towards Tel Aviv.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a “symbol of resistance” who raises Latin American nations’ spirit in their fight against imperialism.

“I can say that you are a hero and a symbol of resistance in the fight against imperialism,” IRNA quoted Chavez as saying in a ceremony held to welcome the Iranian President.

Ahmadinejad arrived in Caracas on Wednesday on the fourth leg of his official visit to Latin American and African countries, which also took him to Gambia, Brazil and Bolivia.

“Today you have arrived in a free country which was under US domination up to years ago just like Iran,” the Venezuelan President told Ahmadinejad.

Chavez condemned remarks made by Israeli President Shimon Peres during his recent Latin American tour who had said that Ahmadinejad and Chavez would disappear soon.

“We know what the state of Israel stands for — a murderous arm of the Yankee empire,” Reuters quoted Chavez as saying in a joint news conference.

“What the President of Israel said, we take as a threat,” he added.

“It is imperialism and arrogance that will disappear,” Chavez stated.

Chavez broke relations with Israel earlier this year to protest against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives in Brazil for a day-long visit aimed at boosting ties with Latin America’s largest economy.

Ahmadinejad was earlier in the Gambian capital, Banjul, where he received a warm welcome from Gambians. His stay in Gambia ended with promises of new economic cooperation between Tehran and Banjul.

Ahmadinejad will meet with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to discuss bilateral economic and political ties. The Iranian president is accompanied by a delegation of representatives from Iran’s private sector.

The visit comes days after Israeli President Shimon Peres wrapped up his regional tour which included the fifth largest country in the world to garner support against the Islamic Republic.

Peres’s week-long visit to Brazil and Argentina, the first trip to the countries after 40 and 20 years respectively, comes amid Iran’s amicable relationship with Latin American countries.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has thrown his weight behind Iran’s efforts to develop a nuclear program aimed at peaceful purposes in September’s UN gathering in New York.

Iran’s close ties with Latin America and particularly Brazil has been a cause of major concern both for Israel and its staunch ally, the US.

A day after Iran’s ambassador to Brazil announced that Ahmadinejad and a large entourage of 110 representatives from 65 companies were to visit Brasilia early May 2009, US Secretary of State dubbed the development as “quite disturbing.”

Blaming US President Barack Obama’s predecessor for “Iran gains” in the region, the top US diplomat noted “I don’t think in today’s world, where it’s a multi-polar world, where we are competing for attention and relationships with the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, that it’s in our interest to turn our backs on our own hemisphere.”

The Israeli president’s visit to the two Latin American countries, home to the largest Jewish community in the region, also led to angry demonstrations against the trip.

Demonstrators denounced Tel Aviv’s deadly offensive against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip which killed more than 1400 people, a large number of them women and children.

In Argentina, protestors carried placards which read “Get out of Argentina, murderer Shimon Peres”, “Death to Zionist-fascist Israel, officer of American imperialism in the Middle East, murderers of the Palestinian people!”.

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Israeli President had been hailed as “Shimon Hitler”, during protests. Demonstrators carried placards showing Peres, sporting a short Hitlerian mustache standing next to an Israeli flag upon which a swastika had been drawn.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has resisted Israeli pressure over an upcoming visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to his country.

“You do not build peace if you do not talk to all political and religious forces, those that want peace and those that oppose peace,” DPA quoted Lula as saying at a joint press conference with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Brasilia.

“We need to talk more and to find more partners who want to help in peace-building in the Middle East. And we do not refuse to talk to anyone, as long as in that chat we can get a word, or at least a comma, that might help build peace,” he said.

“You know that there will be no peace without political concessions,” the Brazilian President said, addressing Peres directly.

Ahmadinejad is expected in Brazil on November 23.

As the Iranian president is scheduled to set out on a state visit to Brazil in two weeks, Israeli President Shimon Peres has urged Brasilia to use its growing clout to curb Iran’s nuclear work.

“There needs to be a voice against destruction and against terror, a clear voice. I know that Brazil rejects threats, destruction, rejects terror, and the clear voice of Brazil has a strong echo in the entire world,” Peres said in a speech to the Brazilian Congress on Tuesday.

He claimed Iran was a ‘global danger’ and called on the South American powerhouse to play a role in international efforts to rein in Iran’s nuclear program.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to visit Brazil on November 23 to improve the cordial relations between Tehran and Brasilia, who share the same stance on peaceful nuclear activities.

“I don’t want to argue about the president of Iran on Brazilian soil, but we think his policies are a global danger,” Peres said.

“I cannot ignore that Iran makes weapons and wants to destroy Israel,” he added.

Iran faces pressure to halt its nuclear enrichment, as world powers claim its program is aimed at building a nuclear bomb.

Along with world powers, Israel — the sole possessor of a nuclear warhead in the Middle East — accuses Iran of efforts to develop a nuclear bomb, maintaining that a ‘nuclear Iran’ is the prime existential threat to its security.

Tehran, however, has denied seeking nuclear weapons and called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction from across the globe.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has defended Iran’s right to a peaceful nuclear program and opposed imposing sanctions against the country.

In September, he urged the West to stop pushing Iran over its nuclear program and called for dialogue and engagement with Iran to foster peace.

Israeli President Shimon Peres has urged acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas to reconsider his decision to step down.

Speaking at a public commemoration for Yitzhak Rabin, the former Israeli prime minister, Peres noted that along with Rabin, he and Abbas were among the signatories to the 1993 Oslo peace accord.

“We both signed the Oslo agreement,” The New York Times quoted Peres as saying on Saturday. “I turn to you as a colleague, don’t let go.”

Abbas on Thursday announced that he would not seek another term in an election scheduled for January.

The Oslo accord is considered as the first face-to-face agreement between Israel and political representatives of the Palestinian people.

It was intended to develop a framework for future negotiations between Israel and Palestinians.

After boycotting a slated speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the UN, Israel embarks on a mission to convince other delegates to follow suit.

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday said Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu would not be present during Ahmadinejad’s speech to the United Nations’ General Assembly scheduled for Wednesday.

Branding Iran’s second most important official as “one of the most evil and horrible people of modern history,” Peres predicted that Ahmadinejad would have no future in Iran’s political landscape.

Tel Aviv’s latest attacks on Ahmadinejad came after the Iranian president repeated his Holocaust comments, calling the killing of European Jews during World War II “a myth”.

“If the Holocaust, as you claim, is true, why don’t you allow a probe into the issue?,” he said.

Angered by the comments, Tel Aviv is trying to convince delegates to the UN General Assembly to stay away from the chamber when Ahmadinejad addresses the gathering.

“The simple fact of leaving the room during his speech, or not to be present during it, is a symbolic act,” Israel’s UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said on Tuesday.

Shalev told the army radio that the countries that Israel is “talking” to are simply reminded of the dangers associated with “this person and the country that he leads”.

The Israeli official’s comments indicted that the Americans have been convinced to stay away from the speech.

“We know that the Americans are aware of the dangers. They will be represented by low-level officials and their ambassador and her deputy will be absent,” Shalev said.

Israel — the sole possessor of a nuclear warhead in the Middle East — accuses Iran of conducting efforts to develop a nuclear bomb, maintaining that a “nuclear Iran” is the prime existential threat to its security.

Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction from across the globe.

Many believe that Tel Aviv’s enmity is rooted in a military doctrine that says Israel must maintain absolute military superiority in the region.

“The maintenance of Israel’s “qualitative military edge” over any combination of its potential adversaries has been a cornerstone of US Middle East policy for more than a decade,” Shawn L. Twing, editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs says.

Journalist Adriel Hampton believes Israel’s military advantage is “a cost-effective way of serving America’s national-security interests in this critically important region.”

Israeli President Shimon Peres is to meet his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev to discuss bilateral ties and the situation in the Middle East.

Peres will meet Medvedev in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi on Tuesday to discuss the volatile situation in the Middle East.

The discussions will focus on Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and preparations for an international conference on the Mideast due to be held in Moscow by the end of 2009.

Israel’s octogenarian president is visiting Russia for the first time since he assumed office in July 2007.

Russia’s official news agency RIA Novosti said that the meeting between the two presidents will be informal. The two sides will also discuss the development of bilateral relations, including cooperation in advanced technology, and the prospects for adopting new agreements on investment protection.

Russia is a member of the Quartet on the Middle East, which is involved in mediating the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The United States, the United Nations, and the European Union are the other members of the Quartet.