Israel agrees that a comprehensive peace agreement with the Palestinians will entail a two-state solution, Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said.

    "The government of Israel, because of our democratic tradition and because of the continuity principle, is going to abide by all previous commitments the former government took, including the acceptance of the road map to peace which will lead to a two-state solution," Ayalon said, referring to the internationally backed 2002 peace plan.

    Ayalon spoke in his Jerusalem office before a series of meetings Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government will hold abroad with foreign leaders. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman heads to Europe tomorrow and President Shimon Peres is scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama on May 5. Netanyahu will visit Washington later this month.

    The prime minister has so far stopped short of endorsing Palestinian statehood. Netanyahu, who was skeptical of peace talks held with the Palestinians by his predecessor Ehud Olmert, has said he will focus on improving the Palestinian economy in the West Bank.

    Most Explicit Statement

    Ayalon's statement, the most explicit acceptance of the two-state idea from Netanyahu's new government, was meant to ensure Israel wouldn't be blamed for dragging its feet on peace negotiations, said Shmuel Sandler, a political scientist at Bar Ilan University outside Tel Aviv.

    "They realized that it is not worthwhile not to accept this and pay dearly for it internationally," Sandler said in a phone interview. "Why should they be punished for something that is very theoretical?"

    Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said today the resumption of peace talks with Israel is dependent on that nation's acceptance of a two-state solution.

    "Our conditions and requests are within the context of a two state-solution, the halt of settlements and the demolition of homes," Abbas said in a statement after meeting Jordan's King Abdullah. Abbas will travel to Egypt and some Arab countries before visiting the U.S. for talks on May 28.

    Lieberman's four-day trip to Europe will take him to Italy, France, the Czech Republic and Germany. Lieberman said on April 1 that Israel isn't bound by commitments it made at a U.S.- sponsored Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in 2007 and instead would follow the "road map" guidelines.

    EU Relations

    In March, European Union foreign ministers said that the bloc's ties with Israel might suffer if Netanyahu's government ditches the two-state principle for ending the conflict.

    "If Israel is interested in Italy's support in Europe, it must prove its friendship and demonstrate appropriate policies," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in an interview with the daily Yedioth Ahronoth today.

    "We do want to see peace and do understand that long-term peace and stability will entail a two-state solution," the 53-year-old Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., said.

    Iran is "trying to derail" any progress toward peace, Ayalon said, by supporting the Gaza Strip-based Islamic militant Hamas movement and the Shiite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.

    He called for stronger international sanctions against Iran to pressure it to halt its nuclear program, which Israel says is aimed at building a nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear program is meant to produce electricity.

    Iran "Vulnerable"

    "Iran, with all due respect, is a very vulnerable country, vulnerable economically, vulnerable socially, vulnerable politically," Ayalon said. "So far they have been able to show their intransigence because they were not presented with a dilemma.

    "Once a price is exacted from Iran for their intransigence and flagrant violations of all their obligations, I believe that could change their mind."

    Iran has defied three sets of United Nations sanctions against its nuclear-enrichment activities, denying Western suspicions that it's seeking weapons capability. European Union governments are set to back President Barack Obama's bid to engage Iran in dialogue, a draft EU statement said April 27.

    The talks "shouldn't be open-ended," Ayalon said. "The time should be measured by months and not years."

    Ayalon, who is a member of Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party, says the Moldovan-born foreign minister could play an important role in getting Russia to impose restrictions on Iran as well.

    "Without Russia we can't have a full and hermetic structure to stop the Iranians," he said. "I believe that if Russia is on board, China will not stay behind."

    Links to Syria

    Ayalon called Iran's links to Syria "very, very worrisome."

    Israel and Syria held Turkish-mediated, indirect talks last year that broke down after Israel launched a 22-day offensive in the Gaza Strip. Talks in 2000 collapsed over terms under which Israel would return the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau it captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.

    "Under the present circumstances I think it would be ill- advised," for Israel to hold direct talks with Syria, Ayalon said. "We would like to have assurances that at the end of the day the Syrians will stop supporting terror and also, no less importantly, the very radical regime in Tehran."

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