Brazil boosts Middle East credentials with visits

Peres met President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for talks on the stalled Middle East peace process.

Brazil's ambitions to play a peacebroker role in the Middle East were boosted Wednesday, as it hosted Israeli President Shimon Peres and prepared to receive his Palestinian and Iranian counterparts.

Peres, halfway through a four-day visit to Brazil, met President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for talks on the stalled Middle East peace process and to sign several bilateral accords, including one on extraditions.

- We are ready for an imperfect peace, (rather) than a perfect continuation of bloodshed and war - Peres told a joint media conference, reiterating his support for a future Palestinian state standing alongside Israel in peace.

- The only thing we asked is for them (the Palestinians) to guarantee the security. -

Still, the Israeli leader signaled no change over his country's contentious policy of continuing to build settlements on occupied Palestinian land despite strong international and Arab condemnation.

- To be fair about this, there are hundreds of thousands of settlers, many of them have built their houses, and you cannot move them like this - he said.

Lula, asked about hosting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on November 23, days after the Israeli president's visit, said - it's necessary to hold more dialogue and seek out more figures who want to contribute - to a future peace accord.

- We are not afraid to speak with whoever we have to, as long as in the conversation there is a word that can contribute to building durable peace in the Middle East - said Lula.

The Brazilian president has extended cordial relations to Ahmadinejad at a time when he has been shunned by much of the international community, with Israel and the West leading charges that Tehran aims to produce nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear energy program.

Brazil maintains that Iran has a right to peaceful atomic energy. It opposes further sanctions on Tehran and has not joined in voicing suspicions over the controversial nuclear program.

Peres was due to travel to Argentina on Friday, after stopping by in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to talk up investment and trade with Brazil.

A week later, on November 20, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas is due to arrive in Brazil for talks with officials.

On Tuesday, Abbas -- who is mulling resigning over the impasse of peace efforts so far -- again voiced his demand that Israel stop its settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem.

- We see Israel confiscating land, building settlements and Judaizing Jerusalem with unprecedented speed... and then they ask that we return to negotiations - Abbas told a huge crowd of Palestinians marking the fifth anniversary of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's death.

- The return to negotiations depends on Israel adhering to the terms of reference of peace and that means halting all settlements, including natural growth and Jerusalem. -