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"Only an hour ago, the new president of the United States made a phone call to Abu Mazen [Abbas] - the first international phone call of his presidency. It probably wasn't spur-of-the-moment, and I imagine that it was planned well in advance. But it shows that for the Americans, Abu Mazen is going to be the Palestinian address for the United States."

 Shalom expressed doubt about that choice, saying that the American push for democracy in the Middle East had empowered the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

 "Against the PLO it was a political battle, but against Hamas, it's a religious battle," Shalom continued. "They won't even say that this land is Palestinian land, nor will they say that it's Arab land. For them this is Muslim land and no one has the power to give it up. So who do we have to talk to?

"We have to decide, do we want a full democracy, which enables extremists, or something less than that, that gives us someone to talk to? Abu Mazen can't go to Gaza, and what we need to do, instead of the Saudi initiative, is embrace countries like Egypt and Jordan. We can even embrace the Saudis, but [Likud] will never agree to their peace plan."

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