Israel’s Peres calls on Arab League to intervene in Syria

Israeli President Shimon Peres called for the Arab League to intervene in Syria in an historic address to the European Parliament on Tuesday.

Peres said any intervention by Western forces would be perceived as a foreign interference and that the international community “cannot stand by when a massacre is carried out by the Syrian president against his own people and his own children.”

“The Arab League can and should form a provisional government in Syria to stop the massacre. UN should support the Arab League to build an Arab force in blue helmets,” he told MEPs in Strasbourg, becoming the first Israeli head of state to address the chamber since Chaim Herzog 28 years ago.

Peres, whose role is ceremonial, said that would be the best option to end the conflict and stop chemical weapons falling into the wrong hands.

He also urged the EU blacklist the Lebanese militant Shia group, Hezbollah, which is strongly backed by Iran.

“Call terror terror. Save Lebanon from terrorist madness, save the Syrian people from Iran’s proxies. Save your citizens and ours from Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a terror organisation, not a political movement,” he told lawmakers.

Both Israel and the United States have been pushing the European Union to take such action against Hezbollah, which is already blacklisted by Washington.

Peres also said the formation of a new Israeli government would provide an opportunity to renew peace talks with the Palestinians.

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