Senior U.S. official: Israel will not attack Iran's nuclear program

[bemildred]

Some interesting bits, which I tried to excerpt.

---

He said that Israel understands that the solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis has to be reached through diplomatic means. He said that destroying Iran's nuclear plants would be far more complicated than Israel's attack on the Iraqi facilities at Osirak in 1981, as in this case, there are more than 200 facilities.

---

According to the official, the U.S supports the establishment of a government of technocrats in the Palestinian Authority that would accept the principles presented by the Quartet - recognizing Israel, respecting prior agreements, and denouncing violence.

---

The U.S. government expects Israel to authorize a series of moves to strengthen Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. According to previous reports, these include the transfer of thousands of rifles from Egypt to Abbas' Presidential Guard for the purpose of deploying the Palestinian Bader Division from Jordan to the Gaza Strip.

---

The U.S. understands Israel's need to continue Israel Defense Forces intelligence gathering overflights into Lebanon to collect, the official said.

Haaretz