WASHINGTON, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said here on Wednesday that his country would be a "willing partner in peace" with the Palestinians, but would draw its own borders on the West Bank if it concluded it had no negotiating partner.
Addressing a joint meeting of Congress, Olmert said "We cannot wait for the Palestinians forever."
If the Palestinians "ignore our outstretched hand for peace," Olmert said. "Israel will seek other alternatives to promote our future and the prospects of hope in the Middle East."
Olmert said the West Bank withdrawal was vital to Israel's security and that the cause of peace could not go forward without American support.
U.S. President George W. Bush, who met with Olmert on Tuesday, gave qualified support to Olmert's proposal to withdraw from a huge part of the West Bank, but retain key areas where there are Jewish settlements.
On Iran, Olmert urged the United States and the international community to take action against Iran's nuclear program, which he termed as "an existential threat" for Israel.
"A nuclear Iran is an intolerable threat to the peace and security of the world," he said. "If we don't take Iran's bellicose rhetoric seriously now, we will be forced to take its nuclear aggression seriously later," the prime minister said.
The United States and its allies have been accusing Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon while Iran insists its atomic program is peaceful.
Bush on Tuesday said that "in the event of any attack on Israel, the United States will come to Israel's aid."
In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said on Wednesday that Iran had repeatedly announced readiness to hold talks with the United States unconditionally over Iran's nuclear program, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"As the Russians announced, negotiations (over the nuclear issue) should take place without any preconditions," Asefi was quoted by IRNA as saying at the Majlis (Parliament). Enditem
