Giuliani 'not in favour of Palestinian state'

Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani has said he was not in favour of helping to create a Palestinian state, contradicting current US foreign policy.

The former New York mayor, who leads polls for the Republican party’s nomination, said it was not in the interest of the US to help create “another state that will support terrorism”.

Giuliani, 63, said that, if elected president, he would consider talks with Iran, but only if its rulers understood the US might be prepared to destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

He also said that although America’s Western allies were “important”, the US “will often be best served by turning also to its other friends, old and new”.

In the essay, published in Foreign Affairs magazine, he said the Palestinian people needed “decent governance” before statehood.

“It is not in the interest of the United States, at a time when it is being threatened by Islamist terrorists, to assist the creation of another state that will support terrorism,” he wrote.

“Palestinian statehood will have to be earned through sustained good governance, a clear commitment to fighting terrorism, and a willingness to live in peace with Israel. America’s commitment to Israel’s security is a permanent feature of our foreign policy.”

As New York mayor in 1995, Mr Giuliani banned the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from any city-sponsored events held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations.

In the essay, he said the next US president would face three key foreign policy challenges – setting a course for victory in the terrorists’ war on global order, strengthening the international system the terrorists seek to destroy, and extending the system’s benefits.

Mr Giuliani argued that with a stronger defence, a determined diplomacy, and greater US economic and cultural influence, the next president could start to build a lasting, realistic peace.

Referring to Iran as an example, he wrote: “Holding serious talks may be advisable even with our adversaries, but not with those bent on our destruction or those who cannot deliver on their agreements.”

He said Iran has been “determined to attack the international system throughout its entire existence”, seizing British sailors earlier this year and taking US diplomats hostage in 1979.

But Tehran used the protection of the international system “when doing so suits it”, he said.

“This is not to say that talks with Iran cannot possibly work. They could - but only if we came to the table in a position of strength, knowing what we wanted.”

He went on: “The theocrats ruling Iran need to understand that we can wield the stick as well as the carrot, by undermining popular support for their regime, damaging the Iranian economy, weakening Iran’s military, and, should all else fail, destroying its nuclear infrastructure.”

On international relations, he added: “As important as America’s Western alliances are, we must recognise that America will often be best served by turning also to its other friends, old and new.

“Much of America’s future will be linked to the already established and still rising powers of Asia.

“These states share with us a clear commitment to economic growth, and they must be given at least as much attention as Europe.”

In the essay, which is published in the September/October issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, Mr Giuliani also compared troubled global spots to the bad neighbourhoods he helped pacify in New York City, and said concerted international action, spurred by Washington, will help establish order.

He recommended pressing ahead with a national missile defence system, expanding Nato to counter global threats like terrorism, improve post-conflict planning through a civil-military stabilisation and reconstruction corps, and greatly expanding US-funded surrogate media to “win the war of ideas”.