Berlusconi says Israel should join EU

(JERUSALEM) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said at the start of a three-day visit to Israel on Monday that the Jewish state's future belongs in the European Union.

"My greatest desire, as long as I am a protagonist in politics, is to bring Israel into membership of the European Union," the Italian leader said at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

Berlusconi also spoke of his "great friendship and love for Israel and its people."

Netanyahu called the visit -- during which eight Italian ministers accompanying Berlusconi will hold a joint cabinet meeting on Tuesday with their Israeli counterparts -- "historic."

"I have the privilege of hosting one of the greatest friends of Israel," he said.

While Israeli relations with some European nations have been frosty over the conflict with the Palestinians, ties with Italy have been much warmer, spurred by the personal friendship between the two leaders.

After he took office early last year, Netanyahu's first European visit was to Italy.

Berlusconi, who will address Israel's parliament, the Knesset, on Wednesday, told a state dinner how a visit to the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Poland influenced his support for Israel.

"From that moment on I felt I was part of your history and I acted in the manner which I thought was the most appropriate by backing your people and your country," he said.

"It is my duty to act so that leaders of the world do not make the same error," he said, stressing that "indifference" was the root cause of the Holocaust.

Netanyahu responded with comments apparently aimed at Iran, calling Israel's arch-foe "a bloodthirsty dictatorship," although he did not identify the Islamic republic by name.

"Mankind stands before one of its greatest tests since World War II, the attempt by an extremist Islamic regime, a bloodthirsty dictatorship, to acquire nuclear weapons and endanger the whole world," he said.

Israel has routinely called for tough measures against Iran, which the West suspects of seeking to develop a weapons capability under the guise of a civil nuclear programme, an accusation Tehran denies.

Israel is widely believed to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power.

Before his visit, Berlusconi had expressed some criticism of Israel, telling Haaretz newspaper that the country's "settlement policy could be an obstacle to peace."

"I would like to say to the people and government of Israel, as a friend, with my hand on my heart, that persisting with this policy is a mistake," he said.

However, Berlusconi praised Netanyahu's "courage" for imposing in November a 10-month freeze on new construction in settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinians have refused to relaunch peace talks with Israel without a full freeze, and said Netanyahu's limited moratorium was insufficient because it excludes east Jerusalem, public buildings and projects already under way.

Nearly half a million Israelis live in more than 120 settlements scattered across the occupied West Bank including east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.