Arab League's Moussa: Israel not serious about peace, no proxy war with Iran

At a press conference today, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa spoke on the lack of progress in Mideast peace negotations, saying, "to negotiate while settlements are being built would be detrimental." Moussa said that U.S. envoy George Mitchell is "doing a great job" but that "a call for restraint doesn't work with Israel."

Moussa said that in contrast to the Obama administration, in which he has "full confidence," Israel is not serious about the peace process. "While hope is maintained insofar as the U.S. administration is concerned, we see a totally negative rejectionist position by Isreal," Moussa said.

Moussa declined to specifically comment on today's revelations about Iran's uranium enrichment program, but stated that, "If we have to deal with this issue properly, we have to consider the Middle East as a zone free of nuclear weapons." He also said that, "We should not stop any country from benefiting from the use of nuclear energy."

Moussa has recently criticized Iran for interfering in the internal affairs in Arab states, particularly in Yemen where they have reportedly been arming the country's Shiite rebels. I asked Moussa if it was accurate to describe the conflict as a "proxy war" between Iran and the Arab states:

A "proxy war" is a very strong and perhaps inaccurate description or phrasing. We are trying and we are in contact with the Yemeni government and we are all trying to contain the conflict. We do not need to have a regional conflict. We need to reach an end to what is going on now in Yemen.