In Israel, a land lacking in natural resources, we learned to appreciate our greatest national advantage: our minds. Through creativity and innovation, we transformed barren deserts into flourishing fields and pioneered new frontiers in science and technology.

President Abbas and myself, we are the ones who signed the Oslo agreement, so we really know each other, not just theoretically.

The present Arab uprising didn't stem from Israel. The old guard is trying to keep down the young chickens. The old guard is better organized. They may win elections, but unless they have a solution to poverty, to corruption, to oppression, they will not last. I am with the young people.

Some experts advise what to do in accordance with the past, but the past flew away, and we have to reorient ourselves in the face of new dangers.

If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact - not to be solved, but to be coped with over time.

If world is suspicious that Israel may detonate nuclear bomb and if the suspicion is a deterrent - that's good enough.

Today, Israel is stronger than ever. Israel has defensive tools of its own - those developed in the past and those developed today and those that will be developed tomorrow.