Israel is prepared to make "painful concessions" for peace with the Palestinians, said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, but he indicated his government would not be generous in exchanging Arab prisoners for its captured soldiers.
Olmert's speech on Monday at an annual memorial day ceremony was an effort to strike a balance between appealing for peace and projecting strength on a day made especially poignant by the deaths of 119 soldiers in last summer's war in Lebanon.
Olmert recently started a round of talks with the moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in hopes of jump-starting peace efforts. At the same time, Israel has pushed forward with its battle against Palestinian militants.
Speaking at a nationally televised ceremony, Olmert said the country owed it to its fallen soldiers to continue "the vital effort to achieve the peace we long for" and to "seriously consider every diplomatic initiative."
The 22-country Arab League recently renewed a five-year-old initiative offering Israel peace with the Arab world in return for giving up all of the territories it captured in the 1967 Middle East war. The plan also calls for a solution for Palestinian refugees and their millions of descendants.
Israel objects to a full withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines and has ruled out allowing the return of refugees to their former homes inside Israel. Nonetheless, Olmert has welcomed the Arab plan as a basis for negotiations.
"We will respect those of our neighbors who desire peace with us," Olmert said at a second ceremony on Monday for Israeli civilians killed in Arab attacks.
Israel would "discuss diplomatic agreements and the future of the ties between us with goodwill and readiness to make painful concessions," he said.
But referring to militants targeting Israelis, Olmert said Israel "will never cease to pursue them and strike at them until they are destroyed."
In his memorial day speeches, Olmert also mentioned possible prisoner swap deals for the release of an Israeli soldier held by Hamas-linked militants in the Gaza Strip and for two others held by Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
Olmert said freeing the soldiers was deeply important to the government, but it would not repeat "mistakes made in the past" by releasing violent prisoners who then carried out more attacks against Israelis.
But Olmert said there would be "no escape in the end from making a difficult decision" on trading prisoners for the captured Israeli troops.
In Lebanon, a top Hezbollah official on Sunday said UN-mediated negotiations on a prisoner swap are going on in a "serious" manner, but there have been no results.
Also Monday, the Palestinians' top security official, Interior Minister Hani Kawasmeh, submitted his resignation during a Cabinet meeting, saying he was unable to carry out his plan to bring law and order to the chaotic Palestinian territories. But Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh refused to let him step down, senior officials said.
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