Israel's prime minister is calling on Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel now, and says this would be an important step toward Mideast peace. Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is prepared to make “concrete” steps toward peace but that both Palestinians and the Arab world must also make similar steps “not later, but now.” Netanyahu made the comments Wednesday in an address to Parliament. Netanyahu also said he and US President Barack Obama agreed that Iran posed a regional threat that could create an opportunity to bring Arab countries together in a coalition of moderates. Meanwhile, an Israeli official said that Israel would stage its largest-ever national exercise next week to test security and emergency responses to potential missile attacks, bombings and natural disasters. The five-day exercise begins on Sunday and will simulate simultaneous rocket strikes from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and missile attacks from arch-foes Syria and Iran, Defence Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror said. “We will be exercising the doomsday scenario of simultaneous strikes against Israel on all fronts and by different means,” Dror said, stressing that “such a scenario is highly unlikely.” This will include conventional, chemical and biological strikes against large population centres. It will also simulate a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings. A high point of the drill will be on Tuesday when air-raid sirens sound across the country and citizens must scramble to shelters, in some areas within seconds and others within no more than three minutes. Exercise Turning Point 3 will also simulate rescue and medical services' conduct during earthquakes and epidemics. And there will be simulated cabinet meetings in which ministers will weigh their response to such attacks and scenarios. This will be the third such exercise since Israel's 2006 war in Lebanon that saw nearly one million citizens in the north of the country coming under heavy rocket fire for more than a month. “The Second Lebanon War revealed that the homefront was not well-prepared for war and citizens found it hard to adapt to the special situation,” Dror said. The army plans to distribute gas masks to all of Israel's 7.2 million citizens in November, he added. The drill comes just two weeks after the air force wrapped up a massive four-day exercise that tested its ability to defend against missile and jet strikes from Syria and Iran.
