Following are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks today at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting:

"We will begin today's meeting by discussing the Tel Aviv-Eilat railway.  This will be a passenger railway; the length of the trip will be approximately two hours.  It will also be a line for moving freight from Asia to Europe, which will create a very great interest on the part of Asia's rising powers, China and India, as well as of other countries, in the State of Israel.  Therefore, there is strategic, national and international importance to building this line.

We will begin the discussion today; I estimate that we will need another meeting to complete it.  This change is, in effect, the realization of the vision of linking up the country via the development of transportation infrastructure from the north, from Kiryat Shemona, to Eilat, including expressways without traffic lights and railways, both within the State of Israel and as a transit point between continents.

I think that this is a very major item that will dramatically influence the State of Israel over the next 50 years.  It is one more decision that we have not merely discussed, such as the border fence and the law on free education from age three, that we have not merely discussed, but have put into action.  This will require budgets.  We will have our say, but the intention is to get things done.

Last week, I spoke with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  I commended them on the steps that Europe has taken against Iran, against both its petroleum exports and its central bank.  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will arrive here in the coming days.  I will sit with him and discuss the strengthening and intensifying of these sanctions, as well as our hope that the Palestinians will stay in the talks in order to reach, in the end, concrete negotiations between us on a peace agreement.  As of now, according to what has happened in recent days, when the Palestinians refused to even discuss with us the State of Israel's security needs, the signs are not particularly good.  But I hope that they will come around and continue the talks so that we might advance toward real negotiations."