What is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad up to?

I read about this the other day but didn't comment, so todays aboved link CNN article is about Israel's response to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad saying Israel should be "wiped out from the map."

Does he want Iran to be kicked out of the UN? So I then went to al Jazeera to see what the middle eastern response was to this.

The response was mixed.

Egyptian government officials played down the importance of the speech, saying it was intended for a conservative Iranian audience which remained faithful to the thinking behind the 1979 revolution.

With so many conflicts in the Middle East, "the region is in a mess. We really don't need one more", said one official on condition of anonymity, hoping the issue would go away.

However, Mohamed Wahby, a former diplomat and member of the Egyptian Council on Foreign Affairs, said it was a mistake to remain quiet about the speech, which he said undermined Middle East peace prospects.

"Recognisng Israel as an integral part of the Middle East is no longer in doubt," he said, saying Iran was only encouraging hardliners on both sides.

This to me is what part of the problem has been in the Middle East all along, whether it had to do with Palestine, Iraq and now Iran. None of these Middle Eastern countries want to act. They wait, and if something happens? Let someone else deal with it. They don't try to make their neighbors get along. Until they do? I don't see how things can change for the better.