What do you see as Israel’s main foreign policy priorities?
At this point in time I think that the priorities are very clear. Very high on the agenda is something that the entire free world sees as a priority; this is the question of Iran and the attempts by the Iranians to acquire nuclear military capabilities. This is very high on the list, as is the role that Iran is playing in destabilizing the region, supporting terror and many other activities. Also very high on the Israeli agenda is the peace process with the Palestinians on two tracks. One is the continuation of the bottom up approach through which we try together with the international community and responsible elements in the Palestinian society to ease the living condition in the West Bank to encourage and facilitate economic activity. And at the same time, we continue to work with our greatest ally, the United States, in the attempt to really work on the political horizon. The third very important issue on the list of priorities is to act against the attempts to delegitimize Israel. These are the three main topics. At the same time we should continue to try to work with the rest of the international community on issues such as economic development and the items on the new agenda, everything from the environment, energy, and the list goes on. These are the major items.
What role do you see Israel playing in international efforts with Iran?
Iran poses a threat to the peace, security and stability of the world. The fact is that the international community understands the dangers in Iran continuing to defy the will and the wishes of the international community by not putting an end to its enrichment of uranium. The recognition is there. Iran is not a danger only to the region but also to the peace and security of the world. This effort is led by the UN Security Council, by the leaders in the United States and Europe and elsewhere.
Do you think Israel has any specific role?
Israel lives in that neighborhood and in that part of the world. Israel is threatened by the very notion of Iran becoming nuclear. Israel is threatened by the proxies of Iran in our part of the world, namely Hezbollah and Hamas, so like the rest of the world we are concerned.
You’ve been actively engaged in peace negotiations with Israel’s neighbors for almost two decades, what is your assessment of the current state of play?
The current Israeli government has done a lot and has taken significant steps in order to facilitate the resumption of talks and negotiations with the Palestinians. I should mention the by-now famous Bar-Ilan speech by the prime minister of Israel, where he stated the policy of the two-state solution of the Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace and security. That was one first major development. The second is the steps taken by Israel in order to ease living conditions in the West Bank by removing obstacles and roadblocks. I think that this policy of ours is showing some very impressive results on the ground in terms of economic activity, in terms of the performance of the Palestinian economy. The third thing is the decision that was taken by the Cabinet to put a moratorium on the building in settlements. All of this was done to facilitate the resumption of peace negotiations. Unfortunately the Palestinians have not responded in kind and are not there at the table.
As far as what the state of play is and what the Israeli government intends to do, of course we will continue our engagement with our American friends in trying to seek ways and means to resume these negotiations. We will continue to work with the international community in improving conditions in the West Bank. At the same time, as far as the other group is concerned, Gaza, we will continue with our policy, which is not to give any kind of legitimacy to Hamas because Hamas really poses a threat to the chances that we will have peace. Hamas poses a threat to those who are interested in moving in a peaceful direction.
Ziad Asali of the American Task Force on Palestine told the Middle East Bulletin that, "the victimization and suffering of the people of Gaza have been the exclusive property of Hamas for which it has drawn political advantage." What can Israel do to take that mantle away from Hamas?
First, I think it is worth reminding ourselves of how we got to this situation in Gaza. There was a bloody coup through which Hamas took over the Gaza Strip. That was immediately following the disengagement by the Israelis. I think the Palestinians realize that Hamas brings them nothing but suffering and misery, while those that opt for a peaceful coexistence and peaceful reconciliations really do go for living conditions that are much better and here I’m talking about the Palestinians in the West Bank.
What role can others have in moving the ball forward?
The most important role that others can play is on the one hand to impress on the PA that there is no alternative to sitting at the table and starting negotiations. This applies to Arab countries; this applies to European and others. But at the same time I think that the international community and others should stick to the policy formed by the Quartet as to the conditions put on Hamas. That Hamas has to recognize Israel, put an end to terror and violence, and respect previous agreements with Israel. The main role vis-a-vis the PA is to impress upon them that negotiations are the only way to move forward and to support them and to support those who try to make peace.
You were a representative to the multilateral working group on the environment, what role do you think multilateral groups can have, either now or in the future, in moving toward a solution?
Two points: first, a regional component is always important. It is important to convince the parties that we are talking about a much wider thing in terms of what peace between Palestinians and Israelis can bring. It is important for the Palestinians to realize that their Arab brothers are also on board. It is important to convince the peoples of the Middle East, and Israel included, that the Arabs are interested in moving forward. When we were doing the multilaterals we were trying to deal with some practical issues, especially cross boundary issues, and of course these kinds of activities are very important. For example, I was working on the environment and the environment knows no boundaries–we all share this interest so we will certainly want to see these kinds of activities resume on such issues as water and environment.
Switching topics, you recently traveled to Turkey, what is your assessment of Israel-Turkey relations today?
Relations between Israel and Turkey are very important. They are important for Israel and they are important for Turkey and they are important for the interests of the region. I visited Ankara not long ago. I was happy at the end of my talks there that we agreed on how to advance the relationship. The fact that the relationship is important does not mean that we should ignore our differences–and there are differences. But I think that whatever differences there are should be confined to the discussion room and we should have an open exchange of views in that framework and not in other forums.
At the Herzliya Conference Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that unless peace is achieved with Syria, Israel could be headed toward another war. Meanwhile President Assad that Israel is leading the region toward war. What is Israel’s current position with regard to renewing the Syrian track?
We in Israel have always had our ears attuned to the voices coming from everywhere in the Arab world. Of course, in the long run we have an interest in making peace with each and every one of our neighbors. We have peace and a very good relationship with Egypt. We have peace with Jordan. We are trying to move things forward with the Palestinians. But, likewise, we are interested in exploring every possible avenue with our other neighbors. We would like to have peace with Syria and we would like to have peace with Lebanon.
Of course, when it comes to our northern neighbor we should look very carefully at the strategic dimension and we should follow very closely the intentions of our partners to see if those statements about peace are accompanied by changes on, say, supporting terror or terrorist organizations or other powers in the region. But the bottom line is that Israel is interested in moving forward with all of its neighbors towards peace.
As Israel’s representative to UNIFIL what is Israel’s position on Ghajar? Should a withdrawal be expected in the near future and how does this relate to Israeli-Lebanese relations?
We would, of course, like to have peace with Lebanon, exactly as we would like to have peace with all of our neighbors. More specifically, on the subject of Ghajar the Israeli Cabinet decided to engage UNIFIL on the basis of their proposal for a solution on the question of Ghajar. We have started this engagement and we will continue these discussions and negotiation with an aim of concluding an agreement with UNIFIL.
You stated at Herzliya that there is no alternative to the special relationship between United States and Israel, and that relations with the European countries are moving ahead more slowly. What is the future of Israeli-European relations?
What I said at the Herzliya Conference was that we are very proud of having very close bilateral relations with many of the countries of Europe. As we speak, the prime minister of Italy is visiting Israel with half of his cabinet. Last week, the Israeli prime minister took half of his cabinet to Germany for very close consultations. We have very close relations with quite a number of countries there: France, the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, and I could go on. We are very proud of this relationship that extends from the political and economic to everything in between. As far as the EU as a whole, looking at it from the perspective of five or six years we have managed to move forward in a very significant way because of a strategic decision taken in Israel some five or six years ago. We were the first country to sign the neighborhood policy agreement with Europe. What I said at Herzliya was that the level of bilateral relationship is much farther then negotiations with the EU as a whole; but maybe this is because of the nature of the organization as a whole. I further said that relations between Israel and the U.S. are the cornerstone of Israel’s foreign policy. We enjoy our close relationship with the U.S., we have worked very closely with Senator Mitchell and we look forward to continuing that.
