PRESS CONFERENCE
MADISON HOTEL, WASHINGTON D.C.
DECEMBER 17, 1991 - 3:00 P.M.
OPENING STATEMENTS BY
MR. YOSEF BEN-AHARON
DR. YOSEF HADASS
AND
MR. ELYAKIM RUBINSTEIN
Mr. Yosef Ben-Aharon: Sixteen hours does not reflect necessarily the
substance. I believe that we took full advantage of the time at our
disposal in order to begin the very beginning of an exchange after the
total estrangement between Israel and Syria that took place over the
last 43 years. As you know, the Syrians were the most extreme in the
rejection of any kind of contact with Israel, and the very fact that
we're sitting opposite each other and even though we are exchanging
charges and countercharges the fact that we are gauging each other's
concerns and trying to understand each other's priorities, I think is in
itself a positive development.
Having said that, I must add that we have to be armed with a lot of
patience, because expectations from each side are such that the gulf
between us is immense, and it will take a lot of work and time to breach
over the gulf that is dividing us.
The Syrians have come into this process with an expectation that, having
finally accepted Resolution 242, they can latch on to the simplistic
formula of "land for peace" and, having uttered the word peace, we would
literally swoon with excitement and withdraw from the Golan Heights. Of
course, this is not practical. The background of Syria's attitude
towards Israel, its very acceptance of Israel as an entity that has a
right to exist in the Middle East, its rejection of the Jewish state as
the Jewish state by virtue of its vote at the General Assembly only a
few days back of course, all of this needs to be addressed before we
talk on the substance of the peace agreement that we hope to achieve at
the end of this process.
Finally, on a personal note, we tried to establish a communication, and
at this last meeting I proposed to him that we exchange telephone
numbers he rejected. I proposed to him that we communicate through
our ambassadors in Washington he rejected. I proposed to him some
kind of a positive note to the end of this round through a joint
communique which was innocuous, and I gave him the text which after some
hesitation he proceeded to handle for a moment and then gave it back to
me. He said: "This is not the time for anything that is joint."
As you see, then, from all of these reactions, that we still have a long
way to go until they will deign even to engage in small talk with us.
But, I believe, we shall overcome.
Mr. Hadass: Since our first meeting, the talks with the Lebanese
delegation were held in a cordial, relaxes and businesslike atmosphere.
Even though the points of departure are totally different, we tried to
enter into substance very early.
Lebanon would like, or the Lebanese delegation would like us to start
implementing what they call Security Council Resolution 425, calling for
total withdrawal of Israel from southern Lebanon, while we said that we
came here in accordance with the letter of invitation, calling for peace
talks between us and our neighbors, each one of our neighbors
bilateral talks to achieve a peace treaty between us and Lebanon. In
the framework of the peace treaty, we accord priority to discuss
security arrangements within which we can certainly address the elements
of 425.
Both delegations remained, each one of them, on its initial position.
But, we have tried to breach the gap, perhaps to find for the next round
of meetings, a common ground which will enable us to enter into concrete
discussions on the different topics which will constitute, from our
point of view, the peace treaty between the two countries.
Mr. Rubinstein: ... Mr. Netanyahu mentioned that we had 30 hours of
talks with my Jordanian-Palestinian friends, counterparts. He should add
to that a few phone calls, so it comes to even more than that.
To the issue itself, I'm sorry that we did not reach the official
negotiating room as yet. This morning again we tried some new approach
in terms of trying to meet the consent of our counterparts, and the gap
was quite small. But it has not been overcome yet, because what's
between us is the symbolic gains beyond the great invitation to this
process that our counterparts have been trying to gain which cannot be
done. This invitation, which Secretary Baker so diligently worked out in
eight visits and so many other contacts for months and months, had a
give on everybody's side. It was not somebody's gain and somebody's
loss. Everybody stood to gain or to lose, and there were things that we
didn't like, there were things that the other sides didn't like.
One of the things that is there is a joint Jordanian-Palestinian
delegation. We assured our counterparts that this does not mean that the
two tracks of negotiations, that are also part of that invitation,
namely the Israel-Jordan track and the track dealing with interim
self-government arrangements for the Palestinians in the territories,
would be devalued. And also this joint thing is not something which will
be a substitute for those tracks in any way. We assured them in writing
and in our talks that this is not the case. They tried to negate this
joint notion, or at least devalue it, to gain a symbolic matter which at
the end of the road is very unnecessary, because the two tracks will
really be the proof that these two issues Jordanian-Israeli and
interim self-government arrangements for the Palestinians are being
addressed. The joint delegation may address things of common interest
which exist.
Now, as I said before, we submitted a proposal. I don't think it's the
right thing that we didn't go into the room. Nevertheless, I fully agree
with Mr. Netanyahu that the time was not wasted. These days on the sofa
were not wasted. Nevertheless, our talks with the two people, who are
good people, whom I respect my two counterparts, Dr. Majali and Dr.
Abdel Shafi were in a good atmosphere, a fine atmosphere. So were the
informal contacts among others in our delegations. And we understand now
more, I believe, each other's concerns, the gap was narrowed. This was
not a waste. I think it was a good exchange.
I'll just finalize by saying one other thing. Today we agreed on a date
for continuing our talks January 7. We still have to negotiate the
venue. We also started dealing with the direct contact which is so
necessary to try to bridge the gap between the rounds, and we have made
some partial progress in that. We will continue maybe to make some more
progress, and I believe that if the sense of fair play which is so
embedded in the efforts of all of us namely that an invitation was
agreed, let's abide by it, let's start negotiating. We can make it.