The annual Foreign Press Association luncheon hosted the Prime Minister, who answered questions dealing with Israeli settlement policy in Judea and Samaria, the autonomy negotiations, the coming elections in the United States, and Israel's attitude towards the Christian community in Lebanon. Excerpts:
Q: Has there been a fundamental change in Israeli policy in the West Bank regarding the inhabitation of cities in the West Bank, specifically Hebron, by Israeli Jews? And if there hasn't been a change of policy, is one under consideration and to what degree? I'm referring to Mr. Weizman's statement in the Knesset yesterday, and various reports that downtown Hebron - central Hebron - will be inhabited by Jews from the West Bank, from Kiryat Arba and elsewhere.
A: My friend and colleague, the defense minister made a statement yesterday to the Knesset to the effect that Jews have a right to live everywhere in Eretz-Israel. And of course this is the inalienable perfect right, and I of course completely agree with this statement. As far as Hebron is concerned, you know that there was an abominable murder of a student of the yeshiva. The Government has to undertake measures that such abominable acts are not any more carried out. Everything else will be considered by the Government.
Q: I would like your reaction to the redeployment of Syrian forces in Lebanon. What is the Israeli Government reaction, your comment on this, and how you see it as a potential danger.
A: There are movements of the Syrian forces in Lebanon. We are on our guard, as we have to be. We don't know yet what is the purpose of all these changes. There were rumors, especially after the visit of Mr. Gromyko to Damascus, that the Syrians are perturbed lest Israel prepares an attack upon Syrian. This is, as it always was, a completely baseless assumption, or apprehension. It never occurred to us even to think about attacking Syria or anybody else. We want peace. But of course when there are military movements we have to be careful and to be on our guard. We are.
Q: Mr. Prime Minister, when your Government will permit certain Jewish families to return to Hebron and take possessions of their houses there, will you also permit an equivalent number of Palestinian Arab families to return to Ramlah, for instance, and take possession of their houses there?
A: Without answering the first part of the question, as I already told another questioner, I would like to draw a distinction line. There were certain cities in which the whole Jewish community was attacked, a great part of it was wiped out, the others left. The Jews never attacked Arab citizens of any city. They defended themselves against an attack. The leaders of the Arabs between 1947 and 1949 called upon them to flee, promising that they will come back victoriously to Tel Aviv with the Arab tanks of those countries which invaded our land in 1948, a day after the proclamation of our independence, in order to destroy it. That is the decisive difference.
Q: Mr. Begin, I understood from the various announcements, or disclosures, that apparently came from the Government sources, that Israel was seeking clarifications or explanations of comments made by Mr. Al-Touhami. I wonder if at this stage you have now received an official explanation of what the Egyptian official had in mind, or if you can explain to us how such statements affect your concept of peace.
A: Of course, I will not go into any discussion with Mr. Touhami. I read his statements. They are curious, almost incomprehensible. But as he yesterday himself confirmed that he made such statements, we are going to lodge a protest with the Egyptian Government. Because these statements, however you call them - and Mr. Touhami is a deputy prime minister of Egypt - are in flagrant contradiction to the spirit in which the Government of Egypt and of Israel worked together, signed a peace treaty, to live in peace, in friendship and in cooperation together forever. Such a contradiction, as it was clearly now demonstrated by the unwarranted statements of Mr. Touhami, calls for an official protest - which we are going to make.
Q: Several months ago a few people moved into the hospital in Hebron, and the Government authorized their removal, and those people have not been removed. Does the Government plan to take any further action?
A: They didn't move into a hospital. They moved into a previous hospital, now it's just a house. Well, in our opinion the ladies shouldn't have come on their own to that house, but we did not undertake any action to remove, them for reasons which should be understood by, in my opinion, every civilized man.
Q: What do you want to be the future of the West Bank? Should that area be part of the State of Israel, or is the permanent solution something that you are leaving to your successor?
A: My dear friend, today I will give you one answer: Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip - you called Judea and Samaria, the West Bank, which is completely mistaken, but I don't want to go into any terminological issues today - at Camp David we decided that the Arab inhabitants of these areas should enjoy full autonomy under the conditions which we agreed at Camp David. We should carry out these decisions faithfully, as we do in connection with the peace treaty. If everybody is faithful to the Camp David agreement there will be now another agreement, in the negotiations we conduct about Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, and the full autonomy for the inhabitants.
Q: What would you like to see there in the future, ten years from now? Should it be part of Israel?
A: I will never deny our right to the land. We said so on every occasion. But now I have again to say: We made an agreement in Camp David. We should be faithful to it and carry it out.
Q: Judging from the rate of progress in the Palestinian autonomy talks, do you believe that within the next 4 or 5 months elections can be held for a Palestinian council in the West Bank and Gaza Strip?
A: What we decided at Camp David is that negotiations would be held during one year between Egypt, Israel and, in the Egyptian delegation there should be also a representation of the Palestinian Arabs agreed upon by all sides. We invited Jordan, we invited representatives of the Palestinian Arabs to join the peace-making process. But they didn't do so. Theoretically, we could have said: If so, we shall wait until they join. But Israel again proved its good faith and it conducts negotiations with Egypt alone because the others don't want to join the peace-making process. Now we hope to reach an agreement with Egypt. As far as the election of the self-governing authority (administrative council, as you rightly said) is concerned, that of course depends on the good will of the people who have to go to the polls.
You can't impose going to the polls on anybody... Let us hope that such elections will take place. This is the essence of our agreement. But of course it should be agreed upon, it should be done willingly, no coercion is possible.
Q: Is Israel willing to make further concessions to encourage the Palestinians to join those talks and to vote in the elections?
A: We did all the encouragement at Camp David.
Q: Are you satisfied with the current American efforts of coping with the Soviet danger in this region - from Israel's point of view - and if you are satisfied, why, and it not, why not? And the same question also about Western Europe.
A: America and Israel are friends, and, as I believe, allies. We help each other. Sometimes we have also differences of opinion. For instance, lately there are voices because of the events in Afghanistan and Iran, the United States should seek the understanding, the friendship of the Arab and Muslim countries, and therefore Israel should make concessions, so-called, beyond what we agreed at Camp David. We do not approve of that philosophy. It is very dangerous to the free world, because if there should be a so-called Palestininan state in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza district it would be a mortal danger to us - everybody can see it when he has got a glimpse at the map - and it would be also a peril to the free world. The PLO praises the Khomeini revolution and praises the invasion into Afghanistan, and they would invite, if they ruled these areas of the land, in no time, Soviet advisers, officers to come to Bethlehem. So it would be another Soviet base, this time in the heart of the Middle East. Remember Angola and Mozambique and Ethiopia and Southern Yemen and Libya and Syria and Iraq. So therefore we have here a common interest - we, Israel, and the free world - to prevent such an event from taking place. If there is anybody - I do not speak about the Government of the United States - anybody who says that Israel should make concessions now, and that should mean, if not a Palestinian state, then a corridor leading to it, then I suppose that would be done at the expense of Israel and in vain, and would endanger the future of all free nations. It would remind us of the thirties. Europe has got a policy - not all the European countries, but some of them - with which we disagree. They for instance stand, some of them, for the recognition of the murderers barbaric organization called PLO, which has a genocidal aim to destroy the State of Israel, and uses a genocidal method, attacking always civilians - men, women and children. We want full autonomy for the Palestinian Arabs; we will never negotiate with the so-called PLO because we are not going to negotiate our self-destruction. No nation would do so. On these issues we disagree with several European governments indeed.
Q: Your former foreign minister has urged a policy where the Government of Israel would withdraw from certain practices and authorities within the West Bank and Gaza Strip territories, allowing, and perhaps compelling thereby, the local residents to take over these authorities and practices themselves - a sort of unilateral withdrawal into autonomy. Do you favor that?
A: We don't want to compel anybody. A unilateral withdrawal is impossible. We have to carry out the agreement Egypt and Israel signed in Camp David. There, there is no mentioning whatsoever of unilateral withdrawals.
Q: You have several times stated Israel's commitment to defend the Christian community of Lebanon. Does this commitment still stand even if the civil war breaks out again?
A: This commitment will always stand. We are very proud that we give full freedom of practicing any religious belief in our country - not only in Jerusalem, all over the country. And free access to the holy shrines for all the religions to which they are sacred, guaranteed by law forever. I know there were several incidents. I made a statement just a few days ago that we deeply regret them. Those incidents occurred because of certain individuals whom we do not know, and the security authorities will do their best and their utmost to prevent it in the future.
Q: I was referring to Israel's commitment to defend the Christian community of Lebanon - my question was whether this commitment still stood even though a civil war may break out again in Lebanon.
A: Yes, we, ladies and gentlemen, prevented actually the Christian minority, both in the north and in the south, some time ago, from being wiped out. That was the danger which loomed over them. We saved them, indeed, and we are very proud of it. And we shall not permit under any circumstances that the Christian minority in Lebanon should be pogromized. We must remember that although we are a large majority in our own land, we are a minority in the Middle East. We cannot tolerate the wiping out of a national religious minority. We helped the Christians and if they are in danger we shall help them again.
Q: Does this commitment extend beyond the area that is now being held by the forces of Major Haddad?
A: I said clearly that it applies to Christians in the south and in the north of Lebanon.
Q: The defense minister recently made a few remarks in connection with the Presidential elections in the Democratic Party in the United States. Do you agree with these views?
A: The Government of Israel does not interfere and will not interfere in the democratic process of electing the President of the United States. The citizens of the United States should elect their President. We have always enjoyed, and I hope we shall enjoy, the friendship of both parties - the Democrats and the Republicans.
- In reply to another question on Lebanon, the PM stated: If the Christian minority, either in the south or in the north, are being attacked, Israel will-not be passive as far as the danger looming over the Christian minority is concerned.