As Ambassador Habib continued to shuttle between Jerusalem, Beirut and Damascus, Mr. Begin addressed the Knesset before it recessed, as national elections were called for 30 June 1981. The Prime Minister devoted much of his political statement to Lebanon. He described the events that led to the crisis and revealed that on 30 April, the Israeli air force was ordered to destroy the Syrian missile batteries in the Zahleh area, but bad weather forced the cancellation of the air strike. He also explained Israel's position as related to Mr. Habib and discussed Israel-American relations and the nature of their agreement over what should be done in Lebanon. Excerpts:
I wish to make clear to the Knesset our moral commitment to the Christians as I see it. I hereby declare that it is my understanding that we have a moral obligation to guarantee that the Christians of Lebanon in the north and in the south will not be destroyed by any foe. I know there are those who disagree with this view. I stand by it...
However, we also are aware of our own national-security interest and we shall uphold it. I will explain what that interest is. I will report to the Knesset on the number of missiles which have been stationed in Lebanon and the Lebanese-Syrian border. In Lebanon itself, there are presently 5 SA-6 batteries. On the border, there are another 4 SA-6 batteries. Along the Syrian-Lebanese border, there are already 2 SA-2 batteries (until two days ago, there was only one battery of this type). Along the Syrian-Lebanese border, there were already 2 SA-3 batteries this morning (until two days ago there was only one). There are also SA-9 batteries exported by Libya to Lebanon and they are manned by Libyans. All told, there are 14 ground-to-air missile batteries.
On Thursday, April 30, according to the authority vested in me by the government, I ordered the Chief-of-Staff to destroy the 3 SA-6 batteries which were stationed in Lebanon at that time. Zero-hour was set at 11:00 hours. At 10:3O hours, I was notified that weather conditions do not permit carrying out the operation. We set zero hour at 13:00 hours. At 12:30 I was notified that weather conditions do not permit carrying out the operation. We set zero hour for 15:00 hours. Before that hour we were again notified that weather conditions do not permit carrying out the operation. We postponed the strike to the following day.
On 1 May we received a note from Secretary of State Haig, in which he asked for time to make every diplomatic effort to resolve the problem. I summoned the Ministerial Defence Committee to a meeting on Friday morning and, after an exhaustive discussion, we decided to respond in the affirmative to the American request. I informed the U.S. ambassador of this decision and we calculated the number of days. The decision was that because of the danger that more ground-to-air batteries would be added, the waiting period would last only three to four days, that is, until Monday evening. And we stated that should the Americans convey to us a commitment on the part of the Syrian government to withdraw the missiles, we would be ready to wait another 7 days until the promise was carried out. In the meantime, additional missiles were deployed, while on Tuesday morning the American ambassador asked to see me urgently and brought to me a personal letter from President Reagan. I, of course, cannot reveal the contents of that letter, but I must tell the Knesset that it has been years since, the government of Israel received such a friendly letter from any American President. However, I am entitled to quote to the Knesset and the nation a few sentences from my reply to President Reagan:
"And what indeed is the danger? In addition to all else, when our pilots embark to do what they will have to do for the sake of the most vital interest of our security, which is an integral part of the security of the free world, some of them may be downed, killed or taken prisoners. If any of them fall into captivity they will suffer the most cruel torture, which sometimes the most valiant soldier on the battlefield is incapable of withstanding. I speak, Mr. President, in the name of experience. These are dangers and risks we take upon ourselves, by accepting a further delay of action, which we do in consideration of your personal request. As you see, Mr. President, we do not on this occasion suggest any date, but it is my solemn duty, responsible as we are for the lives of our citizens and soldiers, to emphasize that it can't but be a relatively short period of time. I must add that the responsibility which we take upon ourselves is great indeed, and the risks involved are constant. Yet, as I have already said, I decided to inform you that your representatives have, from our point of view, additional time to try the diplomatic routes."
And there was additional time to exhaust the diplomatic process. In about two hours from now I will meet with President Reagan's emissary, Mr. Philip Habib, a wise man dedicated to his task. We will hear from him a report on his visit to Beirut and Damascus, and on his meetings with Moslems and Christians, especially in Beirut, and also about his talks with the Syrian Foreign Minister and with President Assad. After we hear these reports, we will tell him what we told President Reagan, so that there should be no misunderstanding whatsoever. Now I would like to address myself personally to the President of Syria. We will speak as enemy to enemy. This way of speaking is not according to my choice. Nearly four years ago, when I presented the new cabinet before the Knesset, I turned to President Sadat of Egypt, to King Hussein of Jordan and to President Assad of Syria and invited them to come to Jerusalem or to meet me in their capitals or in a neutral place, openly or out of the spotlight of publicity, in order to talk peace. Of them all, one came to Jerusalem, and we talked peace and we made peace. It is obvious that there are fundamental differences on all of Israel's borders, but we want peace with all our neighbors and this was my appeal. Now, as I said, since the President of Syria refused to come, and he is maintaining a state of war with Israel, and he announces that he will also lead other Arabs - and especially those who left the Land of Israel, because they tried to rise up and destroy Israel. I have no choice but to speak to them as one enemy to another. My first appeal will be - free the P.O.W.s who are in your country. Why are you holding them as hostages? All together they are only 3,000 to 4,000 souls, the remnant of a great community which contributed so much to the civilization of Israel. They want to go to freedom, and you hold them in a ghetto and in fear. Why do you mistreat them in this way? Almost every Arab country, even Iraq, at whose head stands a bloody tyrant who murdered his best friends with his own hands in order to rule over his country totally, allowed the Jews to leave. And you still hold on to 4,000 Jews - men, women and children - in a ghetto and you do not allow them to leave. There are countries today who have learned some moral lessons from the 1930's and 1940's. Distant Australia, Canada are prepared to accept them. Why do you continue to hold them in that fear, in a ghetto, as hostages? Free them, this is my first, humanistic appeal.
And the second point is this: Mr. Assad, President of Syria, you have gone to the point of what is known as "brinkmanship". Go back. Go back. It will not demean your honor, because you will thus be serving peace. You have no greater honor than to serve peace. Thus, pull back from the abyss. Pull out the missiles, which do not belong in those places where they are now stationed, remove your soldiers from Mount Sannine, and revive the status quo ante, and all mankind will breathe easier and it will have reason to be indebted to you. Thus I appeal to you, openly, honestly and without hiding anything, as one enemy to another - restore the status quo ante in Lebanon and everything will fall into place peacefully.
And, if, Heaven forbid, this appeal should go unheard, I must again explain our security interest. Whoever controls the Sannine Mountains and the skies of Lebanon controls all of Lebanon up to the Lebanese-Israeli border. There is no doubt about that. And then, Israel will face a threat to its existence. Then war will be inevitable under the worst possible conditions for Israel. Therefore we must give a chance to anyone of good will who wants to solve this crisis by diplomatic means - to give him the chance, but not, under any circumstances, to accept the presence of the missiles or the occupation of the mountains - the domination of which means the domination of all of Lebanon.
This is the reason for our concern, and our fear and our decisions of the past, and if necessary, the future as well...
Mr. Speaker, with your permission, I will now go on to the relations between the State of Israel and the United States. These days there are points of agreement between the government of Israel and the American administration. The two countries and the nations are allies. When the Secretary of State was here, we made it clear to him that we do not particularly like the term "strategic asset". Of course, if what is meant by that is the opposite of "strategic burden" - well, okay. But what is an asset? That's a commercial concept. And so we told him that in our opinion, we are friends and allies. That evening, the Minister of Foreign Affairs gave a dinner in honor of the Secretary of State - and before everyone, before the American people, the Secretary of State said that American and Israel are allies who maintain a permanent alliance.
We are happy with this phrase. Both countries agree that we are in permanent alliance.
The second point of common agreement involves the attitude taken to the Syrian role in Lebanon. The U.S. sees things as Israel does. Syria is no longer a peacekeeping force nor a stabilizing one. Both countries agree.
Three - An identical position regarding the terrorists organization.
Four - Effective opposition to all terrorist organizations.
Five - Opposition to the expansion of Soviet imperialism anywhere in the world, especially in the Middle East.
These are the five points of common agreement between the U.S. and us, and I can say that I don't remember a time when there was such a degree of deep and wide' agreement between our two nations and countries.
But there is a problem. The current American administration, while friendlier than many of its predecessors, has decided to sell F-15 assault equipment to Saudi Arabia, as well as AWACS plans, which are highly sophisticated aircraft, perhaps not to be found anywhere else in the world. Perhaps the Russians have such planes, but we have no such information. We are unconditionally opposed to the American-Saudi deal... (The AWACS) constitute a direct threat to the civilian population in the centre of Israel. Should Saudi Arabia receive the AWACS - our every move would be transparent, in the air and on the ground. Some respected and important Americans have given us some simple advice: What are you worried about? You have a marvelous airforce. If they are stationed near the Israel border - instead of in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia - you simply shoot them down. And at the same time, they tell us that for many years to come there will be Americans and Saudis in those planes after the AWACS are sold to Saudi Arabia.
What strange advice we get from Washington. We are supposed to shoot down the plane and kill not only the Saudis who are our enemies, but also the Americans who are our friends. Very strange advice indeed. We cannot accept it. We got other advice. What are you worried about? We won't give them the AWACS for another 5 years. Okay, but what will happen after five years? Does a people live on borrowed time? Even five years eventually passes. And so we state that we will continue to oppose unequivocably the American-Saudi deal. Whoever says that this must lead to a confrontation between America and Israel - no such thing. There is no confrontation whatever. We are friends and allies. But even between allies a matter may arise about which there are differences of opinion, and this is such a matter. I therefore have the honor to announce that we will continue to work against the deal, which endangers the security of the Jewish people in Israel. The administration has not yet conveyed the required notification to the Senate and the House of Representatives. If it is conveyed, there will be 50 more days to present a resolution of disapproval. Both in the Senate and in the House of Representatives severe and serious opposition has arise to this deal. I say without hesitation we will turn to all our friends in the United States and we will also ask Congress to consider this matter, and not give its approval to the deal. I also have the honor of asking our great friend President Reagan, to reconsider this matter, and to refrain from turning to the House of Representatives and to the Senate, so that a severe danger can be averted to a country which he truly and sincerely wants to help and wants to aid in its secure existence and peace...
On the other hand, there is an arms race in the Middle East the likes of which we have never seen. From both the east and the west everyone is competing over how much more arms to supply. Only yesterday we learned that the Austrian Chancellor, Mr. Kreisky, sold 400 Austrian-made tanks to Saudi Arabia. At first he intended to sell 100 tanks to Saudi Arabia, but the owner of the factory that makes these tanks said, apparently with great joy: when the Saudis buy something they buy with a free hand. Of course, they have billions of dollars... Thus with a free hand, 400 tanks have to be purchased. From the same Austria, which on the day of "Anschluss" forced almost all the Jewish women in Vienna to take a small rag and to wash the street or the sidewalk. Austria, which many people said was worse, it if is at all possible, than Germany at the time of the Holocaust - the country of Eichmann - sells arms to Saudi Arabia. And at its head - the proud Jew, Mr. Bruno Kreisky, a member of the Second International.
Mr. Speaker, I should like to move on to another subject, namely the IsraeliEgyptian peace treaty and the remarks of Dr. Ghali, the Minister for Foreign Affairs. He stated that the defence treaties between Egypt and the Arab states are more important than the peace treaty with Israel. And he also actually announced that if, heaven forbid, a war should break out between Israel and an Arab state, there is a possibility - he did retract these remarks to be sure, but he made them - that Egypt would support the Arab state. I should like to prove from the Knesset rostrum how an intelligent learned man, who represents Egypt, says things that totally contradict the peace treaty.
In Article 2-6 it says:
"The parties undertake to fulfill in good faith their obligations under this treaty without regard to action or inaction of any other party, and independently of any instrument external to this treaty."
And in Article 5-6, it says:
"Subject to Article 1-3 of the United Nations Charter, in the event of a conflict between the obligations of the parties under the present treaty and any of their other obligations, the obligations under this treaty will be binding and implemented."
Afterwards, the Egyptians regretted (having included) these two sections and tried to abrogate them - they did not succeed. President Carter visited the Middle East. Before that I had gone to the United States and had made it known that if these two sections are nullified, we would not sign the peace treaty, because then it is worthless. Finally, all sides agreed to add in the annex to the peace treaty:
"The provisions of Article 6 shall not be construed in contradiction to the provisions of the framework for peace in the Middle East agreed at Camp David. The foregoing is not to be construed as contravening the provisions of Article 6-2 of the treaty, which read as follows," and we repeated verbatim what I read to you. And in the continuation it says, "It is agreed by the parties that there is no assertion that this peace treaty prevails over other treaties" and in the continuation, "or that other treaties or agreements prevail over this treaty. The foregoing is not to be construed as contravening the provisions of Article 6-5 of the treaty as follows," and again we repeated verbatim what I read to you. I hope that Mr. Ghali made his astonishing remarks without the knowledge or consent of President Sadat. I hope that Mr. Ghali himself will arrive at the conclusion as I have clarified it, and that he knows what was written explicitly and what was signed in the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty.
The Multi-National Force in the Sinai: We have informed the Americans - and I hereby declare (this) from the rostrum of the Knesset - and the Americans have informed the Egyptians, that since it is impossible to establish a force under U.N. auspices because of the Soviet veto, there will be established, according to an identical letter sent by President Carter on behalf of the United States to President Sadat and myself, saying that an agreed-upon multi-national force would be established. This must be a serious, actual force - a force, and not observers - in the north and in the south, in order to maintain Israel's security, and in order to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Straits of Tiran. Therefore, we have made it known, (that) this letter of President Carter's to President Sadat and myself has become an inseparable part of the peace treaty. And this force must be established and be operative by March 1982, at the latest. If this force is not established, we will continue to stand along the Ras Muhammad-El Arish line. We will not budge from it if the multinational force is not established, and this will be in accordance with the peace treaty.
Mr. Speaker, there is tension in the Middle East today. There is a crisis in the Middle East today. I would like to express my hope that, in spite of everything, everyone will act wisely and that no war, which no one wants and no one should be enthusiastic about, will erupt. We do not want any war with any Arab state. We want peace with all our neighbours. We will do everything in order that this peace comes about, so that war will be avoided - and with this sincere hope I hereby thank the Speaker and members of the Knesset for listening to my remarks.