On 29 May missiles were fired at Israeli aircraft flying over Lebanon. It emerged that the missiles were fired by Libyans. The Israel Airforce then proceeded to destroy the Libyan missiles. The first part of the interview dealt with Lebanon, while the second was devoted to the forthcoming Begin-Sadat summit due to take place at Sharm El-Sheikh in early June. On the agenda were the final phases of the Israeli withdrawal from Sinai, the autonomy talks and the normalization of relations with Egypt. Text:
Q: Mr. Prime Minister, we will first turn to the incident which occurred today over Lebanon, the missiles fired at our aircraft, the air force operation immediately afterwards. What conclusions can be drawn from this activity?
A: There are Libyans in Lebanon. No one knows why they came, what they are doing there. As far as we know, their intention is to defend the terrorists against our planes which come to photograph or attack the terrorists, as we must do so that these murderers do not kill our children. And thus they have come to Lebanon. They have no right to be in Lebanon, they should return to Libya. And if they activated their missiles ... they must be destroyed. And thus they were destroyed today.
Q: Mr. Prime Minister, can you perhaps give us some details regarding the actual events - what did in fact happen today?
A: Very simple: They opened fire. We were, of course, always prepared in case we had to act, and we acted with great efficiency, as our air force knows how to act.
Q: Would you say that there are conclusions to be drawn from this incident which involved air force planes and surface-to-air missiles, regarding the other missiles, the Syrian missiles that are stationed in Lebanon?
A: Everything has its significance ... we destroyed the Libyan missiles - now well wait and see.
Q: Mr. Prime Minister - why actually did you suggest to President Sadat your (forthcoming) meeting?
A: Look at the problems presently on the agenda, regarding Lebanon. The President of Egypt sends me a note and I replied. Both notes were most cordial. But can all the problems be aired on three pages? I saw that on these matters there had to be a personal talk. There is a problem of the terrorist organization which is being supplied with quantities of Soviet arms of all types. I believe that is of interest to both countries - Egypt as well as Israel. There is the problem of Communist expansion in our region. That is certainly a matter of common interest for Israel and Egypt, to stop that expansion. There are other problems, international, regional, bilateral ones. I thought it was of the utmost importance that we should meet and exchange views ... to meet informally, in the sun, for a few hours - and discuss those problems. I asked my friend, the Minister of Agriculture ... to transmit my proposal: I should like to see him, if possible, in the beginning of June, and I'd phone him at the end of the week, or the beginning of the next week to fix the details. This morning I called him, the conversation was very friendly, first names all the time, greetings of course to wives, families ... and we fixed - I checked the timetable, next Wednesday I have to reply at a special Knesset session to the famous Alignment question and, believe me, III reply... Friday is, of course, a day of rest for President Sadat, so I suggested Thursday. President Sadat agreed readily. Then, as usual with international phone calls, the conversation was cut off. President Sadat called me back and said: So what did we agree, Thursday, 4th June? - Agreed. Now since he had already called me back, I said "Anwar, my friend, after all - we are not meeting in secret. We are going to meet, we represent two nations - let us publicize the fact: Youll announce it in Egypt, III announce it in Israel. He agreed without hesitation, and therefore immediately afterwards, an announcement was made through you (the Army radio - transl.), and you were indeed the first to broadcast it. In fact you snatched it from "Kol Israel", where it was to be announced at 13:00 hours.
Q: Mr. Prime Minister - may one expect certain political achievements from your meeting with President Sadat?
A: That all depends on how the talks will go. Perhaps we shall reach some agreement. I wrote to President Sadat, by the way, that now the time was ripe for us to discuss matters and perhaps also to reach decisions. What decisions I cannot say today - that depends first of all on the subject, secondly on both our views. If we can summarize something I shall certainly be very happy, but in any case - the main purpose is to talk.
Q: Will you suggest to President Sadat to renew immediately the autonomy talks?
A: No. I shall not even mention the subject. At the time, President Sadat said with regard 'to the autonomy talks, he wants to wait until after the elections have been held in Israel. I took note of that - and no harm will result if we renew those talks in another five weeks. Should he take the initiative and propose to renew the talks - well and good. But I do not want to initiate ... because he said in no uncertain terms that he did not want to resume the talks prior to the elections - I don't think I must appear as a supplicant.
Q: Is there room for talks on phases of withdrawal from the remaining part of Sinai?
A: Certainly not. That is out of the question. The date is 26th April 1982. That. is a condition of the peace treaty and we shall fulfill it. But a basic condition is that at least 5-6 weeks earlier, the Multinational Force will be established and operating. We said so to the Americans and also to the Egyptians and they showed their understanding... I am indirectly participating in the negotiations on the Multinational Force, i.e., I have talks with our delegation.
Q: Do you perhaps expect to finalize that subject in your talk with President Sadat?
A: I do not believe I shall go into details with him, but possibly one of the questions will come up in connection with the peace treaty.
Q: And any connection between the date of this meeting and the approaching elections is incidental...
A: Of course. Suddenly the Lebanese crisis erupted, with all it implies, including the introduction of missiles. Syria adopts poses of great heroism: they will not remove the missiles at any price, are ready for any war, etc. Am I to blame that all this happened two weeks ago? Since it happened and President Sadat took the initiative to approach me, I had to answer him. I want to discuss matters with him, I want to tell him things that I am sure he does not know yet... What connection is there between all this and the elections?
Q: How do you view the prospective meeting, that was also mentioned, of President Sadat and the leader of the opposition, Mr. Peres?
A: My opinion? President Sadat will invite Mr. Peres and Mr. Peres will invite himself to meet President Sadat - how do you say in Arabic: Tfaddal (you're welcome). So what? There'll be a meeting. Why not? There is nothing wrong with that.
Q: Mr. Prime Minister, why did you request a meeting with President Sadat already next week?
A: In the last weeks, serious events have taken place in our region. In Lebanon, an attempt was made by the Syrian army to massacre the Christians. The Syrians have moved missiles into Lebanon. And they present themselves as heroes, that they're prepared for war, that they won't withdraw the missiles, and other such things. There is of course the problem of the spread of communism, or the danger of its expansion... There is the problem of relations with the United States of America, our common ally, both Egypt's and Israel's. In any event, serious and even grave problems have developed rather suddenly in the region. The initiative for the contact between us was taken by President Sadat. He sent me a serious and diplomatic letter, very friendly, concerning the situation in Lebanon. I replied to him. But when I read his letter, the evening when I wrote my reply, I got the idea - why do we have to correspond about these matters? Can you say everything in three pages? Let's make an attempt to set up a meeting...
Q: In conclusion, Mr. Prime Minister: Today's airforce attack in Lebanon. Does it signify any change in our policy towards Lebanon, with the departure of Philip Habib from the region?
A: No change. In all my talks I held in the past week, I said that we do not give up - and we will not give up - in any way, the actions we initiate against the terrorists. Because if we do not eliminate them within the bases, they will come and murder our children. We will not allow them to harm Israeli citizens, and that is the method - not retaliation after we are murdered, but (to) initiate, and penetrating into the bases, where we strike at them. These are the missiles that the Libyans - you know, what are the Libyans doing in Lebanon? How did they bring in these missiles? They were supposed to defend the terrorists. This was their function. We destroyed them. And I think that not even one is left.