In the following interview, the Director General of the Foreign Ministry explained the background for the war and its limited objectives. He felt that the Syrians would remain quiet and that Israel would only have to deal with the P.L.0. He also expressed the notion that the war in Lebanon should be seen "as a way of strengthening the peace process," as the P.L.0. attempted since 1977 to undermine the peace process. He said that the P.L.O. was putting pressure on the Palestinian Arabs not to join the peace process. For the first time publicly, a senior Israeli official gave this reason for the war - the destruction of the P.L.O. would remove an obstacle from the way for Palestinian Arabs living in Judea and Samaria and Gaza from joining the peace process. Text:
Q: Mr. Kimche, just how big an operation is this Israeli operation, and what are its overall objectives?
Mr. Kimche: The objectives of this operation are very clear, and they are also limited. We have a situation today where the population of the northern part of this country is subjected to a constant threat of being shelled and bombed by the guns of the terrorists in southern Lebanon. The aim of our operation is to liberate (if you like) this population from this threat. We want to remove the terrorists and their artillery beyond the range - so that they cannot any more threaten the population of the northern part of our country.
Q: Does Israel have any intention of remaining inside Lebanon after this operation?
Mr. Kimche: I want to make this completely and absolutely plain. We have no aspirations for a single inch of Lebanese territory. We honor and respect the territorial integrity of the Republic of Lebanon; we have done so in the past and we shall do so in the future as well. Our sole aim is to try and free ourselves from this threat of the terrorists, and this is not aimed against Lebanon as such.
Q: Mr. Kimche, the U.N. Security Council has called on the sides to end the fighting. What is your reaction to this?
Mr. Kimche: We must understand that there has been a situation here in which, since the cessation of hostilities agreement reached by Philip Habib last July, we have shown, I would say, a remarkable restraint throughout this period in the face of constant actions and acts of terrorism by the other side. We have had more than 150 violations of this cessation of hostility agreement since this agreement was reached last July. We have had mines, we have had bombings, we've had shootings; and we've had a great many miracles, because there had been many bombs planted - in marketplaces, in supermarkets, at a kindergarten in a town, in schools - which could have created a tremendous amount of damage and loss of life. And as I say, we've had miracles, because many of them - or most of them - were discovered and removed before they went off. Now we've had the culmination, the attack on our ambassador in London, which was, if you like, the proverbial last straw on the back of the camel. Now we feel that we are completely justified to act in self-defense, in order to defend the lives of the citizens of our country, and this is how we view this action of ours. Therefore this appeal to stop aggression has to be unequivocally put to the other side, because we are not here the aggressors, we are acting in complete and total self-defense of the citizens of our country.
Q: There are large Syrian forces in Lebanon. At this hour, we don't know yet of any reports of clashes between Israeli and Syrian forces. What do you expect, what do you hope will come of the Syrian presence in Lebanon with regards to the Israeli operation?
Mr. Kimche: We have made it plain that we have no intentions of attacking the Syrian forces. Our aim is, as I said, a very clear and limited aim of defending the citizens of our country from the threats of the terrorists. So if the Syrians remain quiet, as I think it is very likely they will, then they shall not be attacked and we shall be able to, as I say, just deal with the terrorists. If, on the other hand, they do not remain quiet, then of course we shall have to see that the lives of our soldiers are not endangered.
Q: To return to relations with Egypt: what effect do you expect this operation will have on ties with Egypt?
Mr. Kimche: Well, strange as this may seem, we see this action of ours as a way of strengthening the peace process, and I'd like to explain that. The P.L.O. from the very, very outset of the peace process - since the days when President Sadat came to Jerusalem in 1977 - the P.L.O. has continuously and constantly tried to undermine the peace process and sabotage that process. They have been putting pressure on the Palestinian Arabs living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza not to join that process; they have been doing everything to put obstacles in [the way of] that process. Therefore, by weakening the PLO., by trying to cut them down to size, we want to remove this obstacle to the peace process; and we very much hope that the Egyptians will understand this, and we have certainly made it plain to them that this is our aim and that we mean and want nothing more than that.