The interview dealt with three issues. Mr. Peres was pleased with the signing of the Israel-U.S. memorandum of agreement, although that did not enhance the peace process, He rejected allegations that he opposed an Israeli operation in Tunisia, during which, according to foreign media reports, the PLO second in command, Abu Jihad was killed by Israeli commandos. He explained why Israel was boycotting a Security Council debate on its policies in the areas. Israel did not want to take part in a spectacle in which it would be placed on trial, and preferred to stay away from the proceedings, thereby robbing them of the international echo that those who proposed the discussion were seeking to attain. Excerpts:
Q: Mr. Shamir has managed to politely reject the Shultz initiative, and has signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. What's so bad about that?
A: I didn't say it was bad. You are the one who said it was bad.
Q: I'm asking whether it's good or bad.
A: The memorandum is good. The basic question was, and remains, our relations with Arab countries, and how to ensure that Israel will be a Jewish state and a democratic state. And on this issue I'm not sure that the U.S. sees eye-to-eye with all the opinions that exist in Israel.
Q: Do you mean that idea called 'the peace process?
A: Not the 'idea.' I mean the main issue on our agenda, since if the peace process comes to a halt, there won't be a vacuum - other processes will occur.
Q: Today, entering our 41st year of independence, do you think that we're at the beginning of some sort of process -considering the events in Moscow?
A: I think that each of us should humbly admit that we don't set Moscow's policy, or even Washington's policy. What we can set is Israel's policy. The situation is that no decision is being made in Israel. Without a decision in Israel, I do not see a possibility of renewing the peace process. And in Israel's 41st year, we must decide if we are interested in taking the initiative despite all the difficulties. Yesterday, at several meetings, people told me that Hussein isn't interested. Let him not be interested. Why should we be more like Hussein than Hussein? We must say that we are prepared to do a,b,c. For example, in the past Israel agreed to an international conference. Why does it have to withdraw, what will they do to us at such a conference, Israel has always been prudent enough to appear as leading the peace process. I also think that this always gave it credit in its own eyes and in the eyes of the world.
Q: Concerning the assassination of Abu Jihad, a decision you did not support, at least according to foreign media reports...
A: Just a minute, why do you believe everything reported in the foreign media? Why do you people serve as a mouthpiece for any bit of nonsense that some newspaper in America prints?
Q: The "Washington Post" is a fairly respectable paper, I think.
A: To you it is. I think that on those issues, it is the "Post's" own creation.
Q: What do you think of Ezer Weizman's remark that he believed that there was no need to deal with Abu Jihad at the present time?
A: When I have more to say on this issue than what I have said already, I will do so.
Q: What about the U.N. Security Council session that Israel is boycotting?
A: We've decided not to participate in the discussion in the Security Council, since it is inconceivable for several countries to place Israel on trial. Israel doesn't have to stand trial.
Q: But this isn't the first time that Israel is being placed on trial. It is, however, the first time we are boycotting the meeting.
A: Even if this is not the first time we have been placed on trial, we are allowed to refuse to be tried for the first time. There is a first time for everything.