Reacting to mounting accusations in Israel and abroad, that he supported the existing status quo, the prime minister lashed out at his critics arguing that Israel had made vast concessions for the sake of peace. He charged that Egypt did not honour the Camp David accords and repeated his call for direct negotiations with the Palestinians in the territories and not with the PLO. Mr. Shamir was speaking to the Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Likud Party. Excerpts:
One hears everywhere accusations levelled against us and particularly against me. Everywhere they say, 'Shamir is a status-quo man. Shamir is opposed to any change, he is satisfied with things the way they are.' And when they say status quo they include the intifada, terrorism, and so forth, and the danger of war. And I say explicitly: I am not in favor of the status quo, because it is lacks the element of peace. And we are in favor of peace.
The PLO is not in favor of peace, since it is not satisfied with the status quo. It does not undertake any risks. What could it possibly be risking?. It only stands to gain. And the same goes for the rest of the Arabs.
We undertake risks; we are in favor of peace and we have a way, and it is a logical one, in our opinion, and also according to our experience acquired through the years.
Therefore, we are not in favor of the status-quo. We are in favor of peace. And we have a way of our own of achieving peace.
There are those who immediately get annoyed [and ask]: "What is our path," as though we have already forgotten direct negotiations at the negotiating table with Arab nations, with Palestinians, but not with the PLO.
And we have the Camp David Accords which, to date, have not been honored. To date nobody has come up with anything better than the accords, [nothing] more realistic, more logical, or more to our benefit under the existing circumstances.
Where have you ever seen a nation or a country which at one time was a signatory to an agreement - while making concessions, prepared to make concessions, prepared to undertake risks - and which after several years is prepared to come to terms with having these accords thrown in the trash and ignored as though they had never existed. Where else can you find such a nation or such a country?
We must insist on these [accords]. It is true that we are told that not all the elements took part in Camp David. Jordan, for example, was not a partner at Camp David, nor were the Palestinians. That's fine. But Egypt was present, as was the U.S. Therefore, since Jordan did not participate, and was not a partner - and the same goes for others - it is possible to listen, to look into some ideas for any sort of change. But this is the right track, this is the path. And the path is an extremely logical one: the two-staged path. A path of interim agreements, and all it entails, including very serious and extremely positive matters, to the benefit of the Arab residents of Judea and Samaria and Gaza.