Israel's long-standing policy has been to exclude Palestinian residents in East Jerusalem from participating in the future elections in the territories and from serving as members of the Palestinian negotiating team. Faisal Husseini was chosen by the Palestinians to head their negotiating team and had been dealing openly with the U.S. government. Israel had to accept the new reality without altering its previous decisions on Jerusalem. Israel was determined that "Jerusalem will remain united as the capital of Israel and of Israeli sovereignty. " Mr. Peres was optimistic that the Palestinians would go to Washington for the next round of the talks scheduled for 20 April, in spite of the measures undertaken in the areas. Text:
Mr. Peres: As a matter of fact, Faisal Husseini is heading the Palestinian team. This is common practice. He is the man that the United States is negotiating with and talking with, and we have accepted the fact. Then again, in the past, we have never excluded the possibility that Faisal Husseini will be a member of the delegation. If you remember, during the National Unity Government, that was our position, and one of the reasons why we disagreed with the Likud was because of their objection to it. Again, this is a matter of fact, and a matter of principles. As an act of formality, I do not believe that we have had to give already a formal answer.
Q: So no decision has been taken yet in Jerusalem.
Mr. Peres: No decision was necessary. But our position, judging by the past, the present, is rather obvious.
Q: That Israel would accept him as a member of the delegation.
Mr. Peres: Well, I said that, as a matter of fact, the negotiations are conducted with him.
Q: But isn't there some symbolic impact here, Mr. Peres - because, for example, the critics of this, the opposition, are saying that this is a deviation in effect from the Madrid formula.
Mr. Peres: The opposition thinks that Jerusalem exists in declarations, and we believe that Jerusalem exists on facts. I do not believe that [someone] who is registered by the way in two places, not just in one place, because Faisal Husseini is registered at another place as well, that this will change our position or our situation in Jerusalem.
We have decided in Jerusalem a clear decision, namely that Jerusalem will remain united as the capital of Israel and under Israeli sovereignty - this is not going to be changed. We have a question or a problem, that is what will be the rights of the 140,000 Palestinians who carry Jordanian passports vis-a-vis the autonomy. Again, in the past, we said clearly and loudly: They will have their rights to work for the autonomy, though not necessarily in Jerusalem itself, so I don't take any symbolic worries and I don't take all those exaggerated stories of the opposition. They are totally unfounded. I feel sure about ourselves, I feel sure about our position concerning Jerusalem.
Q: When it comes to April 20th, do you believe that the Palestinians will show up in Washington?
Mr. Peres: I think yes. I do not see that we have a better alternative, and I do not see what they are going to gain by late responding - on the contrary. Every time things are being postponed, the situation is getting worse. More knifing, more terror, more sealing of the territories, more other means. Let's not postpone it any longer, and start the negotiations on time.
Q: If the Palestinians do show up, is there any truth to reports that Israel will then be ready to make goodwill gestures, further goodwill gestures to them in the bilateral talks?
Mr. Peres: The difference between war and peace is that at war, you are trying to hit the other party. At peace, you are expecting good gestures on both sides in order to discover common ground. Negotiation, by definition, is an exchange of gestures, an attempt to create goodwill, because without the good gestures and without the goodwill, you can hardly really reach an agreement.
Q: In the countdown to April 20th, we have the closure of the territories. Prime Minister Rabin made it clear that he wants this t6 go on indefinitely. The opposition is also charging that this is, in effect, a de facto partition of the Land of Israel. Is there any truth to this, do you think?
Mr. Peres: I think the definitions you have mentioned were done in a more varied manner. It was said that we are not going to announce when the seal-off will come to an end. But we never said it will be indefinite. As a Government, we are also responsible for the well-being of the people who reside in the West Bank and Gaza. We are the only Government in those places, and it is our responsibility to do whatever we can, so the economic situation will not deteriorate there to a point where people will feel hunger or starvation, and we shall try whatever we can, not to let the economic situation fall down. Our overall consideration is both security and economy. The measures that we took resulted from a need to stop the knifing and to stop that crazy terror, but then on the other hand, we don't want that because of this security necessary, the economic situation will be totally ignored in the other places.