The interview, broadcast on the BBC Arabic Service was aimed at clarifying Israel's position on the presence of the IDF in the security zone in southern Lebanon and on Israel's position regarding the resumption of negotiations with Syria. On the latter, the Prime Minister said that both sides could renew the talks without any prior conditions. He was referring to Syrian demands to begin the talks from where they left off during the Rabin government. He also discussed the issue of FRD and the conclusion of the crisis over Iraq, which he felt was not yet over. He rejected any comparison between Israel and Iraq both being in violations of Security Council resolutions. The Prime Minister said that Israel did not violate any operative Security Council resolution. Text:
BBC: Israeli officials are negotiating in Europe about ways to implement UN resolution 425 - the withdrawal from Israeli-occupied South Lebanon. Are we any closer to an Israeli withdrawal from that area?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: As far as we're concerned, we would have withdrawn from Lebanon yesterday. We would certainly prefer to leave as soon as possible. We accept [UN] resolution 425, which calls for our withdrawal from Lebanon, subject to the establishment of terms of peace and security between Israel and Lebanon. We also expect Lebanon to discharge its responsibility as resolution 425 states, to police its own territory and ensure security.
BBC: Will Israel continue to insist on restarting peace talks with Syria from scratch?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: It's not from scratch. Certainly we take into account everything that was discussed, but we also take into account what was formally agreed upon. In the case of Syria, there were discussions but no definitive contracts put forward that we could proceed from. We obviously have our views and the Syrians have theirs. They are free to raise everything on their end - including their territorial claims - and one should give us the same latitude. I think only by renewing the negotiations can we come to a meeting of the minds. Now we're negotiating about the negotiations, which I think is a big waste of time. It doesn't let us grapple with the real issues.
BBC: Are you proposing anything to Syria, in response to the positive noises coming from Damascus?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: Positive noises are not unimportant, and I appreciate them if they are forthcoming, but I think what we really need is an agreement to start negotiations without forcing end conditions on each other. I don't expect Syria to accept our initial offering, and I think they should not place pre-conditions of that type before us. Surely there are ways to find an acceptable negotiating formula to re-engage talks between Israel and Syria, which I think are to the benefit of both countries.
BBC: Will Israel ever be prepared to withdraw from the Golan Heights, which it occupied in 1967?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: This is a subject that will have to be left to negotiations. We will put forward our territorial claims and the Syrians will put forward theirs.
BBC: Can Israel ever withdraw while you're sitting on one side of the table?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: We talked about withdrawal from territory. I didn't say anything about withdrawal from the territory - from all of it - because it is, in our view, an essential question about overall security that will have to be discussed in the negotiations.
BBC: How are you going to approach the Palestinian question from now on? It is a widely held view outside Israel that your policies have brought the peace to this stalled position, and many people think that is an intentional act on your part.
Prime Minister Netanyahu: That is a rather peculiar myopia or amnesia. People forget that a year and a half ago the process collapsed. We had 250 Israelis killed in terrorist attacks in Israel. That's because the previous government made a deal with the Palestinians giving them territory in exchange for the Palestinian promise to police those territories against Hamas and other terrorist groups. That promise has not been kept by the Palestinian side. Nevertheless, I continued to negotiate it, handing over 80% of the city of Hebron - the oldest Jewish city - to the Palestinians, and yet we still did not see that resolute and systematic battle against terrorism. It is the PA's failure to uphold the central bargain of Oslo that is putting the peace process at risk. That is the reason I came to power. My coming to power has not paralyzed Oslo. Rather it is the paralysis of Oslo that has brought me to power. I was elected to put Oslo back on track.
BBC: But have you done that?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: If the Palestinians fulfill their obligations, we will fulfill ours, and I have put forward a proposal how to do that.
BBC: Is Israel acting in good faith on the interim agreement, which your predecessors and the Palestinians believe was the way to a permanent settlement?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: Absolutely. We've kept our side of the Hebron accords. We are on the verge of concluding some of the interim committee questions such as opening the Palestinian airport or opening the industrial park in Gaza, which I think we've basically concluded. I think negotiations are being held up for non-material reasons. There is a view in some Palestinian quarters that if we can conclude these interim agreements, the government will stall on implementing the FRD. That is exactly the opposite of the truth. Concluding these two committees, and perhaps others, will create a climate of hope and a positive climate of progress that will enable Mr. Arafat and myself to proceed on completing the negotiations on further redeployment with greater ease. I think that is an understanding that eludes many of the Arab leaders including the Palestinian leadership.
BBC: What is your view of the conclusion of the latest crisis over Iraqi weapons inspections by the UN?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: This is not something that is concluded. There will have to be an ongoing regime to ensure that Saddam Hussein keeps his promises. I must say I am struck by attempts to make a false symmetry between Iraq and Israel, as though the U.S. and Britain now need to balance their forceful position towards Saddam Hussein with a forceful position towards Israel. Israel is not in violation of any operative Security Council agreements. Israel is a democracy, a responsible power that has not used poison gas or deadly weapons against its own population or its neighbors. I think it is a false symmetry by any account and in many ways insulting. But beyond that, if the issue of compliance is concerned, by all means we should look at Israel's record of compliance: it has kept its agreements and regrettably the Palestinian Authority has not.
BBC: You refer to the parallels that have been drawn between Israel and Iraq. Can I put another parallel to you? In 1990, the U.S. was able to put together a broad coalition that put Israel and - say - Syria on the same side. This time the U.S. was without any Arab support and they all blamed their non-participation in this coalition on Israel's intransigence and America's unwillingness to put pressure on you.
Prime Minister Netanyahu: In 1990, when this coalition was formed, there was no peace process. It was before Madrid. So the absence of a peace process then did not prevent the Arab governments from joining the coalition. The reason they joined the coalition was that Iraq devoured a neighboring Arab state. This may be a common propaganda claim. What decides whether there is an Arab coalition against Iraq or not is whether Saddam Hussein threatens the sovereignty of any Arab country.
BBC: Do you not think it was rather because in 1990 there was hope about peace in the future? But now, the way you are conducting the peace process, there is no hope for the Palestinians?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: There is a self-perpetuating, hypnotic repetition of a mantra that this government doesn't want peace and so on. People fall into this self-inflicted fatalism that puts peace back. If I wanted to scuttle Oslo, I have had untold opportunities to do so. I never did that, and I don't intend to. I want to complete it, but I have to do that through negotiation, not by dictate. It can only be completed by fair and respectful negotiation between us and the Palestinians as two equal partners. With good faith and good will, treating each other with respect for our differences, this is the government that can deliver peace. There's no question of it.