This was the third briefing to members of the diplomatic corps by the Prime Minister in his capacity as acting Foreign Minister. He began by discussing an incident that took place in Ramallah on 29 March, when a suspected Hamas terrorist Mukhadin Sharif was blown to death while preparing a bomb. There were speculations that this may have been a "work accident". Later, the PA announced that he was killed as a result of internal feuding in Hamas. The Prime Minister also discussed Israel's acceptance of resolution 425. Text of the public part of the briefing follows:
Prime Minister Netanyahu: Good morning, Excellencies, it is good to see you again. We are rigorously keeping our schedule of meeting once a month, on Fridays.
Let me say a few things before we ask our friends from the press to leave, so that they can receive the leaks from all present in a systematic way.
There are three issues that I would like to put forward before you. First of all, the most pressing one is the question of the death of Mukhadin Sharif in Ramallah. I made a point of appearing personally yesterday before the cameras, as did the Defense Minister, to make it clear that Israel had no part in this event, not directly or indirectly. To the best of our understanding, although we are not conducting the investigation, we can say that it looks like an accident, but I know that there is a further investigation taking place. I can tell you categorically, we had nothing whatsoever to do with it. Mind you, Mukhadin Sharif was far from a saint, he had the blood of many innocent people on his hands. But it so happens that in this particular case, Israel had no role in his death. I say that because we heard from Palestinian officials, including senior officials, statements to the contrary. These are very irresponsible statements, because what they do is incite violence. I would say they ignite an already very explosive atmosphere, and they could lead to the launching of terrorist attacks against Israel.
We have been very clear with the Palestinian Authority, both about the facts and our expectation that the Palestinian Authority stop, immediately, spreading this false information, indeed act to curb all violence. I think that is important. We are in the midst of sensitive negotiations which we hope will come to fruition, and we cannot, any of us, afford the return to terrorism, to the loss of life and to the great tragedies that follow from this. I think you can understand too, as this case reveals, why it is that we insist, as we do, that the Palestinian Authority act against terrorism in its own midst.
Here we had, a few hundred meters from the security headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, another bomb factory. This is now the third bomb factory revealed: after Bethlehem and Nablus, we now have Ramallah, where explosives are made for car bombs, not individual suicide bombers, but car bombs. We insist that the Palestinian Authority take systematic actions - as they promised to do - and initiatives to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in their midst. The immediate thing that they must do is stop attributing something to us, something they know full well that we had no part of, which is the death of Mukhadin Sharif.
On the peace process, let me say at this stage that we had, I think, important talks with Dennis Ross. We talked about a number of areas that I will shortly itemize, and I think we have a number of bridging proposals that we are discussing right now. I cannot tell you yet what the culmination of the process will be; I think it requires additional discourse. These are issues that are related to Israel's security in a fundamental way, and we seek a solution that will not impair our security and that will also have the Palestinians living up to their commitments.
I think that it is possible to achieve progress. I hope it will be possible to achieve an outcome, and if we achieve it, I think it will be important for the peace process as a whole in the Middle East.
As far as the entire peace process, we have made a decision in the Cabinet on resolution 425. It was not intended as a tactic or as a diversion. It is indeed something that stands on its own. It is something that we want to achieve; it is a signal of our seriousness of purpose and our intention to achieve a solution to the problem of Lebanon after 20 years. We would welcome obviously the assistance of all governments present here and anyone else to carry out this goal of having Israel depart from Lebanon, with the maintenance of international peace and security on our northern border.
That is what I have to say before we ask our friends from the press to leave, so now I am going to ask you to leave.
Question: How will the calls for revenge impact upon the peace process?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: I don't think it facilitates the cause of peace if there are cries heard from official Palestinian quarters for revenge. Revenge for what? You know perfectly well that when Israel takes action, the information eventually comes out, even fairly quickly, and you know also that in an open and democratic country like Israel, the Prime Minister does not get up every day and say what I am saying as emphatically as I do; nor does the Defense Minister. So, I don't think it would be conducive at all for the peace process to have the death of Mukhadin Sharif accompanied by calls for revenge, for something that was not done by us. I cannot tell you who did it, how it happened, whether it was an accident as it appears: we cannot confirm this or some other form of death. I can only tell you categorically that it is extremely unhelpful to the peace process to have these false allegations leveled at Israel and to have them believed on the Palestinian street.
Question: Are there real threats regarding terrorist actions?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: We have no specific leads at this time, but we are taking all the precautions. I have said that I think much injury will be done to the peace process by the repeat of terrorism, and the last thing that any of us needs right now is terrorism. Not right now, not at any time. We wish to see the peace process move forward; that is incompatible with the recurrence of bouts of terrorism, and it is perfectly within the ability of the Palestinian Authority to prevent terrorist attacks against Israel. It is certainly within their ability to prevent the leveling of false statements that inflame the Palestinians, to the effect that we had anything to do with the death of Sharif. We had nothing to do with it and they know it.