During his tenure as acting Foreign Minister, the Prime Minister held a number of background briefings to members of the diplomatic corps in Israel. In the following briefing, he explained in detail the policies of his government, the requirements of the Palestinians and the obligations already implemented by Israel. He also defined the nature of the security zones required by Israel in any future final settlement with the Palestinians. Text of the opening remarks follows:
Good morning, Ambassadors. I must confess to you that I've always looked forward during my days in Washington and the UN to one day, perhaps, becoming Foreign Minister. I have since been derailed to other occupations, and now I have temporarily assumed this position, so I think that I am privileged to have the opportunity to speak to you, and I would like to do this on a regular basis as long as I hold this portfolio. I would like to meet - this is a very dangerous thing for a politician to say - but I would like to meet once a month. That is not too much. I know that many of you would like to have individual meetings, which I will try to accommodate, but I believe we can have this collective meeting once every four weeks, and that, I think, will enable us to maintain regular touch with one another.
The one request that I have is that we have that as a private meeting as opposed to a press meeting, knowing of course that every word that we speak here will not come out but will be absolutely discrete. But nevertheless I would like to have the opportunity to do so, and that's by way of indicating that I would like to be able to speak privately to the diplomats assembled here.
Before the press leave, I would like to say at the outset one main point. This is a government committed to peace. This is a government that wants and can achieve the peace between Israel and the Palestinians. We are prepared to offer a package, a series of moves that can overcome the issues of the interim settlement in order to facilitate rapid negotiations into the final settlement. The final settlement of peace between Israel and the Palestinians should be the objective of all those who want peace. There are some hurdles along the way; they can be overcome with good will and with imagination. We have had a series of meetings in the Cabinet this week designed to facilitate Israel's positions towards a final settlement, but also towards overcoming the hurdles of the interim issues that still face us.
I'm going to Washington with, I think, the necessary flexibility and the necessary firmness, both emanating from our belief that peace is absolutely necessary and within reach, if there is an equal attitude on the Palestinian side. We will seek to have a new agreement that is based on the assurance to Israel that the old agreement is kept. That is not a tactic, it is not a trick. It is the essence of the meaning of contracts. A contract means that not only the Israeli side lives up to its commitments as it has, but that the Palestinian side does so as well. We intend to move forward with the redeployment based on that understanding. It is difficult for us to do, but I am prepared to do the difficult things, assuming that the other side keeps its promises.
I must tell you that fighting terrorism is also difficult. It was difficult for me to redeploy from Hebron. This is a city that is the oldest Jewish city in the world - it dates back to the time of Abraham, the patriarchs. It was difficult, it was laced with obstacles, and we faced criticism - but we did it. It is difficult for us now to make the decisions that we are making, but we are making them. It is absolutely necessary that the Palestinian Authority and its leadership muster that same determination and face down the terrorists and act against them. They are trying now to murder Israelis, as we speak. It cannot be left to an isolated event here and there, based on information that we give, that the battle of terrorism should be fought. It should be fought within the Palestinian territories, by the Palestinian authorities, day in and day out. That was a central promise of Oslo. If it's carried out, it will not only bolster confidence in the Israeli side, it will also create the actual conditions by which peace can proceed. If we have terrorism, it will be very hard to pursue peace in pragmatic terms.
So what we ask - the compliance of the Palestinian side with its obligations to fight terrorism and to annul its covenant of hate - those are practical instruments of assuring the progress for peace. On our side, we are prepared to effect a redeployment that we believe tests the possibilities of what we can do within our security constraints. I think this is an equitable package, I think it can lead us forward. It can allow us to enter the negotiations for peace which I believe should be accelerated, especially on the final settlement issue.
I'm going to say more, but I think I've given our friends from the press something that they can chew on.