Erez, July 11, 1999
PM Ehud Barak: Chairman Arafat and myself conducted a comprehensive
meeting today here in order to find the way to promote the peace process
once again. This meeting, so soon after I have been elected, emphasizes
the importance that we relate to the role of the Palestinians in shaping
peace in the Middle East.
Our primary objective was to establish, or in fact to resume the mutual
trust which is so crucial to reaching a future agreement. Both sides have
suffered enough. It's about time to find a way to nurture mutual respect,
a kind of partnership, and to make peace together. I am confident that
with trust and determination, and goodwill on all sides, we can and we
have to achieve peace in the Middle East.
I am committed to the security of Israel. I spent all my life in uniform
and was brought just four years ago into politics by the great leader of
peace, Yitzhak Rabin. But I also want each Palestinian to feel secure, and
thus we must do whatever we can to prevent terror and to make our region
much safer in the future.
Today we embarked on a new road of trust in order to give a new momentum
to the peace process. The new Israeli government abides by all its
international commitments and all the agreements we signed. We are
committed to the Wye Agreement. We will implement Wye and we will shape
and coordinate with the Chairman and the Palestinian Authority the way by
which the advancement of the permanent status negotiations will be
combined with the implementation of the Wye Agreement. We are determined
to find a way to overcome all the obstacles and to coordinate on the
mutual understanding on the way that we move forward toward peace in this
era.
Mr. Chairman, fathers, mothers and children, Palestinians and Israelis
alike, are waiting, expecting us, the leaders, to provide them with a
better and a safer future, and we should find both the determination and
leadership to do the job and change the landscape of this region.
Thank you very much.
In response to a question on settlements:
I didn't go into details. I repeated our commitment to implement Wye, and
the guidelines of the new government that has just been established in
Israel say very clearly: We are not going to establish a new settlement
and we are not going to dismantle one settlement, and we are going to
check, reassess or bring into discussion a decision by previous
governments in Israel that has not yet been implemented.
I have told the Israeli public that I am committed to blocs of settlements
within the West Bank in the permanent settlement, but this issue, together
with many tough issues will be discussed during the final status
negotiations.
I have no illusions, and I believe that the Chairman has no illusions,
that we are going into a tough and long process. There will be many ups
and downs and we will have some crises. But I yet believe that with the
kind of determination and conviction and commitment that I believe we all
have here, we will be able to overcome the obstacles and reach the common
goal of achieving peace and putting an end to the 100-year conflict in the
Middle East.