Interview with FM Shimon Peres on CNN
September 22, 2002
INTERVIEW WITH FOREIGN MINISTER SHIMON PERES ON CNN
September 22, 2002
WOLF BLITZER: Let's go live to Tel Aviv and speak with Israel's foreign
minister, Shimon Peres. What is going on in Ramallah right now?
FM SHIMON PERES: I think the destruction of the buildings is over. There were
interruptions of supply of water; we're repairing it. The supply of
electricity will be repaired. As we've announced there is no physical
danger, neither to Arafat nor to the other people.
From our standpoint, with the problems we have to face, the solutions
are very much in the hands of the Palestinians. If the Palestinian
people really want to change the whole situation, they should put the
Hamas and Jihad under their discipline.
We cannot live in a chaotic life. We are not going teach any lessons
to the Palestinians. But we cannot agree that every group will throw
bombs and shoot rifles and nobody's responsible. So what is needed is
not demonstrations but really discipline.
When it comes to Yasser Arafat himself, among the people who are with
him in the Muqata are at least seven, eight, even more, who are on
the list of the wanted. The Palestinians know exactly who they are.
We gave the names time and time again. We told them that if they will
surrender, nothing will happen to them physically, they will be put
before the court, they'll have a fair trial, and bring an end to
it.
But it cannot be that when it comes to shooting and killing, there is
nobody to answer, there is nobody to talk with. When Arafat and his
people turn to the Hamas and Jihad they say "No, we don't take your
orders." So what are the chances and what is the choice before all of
us? The Palestinian fate is in the hands of the Palestinians. Let's
not create another impression. We are still for peace. The Oslo
agreement is valid. We have accepted the vision of President Bush. We
didn't change our mind.
BLITZER: Is it your goal, Mr. Foreign Minister, to expel Yasser
Arafat, to arrest Yasser Arafat, to kill Yasser Arafat? What,
specifically, do you want to do with the Palestinian leader?
PERES: We don't want to expel him, we don't want to kill him, we
don't want to hurt him. There was a vote in the government. The
majority of the government decided against expulsion. Nobody
suggested at all to kill him or hurt him.
What we want is either Arafat will show that he can control the
situation or, alternatively, let somebody else do it. Today we have a
situation where neither Arafat, nor anybody else, is in charge. They
have to bring in law and order, because it affects our life and
death.
I came back last Wednesday from New York quite optimistic after the
meeting of the Quartet. A few hours later, 60 people in the heart of
the country in the main street of Tel Aviv were wounded, six were
killed, 10 seriously injured. A day before, three persons were killed
in three different places, by bombs, by ambushes. What do they expect
us to do? I'm all for peace. But peace must be done by the two sides.
Terror can be done by one side.
BLITZER: As you know, Mr. Foreign Minister, over these past six
weeks, at least until the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv this week,
there appeared to be some progress and forging an improved
relationship with some new Palestinian ministers - the finance
minister, for example, the interior minister. U.S. officials here in
Washington were telling me they were becoming increasingly more
encouraged by what they were seeing from the Palestinians.
This late development, the destruction effectively of almost all the
buildings in the presidential compound in Ramallah, might put all of
that to an end.
PERES: No, sir. That's not the point. There was a period of
tranquility because our army is, as it was, in the West Bank and in
Gaza. We don't want to remain there. We didn't go there to reoccupy.
We asked the Palestinians to take charge. In Gaza they have their
forces intact. We have asked them at least to stop the shooting of
mortars into the heart of the villages nearby.
We warned the Palestinians about additional suicide bombers. It
cannot go on like this. The Palestinian leadership did not really
give orders to stop it. Perhaps they didn't give orders to initiate
the terror, but neither did they give orders to stop it. There are
tens of thousands of policemen under their control, under their
command. And what we told them, I think United States as well, is:
please tell your official police force to intervene and stop it.
Nothing of that sort happened.
So the talks were nice, but the situation on the ground didn't
change. And again and again, would it be a political maneuver, would
it even be a financial maneuver, we could have handled it
differently. But when it comes to security, we were left without a
choice. While we are talking right now, there are still warnings
about other suicide bombers on their way to the country. We cannot
take it easily. We have to defend the lives of our own people.
BLITZER: So right now what you're saying, the siege itself, the
operation at Ramallah has ended. You're going to restore water and
food supplies to the individuals inside. If no one emerges, what are
you going to do?
PERES: No, we didn't intend at all to cut water, to cut electricity.
It was done by an accident, and I think it is already repaired. We
also stopped destroying more buildings.
Now Arafat has a choice: either to send over the people who are on
the wanted list who are accused of killing other people, or else to
remain as he is. We are not going to hurt him, we're not going to
expel him, we're not going to endanger his life. And we are not going
to change our mind about the need for a compromise and peace or the
possibility to talk and negotiate.
But the Palestinian people, and I'm really speaking as a person who
has deep respect for them, instead of demonstrating against the
siege, let them demonstrate against the Hamas and the Jihad. They are
their catastrophe.
If the Palestinian position in America went down, it is because of
Jihad and Hamas. The same in Europe. If relations with Israel became
strained, it is again because of them.
Now, either they will be a people that can control their own
destinies, can put order in it, or else anything can happen. They're
losing and paying unfortunately. It doesn't bring us any joy and any
pleasure. We don't want it. We would like to see them equal, free to
move, to live.