Statements to the press by
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and
Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana
Tel Aviv, April 28, 2002
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres: I'd like to welcome a dear friend of
ours, the Foreign Minister of Romania, and a very dear country to us,
Romania itself. The relations between Romania and Israel were always
rich and interesting and full of potential. Romania played an
important part both in making peace with our neighbors, and enabling
the ingathering of the Jewish people in their homeland. It is because
of this that we carry the most cherished memories concerning Romania.
Recently our relations have been enriched by more economic and
technological contacts, which we hope will grow in scope and
content.
The Foreign Minister of Romania, naturally, is very much interested
in the peace process here, and we think that Romania can really
contribute to this process, carrying the credibility of a people that
tries to be of assistance in overcoming the very complicated problems
here. So it is in this spirit that I welcome you here, and the floor
is yours.
Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana: Thank you very much. It is
always a pleasure to be here with our friends in Israel and also with
your distinguished foreign minister. We are coming here because of
course we have an interest in the current situation in your country
and in the region as a whole. Romania has tried over the years to be
a trusted and balanced partner, and of course we touched upon some of
the regional developments, and also trying to explore the way ahead.
We feel that probably the next few days will eventually be able to
bring us some better news coming out of the region.
We also wanted to bring more substance to our bilateral dialogue. It
is not only a longstanding tradition, not only that many Israelis
have come from Romania, not only that many Israelis are returning to
Romania to do business, to do investment, to study, and to renew
their ties to their original homeland. I also informed the minister
about some of the good news coming out of Romania in terms of
economy, and he promised to look into some of the issues that are
still of concern to some Israeli businessmen in Romania.
I came here after visiting two capitals of the region, Cairo and
Amman, and later today and tonight I will be able to explain and
present to my colleague some of the ideas and thoughts that some
other leaders from more moderate Arab countries have in mind in this
very critical situation. So for us it is always a pleasure to be
here. Romania will continue to be a balanced and a true friend of
peace in this region, a true friend and a strategic ally of Israel on
our common way towards a better future. And, like always, I have
cherished the information, the insight and the huge intellectual
power that your foreign minister is bringing to any of our
discussions. Thank you very much.
Q: [On the government decision to entrust the task of guarding the
accused murderers of Tourism Minister Ze'evy to American and British
guards, thus allowing Chairman Arafat free movement]
FM Peres: In order to fulfill our initial plan - namely, once the
military operation in zone A is over, to enable our forces to
redeploy themselves out of the zone - we have had two very
problematic problems. One is the situation in Ramallah, in the
Mukata. There was a linkage between Mr. Arafat and the murderers of
our Minister of Tourism. Arafat is supposed to keep an eye on them,
but this made him in a way conditioned by them to remain where he is,
where he still is, and for us, too, to keep forces to guard the
situation in the Mukata in Ramallah.
By the offer presented to us by the United States president and the
British government, and with the support of the United Nations, the
cabinet, after a very long deliberation, a very important one,
decided to accept the proposal - namely that the prisoners, the
accused people, will be sent to a special camp, guarded by American
and British personnel, which will also give freedom of movement to
Chairman Arafat, and will enable our army to leave Ramallah as well.
So I think it is a very important decision of far-reaching
consequences, in my judgement in the right direction. It also will
help to strengthen our good relations with the United States of
America and its president.
I believe the government decision was a correct one, and I supported
it. It was clear to us all that the existing situation could not
continue. We cannot keep our army guarding the Mukata forever, and a
very difficult linkage was created between the Chairman of the
Palestinian Authority the the prisoners he was supposed to watch
over. The solution of separating the two was therefore the correct
one. American and British personnel will guard the prisoners, the
Chairman will have freedom of movement, and we will be freed of
having to deal with such a complex situation. I hope that a solution
will also be found in Bethlehem, which will enable us to withdraw
complete from area A.
Q: Can you give us the latest position on the UN fact-finding mission
on Jenin?
FM Peres: We suggested the fact-finding mission, provided they remain
a fact-finding mission, and will not exceed its initial intentions
and responsibilities. There were some problems raised in our talks
with the Secretary General and the representative of the head of the
delegation, particularly concerning the way of calling witness. We
are a nation that is still at war - you know what happened yesterday,
the terrible story about the killing of a five-year-old girl, while
asleep at her home; the prevention of a terrible attempt to sent a
car bomb into the heart of Tel Aviv. We cannot tell our soldiers: you
will volunteer, you will fight, and on top of it you have to take
lawyers and give testimony. We don't want to create such a situation.
There is a problem of the morale of the army. The army did a very
complicated job, with a great deal of personal courage.
The whole story of Jenin unfortunately was based on a blood libel.
The story was: there was a massacre. The Palestinians say 3,000
people were killed. To the best of our knowledge only seven civilians
lost their lives. I regret it. On the other hand there were 45 armed
Palestinians, with rifles in their hands, and 23 Israeli soldiers
killed. Can you call it a massacre?
The Palestinians themselves said that Jenin became the capital of
terror and suicide bombers. We couldn't provide them with a safe
haven from which they can send people everywhere to kill our
children, our girls, our boys. So we feel that what we did was
strictly self-defense, to stop the most terrible killing of innocent
people, children, girls, boys, elderly people - while praying, while
attending dinners, and we feel this is one of the greatest blood
libels against our land.
We want to be sure that the real story is told. We have nothing to
hide, but we don't want this to become, directly or indirectly, an
extension of an attempt to place blame on our army, which by and
large is responsible for the fact that only seven civilians lost
their lives in a bitter exchange fire. It is not by accident. So we
want to make sure that it will be objective and fair, and we are
talking today with the United Nations to find a way out how to
guarantee objectivity and responsibility at the same time.
The source of authority of the fact-finding team is paragraph 2 of
the Security Council resolution, in which the team is requested to
ascertain the exact recent events in Jenin. This is its sole
authority. We are now discussing the procedures and various other
issues. I hope we will reach agreement, and the cabinet will then
decide tomorrow.
Q: [on the role Romania can play in peace-making efforts]
FM Peres: Romania did contribute in the past in the peace-making
between Egypt and ourselves. We shall always remember the visit of
Mr. Begin and Mr. Sadat to Romania. I think Romania has shown a very
constructive involvement in the process of making peace with the
Palestinians, and we shall continue to use the good offices of
Romania to continue the same process.
The difference between peace and war is that at war you use bullets,
and they don't invite Romania to come with bullets. When it comes to
peace, the idea is to have dialogue, and the more credible the voice
is, the more contributing the involvement may become. We think that
Romania enjoys real credibility in our eyes and in the eyes of our
neighbors, and I think Romania can really help to build a dialogue of
importance as it was in the past, so we hope will be in the
future.