The following is a translation of a radio interview with the foreign minister, broadcast on the Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio) program "Ma Bo’er?" (What's Burning?) on Sunday, 26 November 2006.
Razi Barka’i: [The cease-fire is] fragile and faltering, correct?
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni: Correct. It depends greatly on them and on us as well. We can go backwards. I hope that won’t happen.
Barka’i: How does it depend on us?
Livni: The actions that Israel takes are the reactions to terrorism coming out of Gaza. Our job is to prevent the next terrorist attack, so Israel reacts in order to prevent the terrorist attacks. The moment there is quiet on the other side, Israel, in the nature of things, will not have to be there. After all, we are not interested in re-conquering Gaza.
Barka’i: The problem is that there have already been…
Livni: So first and foremost, it depends on them. We only need to look at the next few hours, both as a kind of test and with the understanding that it will take, I assume, some period of time, to calm down all the organizations there.
Barka’i: The question is extremely immediate. Our observation officers or electronic observation means identify a squad preparing for launch. Do you believe, in such a situation, that Israel should implement preventive measures and eliminate that squad, or let Haled Mishal, Abu Mazen, try to get to those people?
Livni: The question is what Israel can not allow itself to do when it knows that Kassam rockets will be fired at its citizens. If this can be prevented not through us, that would be preferable. If there is no choice, we will have to do it, but we are at the dawn of a new day in which at least all the factions there acknowledge that they are going into this cease-fire, so the next few hours will be the determining ones, but they will also be hours in which we will apparently see discrepancies here and there.
Barka’i: In other words, in your opinion, Tzipi Livni, in the coming hours, maybe in the coming day, Israel does not have to initiate any military action of intersecting those launching squads and it should let Abu Mazen handle these matters by himself.
Livni: I want to clarify that if I now know, while we are talking, that Kassam rockets are about to be fired at Israel, Israel must intercept them. If there is a way to prevent that by other means and there is enough time to do so, then certainly it is preferable in order not to violate this cease-fire and also to enable them to do it, but I think it is our duty to prevent the firing of Kassam rockets if we know that it is about to happen now and there is no way to stop it other than with our forces.
Barka’i: Razi Hamad…
Livni: I think they understand that as well.
Barka’i: Yes, Razi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas government who spoke before you, says that we will check the violations and we will speak to these people. What is Abu Mazen’s ability to take measures? I don’t want to say disciplinary measures, but to enforce the cease fire with all the factions? His ability is extremely limited.
Livni: Abu Mazen is dependent on the consent of the other factions and we must understand that after a year of the lack of international legitimacy…Look, almost a year has passed since the election of the Hamas government. They, themselves, want this cease-fire. It is not a cease-fire that was forced upon them by Abu Mazen. It is a cease-fire that they joined voluntarily. It is in their interests just as it is in the interests of Abu Mazen at the moment, and therefore I think that every organization will enforce it within its own organization. They understand that they need it in order to enter a longer process, both to build a new government and to obtain international legitimacy in the future. After all, among other things, the three conditions of the international community, any process between Israel and the Palestinians is based, first and foremost, on the cessation of terrorism. They know that, it has been going on for a year. This time, it should be noted to the credit of the international community which insisted on these conditions, and maybe we are seeing the first signs.
Barka’i: The first signs of what? The beginning of negotiations? The removal of these three objections of Hamas?
Livni: The first signs among the Palestinians of the understanding that they cannot obtain legitimacy on the one hand, while continuing terrorism on the other, and the first signs are reflected this morning, first and foremost with them, in the agreements that they reached among themselves. In my opinion, we must view this as the beginning of an opportunity. We are in the first hours of this process. It is too early to say they are, but we must certainly cooperate here, among other things because any entrance we make into Gaza and any actions that we take will, in any case, be made to prevent these terrorist acts and their implementation.
Barka’i: The spokesman for the Hamas government tells me, A - that Gilad Shalit is well, he knows that from all kinds of sources, B - that Israel’s intransigence is what is preventing this deal.
He does not enumerate the names of the people that Israel is supposed to release, but it is absolutely clear that among them is Bargouti. If it were up to you, Tzipi Livni, are you prepared to release this man?
Livni: I am not going to conduct negotiations with the spokesman of the Hamas government, neither on Galei Tzahal nor anywhere else, and certainly not on the extremely sensitive matter of releasing prisoners, so you can definitely go on to the next question.
Barka’i: Following the agreement that was attained, have we advanced in any way towards Gilad’s release?
Livni: I hope so. There is an understanding that we must see, and that is the objective in the near future, a process in which there is an entrance into peace, an understanding by the organizations within the Palestinian authority, an Israel understanding or Israeli understandings that we do not stir up the [Gaza] strip needlessly, the entrance into the process by another government in the Palestinian Authority and, of course, the release of Gilad Shalit. Both Abu Mazen and the most moderate in the Palestinian Authority understand that the unconditional release of prisoners which was possible before the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit has become conditional on the release of Gilad Shalit, so we are now working on this, I really hope that we are in this process, but here we must stop. Thank you.