Premier Champions “Smaller, Democratic, Jewish” Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert believes he has the courage to take the “terrible decisions” necessary to achieve peace with the Palestinians and the wider Arab world. Speaking in an interview with a Spanish daily, he said one of those decisions is to give up territory in return for a “smaller, democratic and Jewish” State of Israel. Undaunted by the scepticism surrounding his talks with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, he said Gaza will not form part of a recognized state while ever it remains under the control of Hamas. On recent events in Lebanon, he sensed that behind Hezbollah’s show of force is the presence of Iran. The following is an excerpt of the interview with Olmert published by the Spanish newspaper ABC website on 14 May; all ellipses as published:

[Passage omitted - ABC introduction]

[ABC] Almost no-one takes the negotiations you are undertaking with [Palestinian National Authority President] Mahmud Abbas seriously. What is happening? In the middle of this process the opinion polls put you at the lowest levels of popularity and many people are wondering what sense is there in negotiating with a leader, the Palestinian president, who does not control anything.

[Ehud Olmert] The alternative would be not to speak to anyone. Is that better? Life is not a picnic. The choices that have to be made are difficult. It is not a matter of choosing between the best and the worst, it is a matter of choosing between different leaders, and the only thing you want is for them to have the best attitude, the best willingness in the right direction, and it turns out that that leader is the formal and official representative of the Palestinian people, Mahmud Abbas. To what extent he is strong… he will be as strong as his willpower dictates. That is why I am very strong, and it does not matter what people say about that, it matters what you in your heart know you have to do and your determination to go ahead and do it. That is what makes you strong. If he is the best… I am the best… show me the best in the world. Is there any leader in the world who can be considered the best to make peace? Each one is criticized in his country – some more so, some less so-, others are enormously respected. I am respected in other countries… The world is made of difficult decisions. And that is the choice I made, I believe in it, I can and I have made progress with Abu Mazin. I do everything in my power to advance, I want to make peace with the Palestinians, with Syria, with Lebanon, I want to reach a historic end to the conflict between ourselves and the Arabs. With the potential that this region has, it is the most promising path in the world, there are no limits to what we can do. Israel is holding out its hand to all the Arab countries and saying let’s make peace, let’s stop fighting, let’s build together, we can do it. We have built Israel in 60 these years. Can you imagine what we would have done with no wars? This could be the richest, most prosperous part of the world.

[ABC] But the Arab countries reproach Israel for there never having been a response to the initiative in which they offered peace in exchange for a return to the borders of 1967.

[Olmert] Look, I do not want to conduct my negotiation with Abu Mazin in the media. I respect them, but do I have business directly with Abu Mazin? What I say… what he says… I don’t know if it will sound strange, I apologize in advance, but look, sometimes when I read the newspapers, there are stories that I am not sure are completely correct. Sometimes.

[ABC] What has changed so that you, who began as a member of the Likud [Party] Right, today champion the two-state solution? What political change have you experienced to commit yourself now to the creation of a Palestinian state?

[Olmert] I have changed. We had a very famous defence minister who we all admire. His name was Moshe Dayan, a hero of the Six Day War and of the 1956 war, and he said that only a donkey does not change its way of thinking. I am not a donkey and I have changed my way of thinking. Of course, reality and life change too… Imagine a life now without cell phones, without satellite television, without Internet… Life has changed, Israel has changed and I have changed. I am a believer, I read the Bible, the history of my people, I go to the territories and I find vestiges of what I have read in the Bible. It is part of my history, it is part of my country. But what can I do?… There are Palestinians living there and I have to take a decision: do I want a democratic Jewish state or do I want Greater Israel? It is a terrible decision, but it has to be taken and I am here for that, no to philosophize. A prime minister is supposed to have to take decisions and have the courage to be able to apply them. And it is on this issue that we have to take a decision: whether to maintain Greater Israel with the all the territory and lose the Jewish nature of the State of Israel, or give up part of your territory and maintain the Jewish and democratic nature of the State of Israel.

[ABC] Are you referring to the those “painful concessions” you have been announcing?

[Olmert] I have taken the decision. I want the State of Israel to be smaller, I want it to be democratic and to remain a Jewish State so that it is the refuge of all Jews who may be threatened at any moment in the future. I am ready to yield and also ideologically. I do recognize the right of the Palestinian people to their self- determination and they have to exercise that self-determination in some place. So this is the solution, there can be no other. All the debate with the Palestinians is no longer focused on that discussion – it is focused on specific things, such as where the border will run or where the security installations will be.

[ABC] Your country, Israel, is negotiating the creation of a Palestinian state, but everyone knows that the Palestinian National Authority has lost Gaza and that there it will be impossible to apply any agreement for the time being. What is your strategy in the Strip and with Hamas, which has dominated the territory for almost a year?

[Olmert] If in the long term Gaza is not going to be there, then the Palestinian state will be divided. That is for sure. And Gaza will not be able to be part of that recognized Palestinian state, which will be accepted. Because what the world does not accept is terrorism, we do not accept terrorism. Hamas is a terrorist organization and it is recognized as such in most of the world. What is my strategy for Gaza? The same one I follow with Lebanon and Syria and in the peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Do they (Hamas) want to make peace with me, accept the international principles of the Quartet, those signed by the Palestinian people, stop shooting innocent Israelis? Perhaps then they could be interlocutors for peace. And if they do not want peace, they will be responsible for the consequences.

[ABC] What is your view of the latest events in Lebanon, after the overwhelming show of force exhibited by Hezbollah last week?

[Olmert] I am very unhappy about the weakening of the Lebanese prime minister, Fu’ad Sanyurah. My goal is to make peace between Israel and Lebanon and the chances of doing it are much greater with Sanyurah than without Sanyurah. I am quite saddened by what has happened. I am not worried in the sense that I do not think that what we have seen poses a major threat to the State of Israel, I am worried too by the changes that take place inside Lebanon, as far as it affects the relative weight and influence of the moderate forces. From Israel we have said that we are following the events in Lebanon and we are monitoring their development.

[ABC] Does it particularly concern you because what you see in the strengthening of Hezbollah is a greater push from Iran?

[Olmert] Iran is encouraging the radical forces in Lebanon, supplying arms, means, resources and they are certainly guilty of those arguments. The smell of Iran is there, the touch of Iran is there, the arms of Iran are there, the money. I think that Iran is necessarily there.

[ABC] You repeat that there is space for peace with Syria, but what kind of contact are you having? What is the nature of those contacts?

[Olmert] The only thing I can say is this: the Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, my good friend, is involved in this for me, and in the attempt to establish a negotiation process between Israel and Syria. I hope that that process becomes a reality and a success. It is the most I can say, but I am grateful for the efforts of the Turkish prime minister.

[ABC] Since you are talking about your friend Erdogan, a person you are welcoming today as a guest of honour at the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the State is your great ally, President George [W.] Bush, who arrives in Tel Aviv reasserting his faith in the Israeli prime minister as an “honest, open and sincere” man.

[Olmert] Turkey and Israel have a lot in common on a day-to-day basis and they have to work on cooperation. I am absolutely proud of the relationship with North America. The Jews in the USA comprise less than 3 per cent of the population and that is not the reason why it support us. Bush supports Israel because he believes that we share something fundamental, basic for the life of his country: they are common values, the same basic principles, the same belief in democracy, in freedom, in equality, in people’s right to defend themselves from their enemies, the same opposition to terrorism. Those are the basic principles that make Israel a unique phenomenon. Look where we live… What is the nearest democracy in the region?… Turkey, and it belongs to the EU, …chiefly. Well, they want to belong and we respect it and support it.

[Passage omitted - on Israel's 60th-anniversary celebrations]

Originally published by ABC website, Madrid, in Spanish 14 May 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.