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***SPECIAL INSERT: Netanyahu Explains Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appeared on Arutz-7 today, answering listeners' questions live for two hours. He plans to run against Ariel Sharon for Likud party head and Prime Ministerial candidate. Some excerpts of today's broadcast: Q. What would you do as Prime Minister to extricate Israel from its present difficult security situation? A. I have believed for many years that the way to stop terrorism or reduce it is by taking action against the regimes that back it. When I was Prime Minister, I exerted heavy pressure on the Palestinian Authority, and during my term in office there was very little terrorism. Arafat understood that he would pay a very steep price, including the collapse of his regime. Today, the same price must be exacted from the PA. We must expand our activities against the PA, but this is contingent upon achieving the proper international public-opinion conditions. We can paralyze the PA. We can strike their telephone systems, their TV and radio broadcasting networks, their ability to deliver newspapers, their fuel supplies, their weapons, their strategic transportation points, economic assets of PA leaders - while at the same time allowing unlimited food and medicines to pass." Q. Do you now see Arafat differently than you did before? A. There is no change. I always thought that the Oslo agreements were a catastrophe. but they were legally binding, and when running for Prime Minister, I explained my principles: I would strive for reciprocity and damage-control. During my term in office, we put the brakes on terrorism, and on the mad rush to the May 1967 borders. Now we can say that Oslo is dead, that Arafat buried it. We are no longer obligated to any aspect of Oslo. Arafat violated the heart of the agreement; he is now the head of the largest terrorism organization in the world, more than Bin-Laden. Public opinion in Israel and around the world sees the situation differently now, and it is possible to do now what we could not do then. Q. Is there currently a threat of a comprehensive war against Israel? A. My estimation is that our Arab neighbors - Egypt, Syria, and Jordan - do not have an interest in a war with us. If there is something that is liable to bring war upon us, it is the weakness that Israel transmits. Q. The right wing has trouble forgiving you for the withdrawal from Hevron, despite all the warnings at the time that are now coming true. The same is true for the Wye Agreement and the withdrawal from northern Shomron, Ganim and Kadim, where a woman was murdered just two weeks ago. A. The Hevron withdrawal agreement was basically finalized by the Peres government, except for security arrangements. I wanted to guarantee joint patrols on the Abu Sneineh hills [overlooking the Jewish community]. I made it clear that if there would be violations, we would take back the territory. They [the Palestinians] understood, and didn't shoot then. Today, I would go in and take it back. At the time, I was able to wage difficult negotiations and [obtain American agreement that we need not turn over "all the territory except for settlements and defined military locations," but rather that Israel would be able to define for itself the size of necessary security zones that it could keep]. What this means is that with all my sorrow and regret about giving over Hevron, I received in return a stop to the withdrawal from the rest of Judea and Samaria. Q. (by Moshe Feiglin, who himself is seeking the Likud party leadership): 1. When you were Prime Minister, you boycotted Arutz-7. Are the settlers and Arutz-7 merely political fodder for you? 2. My friends and I paid a heavy price when we fought the Rabin government. You became Prime Minister partly because of us, and now you are again turning to this same public. But when you reached power, you rushed to warmly shake Arafat's hand. Why do you hold us in such disregard and yet expect that we will trust you once again? 3. Despite all the warnings, you gave Arafat weapons and the areas [in Hevron] from where the baby Shalhevet Pass was shot and killed. From where do you draw your brazenness to again appear before the Yesha public, which pays bodily for your actions every day? A. I think your questions are tendentious, but I will answer them. Regarding Arutz-7: I felt that while judicial proceedings were underway against the station, my appearing here would be harmful to it. But practically, I instructed all the elements to work towards saving Arutz-7 and preventing its closure. [ed. note: the Knesset later passed a law legalizing Arutz-7, the implementation of which was later frozen by the Supreme Court.] Regarding Arafat, I am not his good friend. The fact is that he recently admitted that he tried hard to topple me from power. Regarding Hevron, I have said that I regret it. I don't hide this, even though we received in return for it a stop of the withdrawals on other fronts. Q. In my opinion, the press in Israel is. your number one enemy, Mr. Netanyahu. How do you plan to deal with this if you return to power? A. Many of the journalists have wised up. My approach is simple: Open skies. There should be no monopolies, no limits. Whoever wants to, should be able to broadcast, and the public will decide. There will be a free market of ideas, interviews, news. This is the solution: to let the people choose. |
