Peres, Fayyad and Netanyahu offer views on peace in interviews

Lally Weymouth of the Washington Post and Newsweek, recently published three interviews with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in light of the Goldstone report and recent attempts to continue peace negotiations. Below are excerpts from her interviews with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Responding to Weymouth's questions, the Palestinian Prime Minister elaborated on plans to increase state-building mechanisms in the West Bank and Gaza to prepare for the eventual Palestinian state.

We've committed ourselves to a path of completing the task of institution building. [This means] the capacity to govern ourselves effectively in all spheres of government within two years.

We are talking about security capability, law and order, including a well-functioning judiciary. Security is not complete unless there is a widespread belief on the part of the public that there is due process. . . .

Additionally, [we need] physical infrastructure to provide services effectively to our people in all areas -- social services, health, education. . . . The idea behind this is to ensure that in a couple of years, it will not be difficult for people looking at us from any corner of the universe to conclude that the Palestinians have a state.

I keep telling people, Israel was not created in 1948. Israel was proclaimed as a state in 1948. The institutions of the state were there before 1948.

We look . . . to establish Palestine as an independent, democratic, progressive and modern Arab state, with full sovereignty over its territory, the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Palestine will reject violence, commit to coexistence with its neighbors.

In her interview with Netanyahu, Weymouth focused mainly on the Prime Minister's reactions to the Goldstone report and his views on dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat. Touching on peace negotiations with the Palestinians, Netanyahu said:

I think the Palestinians have to recognize [that] Washington says there should be negotiations without preconditions. That's what they mean. And that's certainly what we mean. We're prepared to begin yesterday. Why waste more time?

I think what we've done in the last six months is to consolidate a great part of the Israeli body politic around certain clear principles that will enable us to achieve peace. If I had to sum it up I'd say that the beginning of the peace negotiations should be without preconditions and the outcome of the negotiations should be a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state.

Asked his views on President Obama, Netanyahu responded:

There is much greater cooperation and transparency between the Obama administration and my government than people know. We speak openly and I greatly appreciate steps taken by the Obama administration against the distorted Goldstone report and their pressure on Iran to stop its military nuclear program as well as the ongoing efforts we are making to re-launch the peace negotiations between us and the Palestinians.

President Shimon Peres provided a hopeful vision of peace for the future in his interview.

You say the dispute over land between Israel and the Palestinians is only [about] 2 or 3 percent of the [land].
Yes, it is nothing. We can solve it.

You mean between Olmert and...
Yes, Netanyahu too. He said, "I'm ready to have a two-state solution." That is a major change. And we are being described as rightists, as extremists?

So is Netanyahu being unfairly portrayed as a rightist in the United States?
He came from the right, but he's no longer a rightist. He agreed to a two-state solution and to what no other prime minister ever agreed to -- to freeze settlements.

You've seen the U.S. relationship in its various ups and downs all through the years. How would you describe the current situation?
I think there is a deep friendship between the United States and Israel, and the ups and downs are of a passing nature. And I don't think that one of us is going to abandon [the other]. President Obama was elected by a majority of the American people. I do believe he will continue the same American tradition vis-à-vis Israel. 

Do you have any second thoughts about the Oslo Accords?
No, no, no. I think we did rightly. I think there are limits to what you can achieve. But as a result of Oslo, we made peace with Jordan. As a result of Oslo, there is a Palestinian Authority that wants peace. Without Oslo it would never have happened. So I am telling you, in spite of everything, there will be peace with the Palestinians.

With Abu Mazen [Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas]? Is he strong enough to make peace?
I would like [it] to be with Abu Mazen. I hope it will be with Abu Mazen. But what I said in the Knesset, I shall repeat here: It won't be a romantic peace. It won't be peace out of love; it will be peace out of necessity.

Answering a question on his optimism for the future, Peres ended the interview saying:

I'm looking ahead at tomorrow, self-assured, full of hope. I know that we are in a difficult passage. And I don't deny it. But, you know, passages are passages. The world is not made only of passages; it's made of continents. And the continent of peace is the greatest one.