DR. DORE GOLD, NETANYAHU'S POLITICAL ADVISOR: "THERE WILL BE A JOINT ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN-JORDANIAN SOLUTION IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA."

Source: FOFOGNET Digest, 5 June 1996 (via IIS)

by Semadar Peri, "Yediot Ahronot", June 4, 1996, pp. 2-4.

Information Division, Israel Foreign Ministry - Jerusalem
Mail all Queries to ask@israel-info.gov.il
URL: http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il

(excerpts)

Q: So the Palestinians can remain calm in the knowledge that the Netanyahu government plans to negotiate a permanent settlement with them?

A: Netanyahu's line during the election campaign was: Who will do a better, more aggressive, job of negotiating issues related to the permanent settlement -- the previous government, or the incoming one? This also entails an intention to conduct negotiations on the permanent settlement.

Q: What sort of settlement?

A: The position of the Prime Minister-elect is that the Palestinians should be given maximum autonomy, with Israel maintaining maximum security for itself. And of course, the Likud position's specifies self-rule for the Palestinians; this is the starting point. Israel has a number of important interests in Judea and Samaria, and these must be safeguarded.

Q: Interests such as what?

A: There is a prepared list -- security, strategic security, the IDF's presence in the Jordan Valley and at other strategic sites in Judea and Samaria. And to the extent that Arafat cannot -- or does not want to -- fulfill his commitment in the area of security, or that he fails to recognize this responsibility, Israel will have to ensure its security on its own, maintaining the freedom to act in defense of its citizens.

And there is the water issue. Israel depends upon the underground water resources in Judea and Samaria. A fourth issue is Jerusalem and its environs. Finally, I would add what I call "demographic security" -- that we do not find ourselves in a situation where the Palestinian Authority floods Judea and Samaria with refugees; after all, the demographic balance in Judea and Samaria will also influence the situation within the Green Line.

Q: And how can we ensure that there is no such "flood" of refugees?

A: This, after all, is one of the fundamental differences between an independent Palestinian state and self-rule, which is less than a state. An independent Palestinian state can allow itself full control over immigration policy.

Q: And allow people to enter its territory?

A: Correct. One cannot rule out the possibility that Lebanon may decide to deport Palestinian Arabs. Where will they be transferred? If the Palestinians have exclusive control over border crossings, as is the case in all countries, this gives the option of letting them enter.

Q: When you speak of demographic balance in the territories, one can conceive of achieving this through settlement expansion, or through the establishment of new settlements. Is this the line which will be adopted by the Netanyahu government?

A: It is still too early to define the character of Jewish settlement. At the same time, Netanyahu has spoken before about the importance of the security areas in Judea and Samaria, and settlement is also important to Israeli security. And I want to add that late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in his Oslo II address, said that he did not concede the possibility of expanding the settlements. He has spoken specifically about the need to enable growth among the residents, and of infrastructures within the settlements. And this provides a certain foundation from which to begin dealing with this.

The new cabinet will have to decide on its policy, but even the previous government of the late Yitzhak Rabin did not institute an absolute freeze on Jewish life in Judea and Samaria.