December 15, 1988
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Interview with Ambassador Arad on the
"MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour" December 15, 1988 |
INTERVIEW WITH AMBASSADOR ARAD ON THE "MACNEIL/LEHRER NEWSHOUR"
Interviewers: Robert MacNeil, James Lehrer
December 15, 1988
MR. LEHRER: The breakthrough decision of the United States to talk to
the Palestine Liberation Organization is our story tonight. The decision
was announced last night by Secretary of State Shultz. It followed
statements of PLO Leader Yasser Arafat that Shultz said met long-
standing American conditions for dialogue. We will be hearing from the
Israeli Ambassador to the United States, an American member of the
Palestine National Council, and the State Department's top Middle East
Official. They will be followed by an analysis from an Arab expert by
former Israeli and American officials. The Israeli Ambassador to the
United States, Moshe Arad is first.
MR. LEHRER: Mr. Ambassador, welcome.
MOSHE ARAD, Israeli Ambassador: Thank you.
MR. LEHRER: You heard what President Reagan said today, that Israel need
not be concerned about this decision because the U.S. has not retreated
one inch from guaranteeing the safety of Israel. How do you respond to
that, sir?
AMB. ARAD: Well, we are very reassured and I think very heartened by the
statement made by the President, by the Vice President, the President-
elect and by the Secretary of State last night. However, I think we are
witnessing here a change in American policy which for us is of course a
source of concern. I'm not suggesting that this is going to bring about
a crisis in the relations between Israel and the United States. I feel
that in the relationship that we have with the United States, which is
vast, which is deep, which encompasses so many areas from strategic
cooperation to a free trade area and from cooperation between the
respective defense establishment of our two countries, such a
development can be absorbed, can be debated. We had such events in the
past and we did overcome such problems.
MR. LEHRER: What is the potential harm of the United States just talking
to the PLO?
AMB. ARAD: The potential harm is in the perception that some Middle
Eastern nations might have that they might draw a wedge between Israel
and the United States, and perceptions in the Middle East are as
important as reality. And the second element that concerns us is the
fact that, indeed, Mr. Arafat spoke those magic words but when you read
also the speech which he made a day earlier at the United Nations
General Assembly, the whole distortion of the facts of the political
events and the history of the last 40 years, his constant reference to
Israeli society as a society which is very similar to a fascist society,
as a society which is aggressive, which is colonial, as a country which
imposes its will by the power of arms into this area, you can, you may
reach a conclusion that actually in his approach, in his viewing the
Israeli reality, nothing has changed.
MR. LEHRER: You mentioned that this was a change in U.S. policy. It has
been the policy, as you know, of the United States for 13 years that
they would talk to the PLO once certain conditions were met and Israel
was aware of that. Why the concern now just because they have been met
at least in the eyes of the United States? You knew it was coming.
AMB. ARAD: We knew it's coming and I would be less than candid if I
pretend otherwise, but knowing that it's coming, you also like I would
also to test it, to put it to the test as against other statements made
by Mr. Arafat, or if not Mr. Arafat by his lieutenants, by his
associates, or Mr. Arafat, himself, just a few weeks ago in which he
referred to Israel as a racist state. Is there a real change of heart
and of mind with Mr. Arafat, or of the PLO leadership? I doubt this very
much. And while I can understand that the United States has lived up to
the conditions which it set back in 1975, the realities that we live
with, the violence that we are confronted with, is very much part of the
realities of lives that Israelis are experiencing.
MR. LEHRER: Well, what then do you think the United States is up to? You
say it doesn't hurt the relationship. How can it not hurt the
relationship if Israel feels as strongly as you do and the folks back in
Israel feel, isn't this a terrible thing to the relationship?
AMB. ARAD: No, I didn't say it didn't hurt. I don't say that this is not
a development which we would have preferred not to occur, but this is
not the kind of crisis that we cannot overcome. It is a development
which we found it premature, we would like to see how they live up to,
live by their deeds to their words, and, indeed, I think what President
Reagan said today was reassuring to us. But what our experience with the
PLO is quite different.
MR. LEHRER: Are you concerned at all with the fact that since Secretary
Shultz made that announcement yesterday, without exception, at least I
couldn't find anything in looking at the wires today, without exception,
every nation in the world in Western Europe, allies of Israel, as well
as the United States, have praised what the Secretary did?
AMB. ARAD: It's not the first time that Israel finds itself in a
minority position. It's not the first time that few of the other
countries relative or relevant to the conflict, to what's happening in
the Middle East is a view of to a certain detachment. We are dealing
with our own future, our own security. Of course, I was also reassured
that Secretary of State Shultz has informed the Prime Minister and the
Foreign Minister that the object of these meetings would be to see how
an advancement towards the peace process can be achieved. But we are
concerned with the fact that this decision would send the wrong signal
to those elements in the PLO and to Mr. Arafat, thinking that he can do
what he has done for the last several years, speak softly in the West
and carry a big stick when it comes in dealing with us, and this is our
experience. I mean, I am not talking about our imagination. I'm speaking
about what had happened and it's still going and happening in the
territories and in Israel proper.
MR. LEHRER: Mr. Ambassador, thank you.
AMB. ARAD: Thank you.
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