Back to Ambassadorial Speeches - Ambassador Itamar Rabinovich

Interview with Ambassador Itamar Rabinovich on CNN February 25, 1994 -- 12:20 p.m. EST

REID COLLINS, Anchor: Let's go now to the ambassador at the Israeli Embassy, Itamar Rabinovich.

ITAMAR RABINOVICH: It's hardly the morning in which you want to say good morning. I want to apologize for keeping some of you here for awhile, but we were waiting for two developments -- a formal statement by the government of Israel and a statement by the president of the United States. These two developments come in the wake of earlier statements by the president of the state of Israel, by the prime minister and by the foreign minister, in which the leaders of the state of Israel, in the strongest terms, denounced this insane criminal act, took exception to it and to the atmosphere that made it feasible, expressed shock and regret, and called for calm and for preserving the peace process, for expediting and accelerating it as the only response to this danger and form of violence that threatens both Israelis and Arabs.

The government statement was more specific. It reiterated the expression of sorrow, grief, shock and regret. It denounced this act in the strongest of terms. It drew a distinction between this act, that was an act taken by a sole individual, but it pointed out that even an individual act such as this does not take place in a vacuum, that there are Israeli elements in the territories who have contributed to the mental environment, to the atmosphere in which this could take place. It denounced them.

Various measures were suggested in the course of the meeting for dealing with these elements and with these actions. The prime minister will submit a series of such concrete measures to the government when the government meets again on Sunday.

The government statement included also an announcement that the state of Israel decided to compensate the families of the victims, and that the government of Israel will conduct a very thorough examination of the chain of events in order to establish beyond any question the factual chain of events, so that we know for certain what happened, why it happened and so forth.

Most importantly, the government of Israel focuses on two issues. First is the need to maintain calm, because in events like this, the demonstrations and the protests and the need to quell them that sometimes happen, result in further losses, in other individuals that might be killed or might be wounded. And we place a priority on the need to prevent all of that.

Beyond it is the need to protect the peace process. This was an act meant to derail the peace process. It only reinforces our determination not only to keep to the peace process but to expedite it and to accelerate it. It was for that reason that the prime minister responded immediately to the call of Secretary of State Christopher, who called on behalf of President Clinton, and suggested that the Israeli and Palestinian delegations who are negotiating the implementation of the Oslo and Washington agreement come to Washington at the earliest possible date in order to proceed full speed ahead in trying to conclude that agreement and to sit here in continuous session until such agreement is reached.

As you know, there was an agreement in Cairo. Most of the important issues have already been addressed and, hopefully, such a lengthy or continuous session in Washington should produce- should produce results. There is no comfort and consolation in this, but this- even such a tragic event can be the catalyst for movement towards agreement and towards finding a political solution to what has always been, and remains to be, a very violent and a very tragic conflict.

Thank you very much.

Q: When will the negotiators arrive here?

AMB. RABINOVICH: We still do not have a date.

Q: Mr. Ambassador, how do we know that he acted alone?

AMB. RABINOVICH: Because he acted alone.

Q: No, but how do we- have we run down a check on him to see if he belonged to any-

AMB. RABINOVICH: No-

Q: -There's a report that he belonged to the Kahane movement.

AMB. RABINOVICH: Right. The man acted alone, and the preliminary investigation conducted in place by the IDF and the security services indicate that this is the case.

But, as I said earlier, the government statement includes a reference to the very thorough examination of the chain of events that still needs to be taken, not in a matter of hours but in a matter of days. And I trust that at the end of that investigation or examination we will have the definitive answers.

Q: Mr. Ambassador, this is not the only individual who holds this kind of view. Some other individuals also [ unintelligible]. What will the Israeli authorities do to disarm these groups who hold these extreme views?

AMB. RABINOVICH: As I had occasion to say earlier, several members of the government and the legal adviser to the Cabinet, during the government session today, raised a variety of ideas to deal with precisely the type of problem that you alluded to. It was decided not to act in any rash fashion, and the weekend will be taken advantage of by the prime minister and by the relevant authorities in order to formulate a series of measures that, as I said earlier, will be presented to the plenary of the government on Sunday.

Q: Do you think that this raises questions about the security viability of the Jewish settlements [unintelligible]?

AMB. RABINOVICH: I think that we are dealing with a very complex issue, and three years ago and today, to date, there are those who argue that this conflict is beyond hope, that the odds against it are enormous, that this is a very fragile process and that there are forces, quite a few, arrayed against it. And it's easy to fall into the temptation of just resigning to the complexity and not trying to find a solution.

I think that the present peace process, on our part but also on the part of the sponsors and the part of our Arab partners to the peace process, represents an attempt to overcome these difficulties. And what I trust and hope will happen in the next few weeks and months is, A, that a set of arrangements will be devised that should enable the parties to cope with these and other challenges, and secondly, that they will also be tested in reality and will prove to be viable.

Q: Mr. Ambassador.

AMB. RABINOVICH: Yes, please?

Q: Would Israel entertain the notion of having foreign troops or peacekeepers in the occupied territories to protect either side?

AMB. RABINOVICH: I don't think that this is our policy. I think that there has been a premium put by us from the outset on it being a Arab-Israeli peace process. It's very important for Israelis and Palestinians, in this specific case, to learn to live together and to learn to overcome difficulties together, and we believe that this can be done by us -- the Israelis and Palestinians -- with the political help of such friendly external powers as the United States and other partners to this peace process, but that the security issues need to be addressed by Israelis and Palestinians.

Q: Mr. Ambassador, this is an area that is traditionally totally patrolled by the Israeli army.

Has anybody suggested to you how a single guy carrying a gun and at least four clips of ammunition could walk into a mosque and open fire?

AMB. RABINOVICH: As I said earlier, the definitive answers will be provided in the next few days, but this particular individual was a reserve officer in the Israeli Army. He was a medical doctor who was in the medical corps and had -- as a reserve officer -- had a uniform and had weapons and took advantage of this fact in order to infiltrate into the mosque.

Q: Mr. Ambassador?

AMB. RABINOVICH: Yes, please?

Q: In the Israeli government's efforts to try to bring Israeli extremist elements under control -- extremist Israeli elements under control, could that possibly include a request by Israel to the United States to keep an eye on their supporters in the United States?

AMB. RABINOVICH: I think it will be speculative for me to get into that kind of detail at this time, and I'd rather wait for a few days until we can answer such a question.

Q: Mr. Ambassador, two questions please. Prior to the secretary of state's call to the prime minister, did Warren Christopher or anybody in the State Department speak to you and get your views on the possibility of everybody coming back?

And, number two, do you have any concern about any excessive U.S. pressure on the government of Israel during these upcoming negotiations?

AMB. RABINOVICH: There were contacts between members of the administration, specifically of the State Department and myself and other contacts between the U.S. government and the Israeli government before the phone call. This is in the best tradition of our bilateral relationship. Year-round we consult, and during such crises we consult on a practically permanent basis.

I don't think that the term 'excessive pressure' is appropriate here. As I mentioned earlier, we work together with the United States, with this administration specifically, on this peace process, with not identity of views, but a great deal of community of views. Pressure is not part of the vocabulary of our relations now, and excessive pressure certainly is not.

Q: Do you think that -- I know that Israel said that they wanted a good agreement and they would certainly take the time to negotiate one. Some people have been critical of that lengthening of the process and point to incidents like this, which can derail the process. That is, the longer you take to negotiate, the more likely these kinds of incidents are to occur and perhaps detail the process.

AMB. RABINOVICH: That is true, and there was an original timetable, according to which there should have been an agreement on December 13, and we would have been in the midst of implementation now had we been able to reach an agreement on December the 13th. I think that this is not the time to engage in recriminations and try to allocate blame for the failure to reach agreement on December the 13th.

Let me say that we did our best to reach agreement on December the 13th, precisely with this in mind -- that this is fragile, this is precarious, this is exposed to attacks. And while one needs to be thorough in making arrangements that we'll all have to live with for years, swiftness is of the essence.

AMB. RABINOVICH: Yes, please?

Q: Mr. Ambassador, has there been a similar call to all the delegations to bring the peace talks -- to bring full delegations here? What does this mean for the Israeli-Syrian track which- it's sort of fairly obvious that the focus of your efforts have been on that and-

AMB. RABINOVICH: -There's not been such a call to other tracks and other delegations. The other three tracks are here to continue to negotiate through Wednesday next week. We're here. Specifically, in this case, the Syrians are here. And we plan to continue the negotiations on Monday.

Q: Thank you.

AMB. RABINOVICH: Thank you very much.