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Jewish World Review Jan. 14, 2014/ 13 Shevat, 5774 Ariel Sharon in his own words, up close and personal By Cal Thomas
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Q. Given the recent acts of terrorism, do you consider the "road map" dead? A. No. If there will be a serious Palestinian prime minister who makes a 100 percent effort to end terrorism, then we can have peace. Each side has to take steps. If terror continues, there will not be an independent Palestinian state. Q. Even you have said if we can just get the terrorist incidents down to a certain number, that would qualify for moving ahead. What level are we talking about? A. I have said that in order to move forward, there should be quiet. If the Palestinians will make 100 percent of effort, but a crazy Palestinian person comes out shooting or something like that, we will take it into consideration. So the next question is, what do I mean by 100 percent effort? First, the terrorists will be arrested, interrogated, punished. Second, Palestinian terrorist organizations will be dismantled -- the Third, their weapons will be collected and handed to a third party -- that can be only Fourth, the Palestinians need to take serious preventive steps (to stop terror). Fifth, there should be effort to start educating on peace. If they would take these steps seriously, and there would be an act of terror, we will take it in consideration, but if they will not take these steps, every act of terror will be an act of terror. Q. They have had several opportunities to do these things in the past, various agreements, covenants, pledges, promises. Have you any evidence that the Palestinians have fulfilled any of those? A. Not so far. Q. In what would you place your faith that they would do in the future what they have not done in the past? A. Only performance. Promises are not going to be considered as something serious. And even written agreements are not a real step. Q. Your critics, of course, say that they would like to see performance on A. Yes. We do not build new Jewish communities in Samaria, Judea and I know that Q. You mentioned the fence. What about the demands from A. For years I've been saying that when it comes to genuine, durable peace, I'm willing to make painful compromises. But I always say that when it comes to the security of Israeli citizens and the state of Q. You view this fence as essential to the security of A. I will not be removing it, and we are going to continue to build it because it's a very important means for increasing our security. Q. About the attack on the position in A. I would be glad if it would be one act, but it depends on the involvement of
Q. You have said on several occasions that you will expel Arafat, but he is still there. Is that still an option for you? A. I will not take it out of consideration. The option is there, hanging over his head. Q. You mentioned about the Palestinian prime minister -- the last one is out, the current one is in for 30 days. Given the doctrines, beliefs, objectives and goals that we have heard from the Palestinian leadership, does it matter who is in this position? Will he have any authority to do anything apart from Arafat? A. To take the case of
Q. You are famous for among other things having given A. I think that he understands. Above all, he understands the danger of terror -- local, regional and international. I think he understands very well that one cannot compromise with terror, and that if we would like to secure our lives and to defend our values, we have to fight terror. He has shown leadership and determination. Q. You have been through so much, so many wars, so many threats that your enemies are going to wipe out A. I'm an optimist. First, you have to know that this is not the hardest period that we have had; we have had much harder situations. Second, we've been involved with terror for more than 120 years, Arab terror. And we've had many wars -- the war of independence, '56, '67, '72, '82 and 2000. So we have had very hard days. But at the same time we've managed tremendous achievements here, though we were holding the sword in our hand. We brought millions of Jews here, from 102 countries, speaking 82 languages, and none of them spoke Hebrew. We managed to revive the Hebrew language, the language of the Bible. We managed to develop sophisticated industry, including high technology. And we managed to build serious centers of research and science, beautiful music, the most advanced agricultural system. Therefore, I think that we can look forward with optimism. Q. You have just observed A. I don't think I have accomplished what I still have to accomplish. There is one thing that I would like to do, and that's to bring security and peace to the Jewish people.
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JWR contributor Cal Thomas is co-author with Bob Beckel, a liberal Democratic Party strategist, of "Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America". Comment by clicking here.
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