DM BEN-ELIEZER COMMENTS ON US PRESIDENT BUSH'S SPEECH [no reference to
terror infrastructure]
(Communicated by the Defense Minister's Media Adviser)
Tuesday, June 25, 2002

[IMRA: DM Ben-Eliezer joins the rest of the Israeli politicians who are
dropping the ball. The PA is not Enron (in need of better financial
controls). Unless Israel takes the initiative and comes up with concrete
OBSERVABLE measures for the PA to take (e.g.. estimates of how large a pile
of various weapons the PA should be able to confiscate and hand over to the
CIA) we will shortly see Mr. Powell's team claiming that the PA is in fact
"making an effort" to "reform" and after a terror-supporting public elects a
"new" team Israel will find itself facing a nightmare:

+ Following the traditional "enemies of peace" approach, Israel will be
expected not to respond to terror attacks carried out by "enemies" of the
PA.

+ When Israel asks that terrorists be detained by the PA, the PA's
independent legal system will order the release of the terrorists due to
lack of evidence, etc..

+ Israel will be pressed to bend over backwards with concessions so that
"democratically elected" Palestinain leadership can "show progress".]

Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer has welcomed US President George
Bush's speech and views it as a historic milestone, which outlines a
security, political and economic horizon for ending the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer believes that the key to
implementing this horizon, in the words of US President Bush, lays in
the carrying out of basic reforms by the Palestinian side, centering on
the replacement of the Palestinian Authority leadership, the
renunciation of terror and incitement, and the establishment of
transparent democratic processes. Progress in this direction will move
forward the political process, which is the only way to end the
conflict.

Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer believes that realizing the dream of two
states, living alongside each other in peace and security, is a supreme
Israeli interest. If we find an honest, peace-seeking, terror-free
interlocutor on the other side, who is amenable to historic compromise,
the Defense Minister would support very significant compromises for
peace.

Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer is convinced that Israel - along with the
pragmatic Arab states and other international bodies - will do
everything in its power to assist the American efforts, in the spirit of
US President Bush's speech.