Interview with Israeli spokesperson Mark Regev on "Frost over the World"
January 8, 2010
Unfortunately over the last nine, ten months we haven't been negotiating and
it's a historic mistake; we've been wasting time.
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-jXY6bDnpY

INTERVIEWER: One year on from last year's war, and Gaza is still blockaded.
Israeli settlements continue to be built on a restricted basis, but they're
continuing to be built. And the negotiations between the Israeli and
Palestinian leaders are at a current standstill, for which each side blames
the other. Last night, Israeli jets were back over Gaza launching a new
airstrike. Reportedly three civilians were killed. Will things get any
better in 2010? Can President Obama live up to his Nobel Prize by breaking
the deadlock? To find out more, I'm joined now from Jerusalem by the Israeli
government's official spokesman, Mark Regev.

Mark, thank you very much for joining us. As you know, before Christmas we
did a longish interview with Saeb Arakat in which he was very passionate
about the situation between Israel and the Palestinians, and I wondered what
your specific reaction to what he was saying, where you thought he was right
or wrong.

MR. REGEV: Well, Saeb's a friend, and I'd say the tragedy that we as
Israelis and Palestinians both face today is the fact that we're not
talking. And this is almost unprecedented, because despite all the problems
and all the differences of position between what Palestinians think and what
Israelis think, I think it's generally understood that the only way to solve
issues is by negotiating. And unfortunately over the last, what is it, nine,
ten months, we haven't been negotiating and it's a historic mistake; we've
been wasting time.

INTERVIEWER: Well, they refuse to talk until the settlement process is
halted, and it's been partially halted for ten months but not totally, as we
know. And we had news in the last few days of more buildings in East
Jerusalem and so on. It's the settlement issue that really stands there, and
that goes to the heart of what he said when he was talking about, that
Palestinians accepted that Israel live in peace and security within secure
and recognized boundaries on 78% of the historic British Mandate of
Palestine, and accepted for the Palestinian state to remain at 22%, but the
22% of the land is being eaten up by the settlements and they should stop;
that is what he was saying, the 78/22.

MR. REGEV: I understand the Palestinian position on settlements, but let's
be clear here. The current Israeli government, a government that's perceived
as being hawkish, as perceived as being right-wing, has actually gone
further than any previous Israeli government, more than the Sharon
government, more than the Olmert government, in showing restraint and
flexibility on this very sensitive issue for the Palestinians. We're not
building any new settlements, full stop. We're not outwardly expanding
existing communities. And for the first time ever the Israeli government,
this current Israeli government (as I said it's unprecedented), has gone for
a ten-month settlement moratorium on all new authorizations for growth, for
building inside the settlements.

INTERVIEWER: Of course, the Gazan situation is still horrible, and there are
blockades still out there that nobody understands why they're there and so
on. I mean, when will their lot improve?

MR. REGEV: Well, first of all let's be clear; every day over a hundred
trucks enter the Gaza Strip with foodstuffs and medicines and so forth. We
are ensuring that there are no shortages in Gaza of vital humanitarian
supplies that the people there need. Are there sanctions on Gaza? There are,
and those sanctions will remain as long as the regime in Gaza is, first of
all, holding one of our young servicemen hostage, and he has been held now
for more than three and a half years, and also as long as the regime there
is committed to destroying Israel and killing Israelis. I mean, ultimately
the people of Gaza are under the thumb of a very brutal authoritarian regime
that puts its own extremist political agenda ahead of the well-being of the
people of Gaza. If the regime there stopped being so hostile, we wouldn't
have to respond.

INTERVIEWER: There's news, Mark, today, of three Palestinians being killed
in Gaza strikes. Do you agree with the figure of three? And why did it
happen?

MR. REGEV: What we've seen, unfortunately, over the last few days is that
people are firing rockets again from Gaza into Southern Israel. And my prime
minister has been very clear on this: We will not accept these sort of
attacks on our civilians; we won't accept these sort of attacks. If there
are rockets fired from Gaza into Israel, we will respond.

INTERVIEWER: And in terms of the period of the end of the Gaza War, the Gaza
attacks approximately a year ago, how long were there no rockets fired from
Gaza? How long did that prevail?

MR. REGEV: Well, the truth is - that is the good news; that we've had a
period, up until now, of almost unprecedented quiet in the South where the
people of Southern Israel, as you know, who have been living for years under
these bombardments from Gaza (you had children who grew up and their whole
lives only knew what it was like to run to a bomb shelter, who never managed
to sleep through a night without having to hear a siren go off, and run to a
secure room or something, to a fortified shelter), those people in Gaza,
those Israeli civilians - and we're talking about tens of thousands of
people - have had a period of unprecedented quiet. Now, we want that to
continue. And our message to the people of Gaza is: don't let Hamas once
again lead to an escalation of the situation, don't let Hamas cause a spiral
of violence. If it's quiet from Gaza, there'll be quiet from Israel. It's as
simple as that.

INTERVIEWER: And one other issue, which is a quiet issue at the moment but
could become a deafening issue, Mark, is - what is the plan, what is the
situation, what is the fear, about Iran and Iran's nuclear capacity?

MR. REGEV: I don't think many international leaders would use the word
"alleged". I think there's a consensus today, a consensus from Moscow to
Berlin to Washington to Ottawa to Tokyo to Canberra, a consensus
internationally, I would also say, amongst the Arab world, that sees the
Iranian nuclear program as not being benign at all. I think there's an
acceptance, a consensus in the international community, that the Iranians
are after a bomb. And we say now is the time for international pressure on
that regime. It's time to upgrade.

INTERVIEWER: Well, in fact, in today's Economist there's a long piece called
"The Gathering Storm" about this particular issue, and here is one quote:
"'If Iran gets nuclear weapons, the Middle East will look like hell,' says
one senior Israeli official. 'I cannot imagine that we can live with a
nuclear Iran.' For Israel, 2010 is the year of decision. Yet its ability to
destroy the nuclear sites is questionable, and such a strike may precipitate
a regional war, or worse." A bleak prospect.

MR. REGEV: I think it is a bleak prospect. And without dotting on the line
on everything The Economist has reported, I'd say very strongly, Iran today
without nuclear weapons is a force for instability and violence in the
region. Now, imagine that Iran armed with nuclear weapons, with Iranian
proxies armed with a nuclear umbrella behind them. I mean, this would be the
end of the Middle East situation as we know it. This would be a threat to
our Arab neighbors; it would be a threat to the West; it would be a threat,
of course, to my country, Israel. And that's why I think you've seen a whole
series of UN Security Council resolutions. All members of the United Nations
Security Council have passed a whole series of resolutions, many of them
unanimously, calling on the Iranians to cease nuclear enrichment, to stop
trying to build bombs. It's not an Israeli position. This is an
international consensus: They must stop. And we've got to now turn words
into actions. The Iranian leadership must understand that its nuclear
program must stop.

INTERVIEWER: Well, thank you very much for joining us, as ever, Mark. And I
suppose those words we'll be discussing again in the course of this year -
that 2010 is the year of decision for Israel. We'll be talking a lot in
2010. Thank you for being with us.

MR. REGEV: My pleasure.