Question: "Are you indicating a possible change in policy, which says that
there will be additional phases, the transfer of additional areas to the
Palestinians, as you have already done in the past?"

Prime Minister Netanyahu: "I am not going into details on this."

PM Netanyahu's Channel #10 Interview
(Communicated by the Prime Minister’s Media Adviser)

Following are excerpts from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's interview
yesterday evening (Monday), 27.12.10, with Israel's Channel 10 News:

Question: Yesterday, in a speech before ambassadors, a minister in your
Government attacked Government policy. He attacked you personally,
presented Government policy as an empty vessel in the diplomatic sphere.
How can the Foreign Minister repeatedly humiliate you in public?

Prime Minister Netanyahu: He did not humiliate me, he expressed his opinion.
In the Israeli style of government, ministers always express their opinions,
in this case Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, Defense Minister Ehud Barak,
Interior Minister Eli Yishai and Science and Technology Minister Daniel
Hershkowitz. They have different opinions. The binding opinion is that
which is decided upon by the Government or that expressed by the Prime
Minister. This is how it has been in every Government including the current
one."

Question: The question is that in the end, if there is no sense that there
is one boss in control, who sets a unified Government line, how do you
succeed in maintaining such a Government?"

Prime Minister Netanyahu: "I have set very clear policy; I did this in my
14.6.09 Bar-Ilan University speech. There I said as follows: If the
Palestinians recognize a Jewish State, if they shelve the idea of the
Palestinian refugees' right of return, if they have a demilitarized
Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state – I tell you here and now
that I will go with this to the end and that no coalition consideration will
stop me, and I have no doubt that a majority will support me."

Question: "Then perhaps Minister Liberman is correct when he says, 'Let us
go for a long-range interim agreement and not a permanent agreement
immediately, within a year, like you want?"

Prime Minister Netanyahu: "If we get into this discussion, we will likely
hit a wall; a wall named Jerusalem, perhaps a wall named refugees. It could
be that the result would be an interim agreement. It's possible. I do not
rule this out, including in the talks that we have held. I said that it's
possible. If we say this in advance, it is not certain they will come so
easily. But it could be the result of a diplomatic process; I am not
certain that it should be its primary goal."

Question: "Are you indicating a possible change in policy, which says that
there will be additional phases, the transfer of additional areas to the
Palestinians, as you have already done in the past?"

Prime Minister Netanyahu: "I am not going into details on this."

Question: "Yesterday, we saw the Mavi Marmara return to Istanbul amidst
antagonistic calls of 'Death to Israel' and Foreign Minister Liberman,
yesterday, called Erdogan and his Foreign Minister liars who need to
apologize to Israel and not vice-versa. Do you agree with him on this
issue?"

(…).

Prime Minister Netanyahu: "(…). Our recurring problem with Turkey is not
this or that remark. First of all, we need to understand that they want an
apology and, of course, we do not want to apologize. We are prepared to
express regret as we expressed it over the loss of life. But what do we
want? We want one thing. We want – first of all – to protect our soldiers
and commanders. They are being accused of war crimes. They could be
arrested worldwide. First of all, we want this to stop. And there should
be Turkish recognition that Israel did not act maliciously and that IDF
soldiers acted out of self-defense. We all saw that this is how they acted.
Now, between Turkey's desire for an apology and our desire for recognition
that IDF soldiers acted out of self-defense, and for the files against them
to be closed, between these two poles, there is still no compromise formula.
We are continuing to try, and I think that it is our interest to try to
resolve this. I think that public remarks on this issue are not helpful."

(…).

Question: "What grade would you give to your Government after 90 weeks in
office?"

Prime Minister Netanyahu: "Certainly a better one than I read and hear about
from others. In this period, Israel has created 100,000 jobs in our
economy, after it was in a severe crisis for more than two years. We have
been accepted into the OECD. The Israeli economy is leading almost all
Western economies."

Question: "You lowered taxes; in practice we haven't seen it. We have seen
that wage-earners will receive some sort of supplement soon, but the burden,
the negative tax – is heavy, mainly on the middle classes. We won't mention
the indirect taxes that assault us from every side, employee cars, cellular
phones, local taxes, etc. Water taxes; is his the lowering of taxes that
you promised?"

Prime Minister Netanyahu: "In effect, the answer is yes. I compare the
State of Israel to other Western countries and believe me there are many
prime ministers and finance ministers would love to exchanges their problems
for ours, also because we are managing things better. We are managing the
economy very well. Why don't we hear about it? Because the Palestinians
are unwilling to make peace; if the Palestinians are unwilling to make peace
then the whole country is 'stuck'."

Question: "Let us discuss the Carmel wildfire. You heard the painful
remarks of the father of Topaz Even-Chen and retired Commander Klein. They
attacked you, in very harsh and painful words and you really haven't
answered them and you really haven't found the time to perhaps go and talk
with them. Why?"

Prime Minister Netanyahu: "First of all, factually, you are wrong. I met
with them.

(…)

I called the families and I met with them, I am telling you this. I was in
this situation; I come from a bereaved family. I don't know if, when I
revisit the situation I was in, I don't think that it is necessary to get
into a debate with them. In practice, I spoke with them. I know what they
are going through, the degrees of hell, the hellish suffering that cannot be
described. In such a situation, people can, and are entitled to, say
anything. I met with both the Even-Chen and Klein families and believe me,
I understand their pain very well. It is not that I understand, I am
familiar with their pain."

(…).

Question: "Whoever goes to your residence cannot help but pass and see Noam
and Aviva Shalit's tent. Our colleague Yaron London has an article in
today's Yediot Ahronot, I don't know if you read it, that wants a kind of
militant action, to adopt a different mindset, including the systematic
elimination of senior leaders, including reducing the number of Hamas
prisoners every day."

Question: "From the list."

Question: "That is, to try a different approach."

Prime Minister Netanyahu: ""First of all, his approach is an interesting
one, but I cannot say there are two possibilities here. One possibility is
to try and reach an agreement. I thought that the agreement that Hamas is
prepared to make would demand of us a very heavy price in Israeli lives. I
want to bring Gilad Shalit back and I am prepared to go far in order to do
so. But I am not prepared to release hundreds of murderers into Judea and
Samaria because they will reach not Ariel, but Tel Aviv.

(…).

We are working for Gilad Shalit today and every day. We are involved in
various actions, the goal of which is to create a solution. Either we will
reach an agreement that we can live with, live with and die with, or we will
reach other solutions."