"We First Give Them A State"

Pinhas Inbari March 18, 2002 00:00 IST "We First Give Them A State" -0001-11-30T00:00:00+05:53

Israeli foreign minister and Nobel Prize winner Shimon Peres was one of the architects of the Oslo Peace agreement signed between the Israeli government and the Palestinians. The agreement is now in tatters. Peres talks to Pinhas Inbari about the new initiatives for renewing peace in West Asia. Excerpts:

In a recent interview, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz put forth a peace proposal asking Israel to withdraw to the position it held in 1967, in return for all Arab states recognising and normalising their relations with the country. What is your reaction?
It's a positive and interesting proposal that radiates goodwill as well as an intention to advance towards peace and resolve the dispute in the region. At the same time, the biggest threat to achieving peace is terrorism. An end should be put to all terror activity, which can be the real foundation to advance towards peace. We have disagreements with the plan with regard to the opening position—but the Saudis' involvement, together with Jordan and Egypt, in the peace endeavour is extremely...