Premier Begin: A New Era Starts

En route from Israel to the U.S. for the signing of the peace treaty, a fatigued but ebullient Premier Begin gave an interview to TIME Jerusalem Bureau Chief Dean Fischer. Excerpts:

Q. How do you assess the impact of the peace treaty with Egypt?

A. I believe a new era will start in relations between Egypt and Israel. Then I hope will come a period of building mutual trust between our two nations. Therefore I made the suggestion that we sign the treaty in our respective capitals so that all the Israelis, the Jews and the Arabs can see that we are friends now and no more enemies.

Then comes the question of our other neighbors. Even now I would like to invite President Assad, King Hussein and President Sarkis to join the peace process. I can go to Damascus and to the capital of Jordan and the capital of Lebanon, or they can come to Jerusalem or we may meet at a neutral spot and let us try hard to bring peace. But if the answer is negative, and so far it has been, we must be patient. If we improve relations between Egypt and Israel, this may serve as a living example for our other neighbors.

Q. How do you view the negotiations on autonomy for the Palestinians?

A. Autonomy is a very serious issue. We want to carry out our pledge to give them full autonomy. They should elect their own administrative council, which will conduct their daily affairs and in which we shall not interfere. [But] we must have our security.

We have now between 13 and 14 months to negotiate. That is a relatively long period of time, and I think we can bring about a solution. Our government appointed a committee of eleven members, which will prepare all the suggestions and all the plans for autonomy. We will bring the proposals to our Egyptian friends for discussion. We hope the results will be positive.

Q. How do you feel about the attitude of Saudi Arabia toward the peace negotiations?

A. It is a very wrong attitude. Saudi Arabia is one of the most fanatical enemies we have. We didn't do any wrong to them, yet they claim that the city of Jerusalem must be detached from Israel. This of course can never happen. What does Saudi Arabia have in common politically with Jerusalem? From the point of view of religion, I can understand it. In Jerusalem, there are holy shrines of Islam. And every Muslim has free access to them. We would invite Saudi Arabians to come to Jerusalem and go to Al Aqsa [mosque] and pray. But if they speak about the repartition of Jerusalem, they speak nonsense. It will never happen.

Q. Is Saudi Arabia a force for moderation on more radical Arab regimes?

A. Not at all, not at all. It is a complete illusion that Saudi Arabia is a so-called moderate country, as far as we are concerned. Saudi Arabia, by the way, is in real danger. I heard from a very wise man the following saying: "It's not a state, it's a family." A family of 3,000 princes. And corruption reaches the sky there. So they better be careful. They have South Yemen on their border, and in South Yemen there are already Cubans. So they shouldn't behave so haughtily toward everybody, including Israel. They have all that oil, but they cannot drink it. They have to sell that oil to get those billions of petrodollars. So they better be careful and think about their own safety and not try to exploit the issue of East Jerusalem.

Q. As negotiations on Palestinian autonomy proceed, will Israel's own Arab population become more militant?

A. There are radical Arabs, but they are a minority. They are usually led by the Communists. But the majority of our Arab people are loyal citizens. We have had five wars, yet there has not even been one case of disloyalty by our Arab minority during the wars. Of course, I cannot say that they are the most ardent Zionists in the world, but we should accept their loyalty. Above all, we want to give them the feeling that they are living in freedom and equality. We want to improve their economic situation. But I can say that the Arab minority in Israel enjoys a better economic situation than any Arab in all the 21 Arab countries--except, of course, the rich people, the sheiks and the millionaires. This, by the by, also applies to the Palestinian Arabs who live in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza district. They have never had such a blossoming economy.

Q. Are you tempted to call an early election in order to capitalize on your achievement of peace with Egypt?

A. No sir, not at all. I am not a person to be jumping at opportunity. We are signing a peace treaty, but we don't want to cash in, to call the people to the polls. We still have 2 1/2 years before elections. There is a lot to do. We have to pay much more attention to the economic and social issues in Israel.

Q. And after that?

A. Under any circumstances I will leave politics at the age of 70. That is not far away-- I will be 66 next summer. I will leave the government, I will leave the Knesset, and I will start writing a book about my generation. This is an exceptional generation in our history. It can be compared almost to the biblical generation. I must not make any comparisons; it's forbidden. But whatever they in biblical times and we in our times achieved, was achieved through suffering and heroism. Therefore I contend that we are a quasi-biblical generation, and I want to write a book about it.

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