The relationship between Israelis and Palestinians has become tenser in recent months, particularly following the formation of a Hamas-led Palestinian government last month, which again focused the world’s attention on the region. Beijing Review reporter Ding Ying talks to Yehoyada Haim, Israeli Ambassador to China, on Israel’s view of the situation.
　　
　　Beijing Review: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is forming a new government. What measures can we expect it to take in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian tension?
　　Yehoyada Haim: Mr. Olmert will continue the policy of Mr. Sharon. He replaced Mr. Sharon because Mr. Sharon is sick, and he promised the voters that he would continue the policy of Mr. Sharon, that is to continue the plan of disengagement from the Palestinians. The Israeli Government is forming a coalition. Mr. Olmert’s coalition partners in the Labor Party ask for more economic measures and more spending on education. In this area, he might change policies in accordance with his coalition members. But I don’t think he will change the political concerns about Palestine.
　　There are three conditions set by the international community known as the Quartet--America, Russia, the EU and the UN--an end to terror, the recognition of Israel and acceptance of all the agreements that were signed by the previous government. Hamas came to power through the democratic process. It must accept democratic rules, and these are the democratic rules: Any government that comes into power must accept the agreements signed by the previous government. Democracy and terror do not go together. If they want to negotiate while continuing terror and demanding the destruction of Israel, of course Israel will not negotiate. And I also believe the international community will stick to the three conditions. If tomorrow Hamas changes its policy, I believe peace negotiations will start again.
　　
　　Mr. Olmert said that Israel is planning to fix the border with the Palestinian state before 2008. Can the border issue be settled by then, and should the separation fence be considered the border?
　　I hope any government in the territories will change its policies--recognize Israel, stop terror and start to negotiate. I believe that if they agree to a solution and acknowledge that the Jewish state exists, the agreement on a border can be reached. The fence we are building is not the border, but it is to stop terror from coming into Israel and suicide bombings in which buses and people are blown to pieces, so as to protect people in Israel, including the 20,000 Chinese workers there, from terrorism. If anyone touches the fence, we will know it. The best solution is the solution that we negotiate with the Palestinians. I believe eventually, though I don’t know how long it will take, the border issue will be settled after negotiations with the Palestinians.
　　
　　Recent reports said that Hamas has indicated that it will stop suicide attacks against Israeli targets and suggested that it will accept the conditions. If this information is true, will the peace negotiations start again?
　　I have information from Israel through many sources that indicates the foreign minister of Hamas has claimed many times that they will continue with terrorist acts, and he said Israel must be destroyed. There is no change in Hamas’ claims because they want to destroy Israel, still will not recognize Israel and will continue with terror. I wish your information was right and that they are going to change because we are not looking for a continuous conflict, we are looking for partners, who reject terror.
　　I think the international community will stand by these conditions. All the countries are important and eventually Hamas will accept the three conditions. They have no other choice. In the [Palestinian-controlled] territory there is no oil and very little water. They have to feed their population, they have to pay salaries to the workers in the government, and they don’t have money. Their money comes from America, the EU and a little bit from Arab countries, and the money will not come now. Therefore, I believe they have no choice. That is, provided that the international community is united, standing by the three conditions. The current situation is that we have a Hamas government that does not accept the three conditions. If foreign governments want to help, they should make it clear that they are supporting the three conditions. This will encourage the Hamas government to change its position.
　　I have no doubt that if the three conditions are accepted, the peace talks will start again and economic cooperation will be developed. I believe that keeping the three conditions for them will make it much easier to make peace with Israel. Because Fatah and other organizations, which are willing to negotiate, of course will support the step to live in peace of the Jewish and Palestinian states. This is the solution. Fatah, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, backed the three conditions. The problem is Hamas’ claim that “we must destroy Israel.” We of course are not willing to be destroyed. And I believe it is much easier to make peace [if they accept the conditions] because they are so extreme. If they accept the three conditions, we can easily deal with the rest of the population that do not object to the agreements.
　　
　　Israel recently launched military attacks against the Palestinians. Can we consider that the conflict has been upgraded?
　　Unfortunately, the Israeli government’s order to strike was a reaction to Palestinian Katyusha rocket attacks on villages, towns, settlements and cities in Israel. Therefore, since the Palestinian government would not stop the bombing, we will stop it. How are we going to do that? We are either going to stop it or make sure the Palestinian Government will do something to stop the daily Katyusha rocket attacks from Gaza on the Israeli side.
　　
　　What do you think is the solution to the conflict between your two countries?
　　I think we already have a solution accepted by China, Russia, America, the EU and the UN. This is a two-state solution: a Jewish state and a Palestinian state. Our problem is how to reach the solution. There are many obstacles on the way to a negotiated solution, mainly the continuation of terror and the fact that there is no movement and no negotiating partner on the Palestinian side. Thus, the new Israeli Government is calling for another disengagement in order to remove more obstacles.
　　
　　How do you view current Sino-Israeli relations?
　　Our economic cooperation is very well developed, and the trade volume between the two countries has increased 25 percent every year. There is a unique feeling between Jews and Chinese. We can say that there is love between the two peoples. They are eager to know each other’s culture. China is a great and beautiful country with very successful trade and economic development. We have cooperation on health and education, too. There are a lot of visitors to each country every year, including our Prime Minister Olmert. He spent eight days in China in 2004 when he acted as deputy prime minister and minister of trade and paid a private visit to Harbin, where his grandfather was buried and his parents grew up. He has unique personal emotion about this country. We are trying to get Mr. Olmert to come here. Mr. Sharon also hoped to visit China very, very much. Unfortunately, he could not make it.
　　There are two areas in our cooperation in agriculture. The first is private. We have a lot of companies and joint ventures engaged in agriculture in China. The second is government to government. We have two model farms in China, respectively in Beijing and Urumqi in Xinjiang. We show local farmers how to make better use of the land by growing flowers, fruit, seeds and vegetables. In Xinjiang, the climate and geography are similar to those in Israel. Besides, over 100 Chinese farmers attend agricultural courses in Israel and there are over 1,000 Chinese students studying science in our country too.
　　
　　What is your opinion of the current Iranian nuclear issue?
　　I think it is dangerous because Iran has gone very far toward acquiring [nuclear] knowledge, and it is very dangerous to the world community, not only to Israel. The whole area is in danger because 60 percent of the world’s oil fields are there. The whole world would be in danger because the president of Iran is very extreme. He not only calls for destroying Israel, much worse, he threatens Arab countries. In his speech after the election, he told Arab countries, “You are not Muslim. You must obey, otherwise your end will come.” In the same speech, he even threatened the world that “One day, Islam will be all over the world.” Now it is a danger because he sees the world in conflict between civilizations: Islam versus the others. That is the most dangerous extreme attitude.
　　If such a regime were to have an atomic bomb, the whole world would be in danger, not only Israel, the Arab world, the Gulf countries, but the entire world. Because of his attitude in the way he sees the world-he sees the world in terms of enemies. The problem is international, not Israel alone. We have claimed for many years that terror has no borders but no one listened to us. The regime is dangerous itself because it supports terrorist organizations. The whole international community should work together because the danger is very, very close.

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