\"The Palestinians must be made to know that a natural outgrowth of their continued violence against us will be strong Israeli actions against the PA itself, and that we will do everything to bring Arafat down.\" So said former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last night, in an exclusive interview with Arutz-7 English Radio. Interestingly, his successor, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, also addressed this question last night, telling a Tel Aviv audience that a military operation to dissolve and eradicate the PA, was a most problematic option that should only be entertained as a last resort and with the support of the international community.
Netanyahu told Arutz-7\'s Shlomo Quinn and Ray Rublin that for him, the question of whether he would be able to stand up to international and other pressures is not hypothetical: \"I already did it. I withstood all the international pressures, and brought terror to a standstill. I did it during the [Hasmonean] Tunnels incident when I brought in tanks, and Arafat immediately understood... I did it later when I stopped funding to the PA after 2-3 bombings, and Arafat saw that the PA was in danger of collapse... The only way to stop terrorism is by putting economic and military sanctions on the sponsoring regime. Chasing down individual terrorists is OK, but that won\'t do the job; there has to be action against the PA itself...\"
Netanyahu said that he regretted handing over Hevron, \"even though I did leave security patrols in the Abu Sneineh hills.\" He emphasized that during his tenure, only 2% of Israeli-controlled territory was handed over to the PA; he did not mention that the Wye Agreement called for the transfer of another 7.1% of territory under Israeli military control to the PA.
Netanyahu related an incident that occurred during a recent interview with CNN: \"The anchorwoman said that the Palestinians say you\'re taking their land, and I answered, \'It\'s not their land.\' At that point, there was a hush in the studio, and I began hearing people there saying, \'What did he say? It\'s not their land?\"\' and I said again, \"It\'s not their land. It\'s been our land for over 3,000 years. It\'s been our eternal city Jerusalem and our sacred Temple Mount, for 3,000 years... They can stay if they want, we\'re not pushing them out, but they can\'t push US out of our ancestral homeland. This message is probably more important than anything else we can say, and I encourage everyone to emphasize this.\" The interview with Netanyahu can be heard at \"www.israelnationalnews.com/metafiles/asx/engnews/features/bibi.asx\"
Ehud Barak, for his part, said he supports the national unity government headed by Likud Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and its policies in the current crisis. Barak blamed Yasser Arafat for the collapse of the Oslo process, adding that the negotiations were based on the mistaken premise that Arafat would act as the leader of a nation.
Netanyahu told Arutz-7\'s Shlomo Quinn and Ray Rublin that for him, the question of whether he would be able to stand up to international and other pressures is not hypothetical: \"I already did it. I withstood all the international pressures, and brought terror to a standstill. I did it during the [Hasmonean] Tunnels incident when I brought in tanks, and Arafat immediately understood... I did it later when I stopped funding to the PA after 2-3 bombings, and Arafat saw that the PA was in danger of collapse... The only way to stop terrorism is by putting economic and military sanctions on the sponsoring regime. Chasing down individual terrorists is OK, but that won\'t do the job; there has to be action against the PA itself...\"
Netanyahu said that he regretted handing over Hevron, \"even though I did leave security patrols in the Abu Sneineh hills.\" He emphasized that during his tenure, only 2% of Israeli-controlled territory was handed over to the PA; he did not mention that the Wye Agreement called for the transfer of another 7.1% of territory under Israeli military control to the PA.
Netanyahu related an incident that occurred during a recent interview with CNN: \"The anchorwoman said that the Palestinians say you\'re taking their land, and I answered, \'It\'s not their land.\' At that point, there was a hush in the studio, and I began hearing people there saying, \'What did he say? It\'s not their land?\"\' and I said again, \"It\'s not their land. It\'s been our land for over 3,000 years. It\'s been our eternal city Jerusalem and our sacred Temple Mount, for 3,000 years... They can stay if they want, we\'re not pushing them out, but they can\'t push US out of our ancestral homeland. This message is probably more important than anything else we can say, and I encourage everyone to emphasize this.\" The interview with Netanyahu can be heard at \"www.israelnationalnews.com/metafiles/asx/engnews/features/bibi.asx\"
Ehud Barak, for his part, said he supports the national unity government headed by Likud Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and its policies in the current crisis. Barak blamed Yasser Arafat for the collapse of the Oslo process, adding that the negotiations were based on the mistaken premise that Arafat would act as the leader of a nation.