Sunday, November 05, 2006

The Interview of Avigdor Lieberman

Here it is in full:-

Jews and Arabs can never live together

When Avigdor Lieberman, a populist Israeli politician frequently compared to Austria's Jörg Haider and France's Jean-Marie le Pen, proposed to bus thousands of Palestinians to the Dead Sea and drown them there, he was just a fringe member of government.

That was three years ago. But last week the controversial nationalist joined the coalition government led by Ehud Olmert in a much more senior role, as vice prime minister with special responsibility for Israel's most pressing issue: the threat from Iran.

In his first interview since taking office – exclusively with The Sunday Telegraph – Mr Lieberman said that the best means of achieving peace in the Middle East would be for Jews and Arabs to live apart, including those Arabs who now live inside Israel.

Israel was on the "front line of a clash of civilisations between the free world and extremist Islam," he said.

On Iran, he said: "Every week, the president of Iran declares his intention to destroy us."

Mr Lieberman, 48, the leader of Yisrael Beitanu (Israel Our Home), who has previously urged Israel to bomb Teheran, said: "Iran is the base of an axis of evil which is a problem for all the world."

Mr Lieberman, whose addition to the coalition as "strategic threat" minister prompted the resignation of a cabinet colleague, also said that Israel's 1.25 million Arab minority was a "problem" which required "separation" from the Jewish state. "We established Israel as a Jewish country," he said. "I want to provide an Israel that is a Jewish, Zionist country. It's about what kind of country we want to see in the future. Either it will be an [ethnically mixed] country like any other, or it will continue as a Jewish country."

Ophir Pines-Paz, the former culture minister who resigned in protest, decried Mr Lieberman's politics as "racist", adding that the new vice prime-minister – a former bouncer who emigrated from the former Soviet republic of Moldova in 1978 – was himself "a strategic threat to Israel".

Beyond that, however, protest has been muted. There have been no mass demonstrations. Few voters or politicians seem scandalised as they were in 2003.

Analysts say the smooth appointment of a man recently considered an extremist -rabble-rouser is a sign of political radicalisation in Israel.

"After the summer war in Lebanon, many Israelis have moved to the Right," said Gideon Doron, professor of political science at Tel Aviv University. "They think security is bad and trust Palestinians and Arabs less. They don't believe in the possibility of peace through negotiations, so Lieberman has become the centre of a new consensus."

Mr Olmert has insisted that the addition of Israel Our Home to his coalition is tactical rather than political. It bolsters his majority in the Knesset to 78 out of 120 seats, allowing him a margin of security in a country known for its revolving-door governments.

But while Mr Olmert says Israel Our Home will not change government policy, it seems almost inconceivable that the prime minister's main election promise of withdrawing tens of thousands of Jewish settlers from the West Bank will be implemented with Mr Lieberman – himself a settler – in the cabinet.

Mr Lieberman, for one, has other ideas. He has no intention of withdrawing Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Instead, he wants to keep them while, "in return", redrawing Israel's border to eject thousands of Israeli Arabs from the country.

"Minorities are the biggest problem in the world," he said in his soft, Russian-accented English. Asked if Israeli citizens of Arab descent should be forced out through territorial redistribution, he said: "I think separation between two nations is the best solution. Cyprus is the best model. Before 1974, the Greeks and Turks lived together and there were frictions and bloodshed and terror.

"After 1974, they constituted all Turks on one part of the island, all Greeks on the other part of the island and there is stability and security."

When it was pointed out that in Cyprus thousands were forcibly driven from their homes, he replied: "Yes, but the final result was better."

Later, an aide to Mr Lieberman tried to flesh out his remarks. "Israeli Arabs don't have to go," he said. "But if they stay they have to take an oath of allegiance to Israel as a Jewish Zionist state."

Mr Lieberman does not explain how he plans to separate Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem, whose eastern half is home to several hundred thousand Palestinians but which Israel has annexed to form its "eternal and undivided capital". The aide said: "He will not compromise on Jerusalem."

Such hawkish, straightforward sentiments have made Mr Lieberman the most powerful new force in Israeli politics. Since he split with the Likud party and its leader, the former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to form his own party in 1999, he has in effect monopolised the votes of more than a million Russian immigrants. At elections earlier this year, Israel Our Home demolished Likud's traditional grip on the Right to win 11 seats.

Mr Lieberman insists that the world must unite against "an axis of evil led by Iran. Iran is the biggest threat. It's a problem for the whole world, but Israel really has a bad location. We are on the front line between the clash of civilisations between the free world and the extremist Islamic world."

His use of the phrase "clash of civilisations" is another example of what Mr Doron calls Mr Lieberman's "popular straight-talking". But there is one subject on which Mr Lieberman is uncharacteristically coy. When asked if he wants to lead the country one day, he smiled and said: "It's too early for that."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Subject: Gary Casparov will make the world a better place to live.




B"H
Dear Friend
Hi,

I just saw an article on ChabadTallahassee.Com that I wanted to recommend to you.

In Russia Gary Kasparov spoke & march against President of Russia Vladimir Putin Now he is in prison. Where were you FOX NEWS? President of Russia Vladimir Putin put Gary Kasparov in prison There was not a word of the subject from you FOX NEWS. This is unbelievable!

This is the time to require & ask for the American and the Jewish vote.

To elected RUDOLPH W. GIULIANI. He is going to be the best president ever for USA & Israel.
The Jewish have to elect Republicans as a gesture to the policy of the president George .W. Bush & his staff. This message has to go all over the country and especially in synagogues.
This is the time to put on the car & out of doors the American flag proudly outside the hose to supporting our services troops. However the USA at war with the terrorist every day & everywhere in the world Thanks to the US Troops soldiers & President George W .Bush we have a freedom a liberty & plenty of rope to live good & vintage in the USA.
Where is the UN? The UN needs to fight the war against the terror & not the USA.
We must bomb the terror facilities instantly at once & for all let them-terrorist be dread from the USA once and for all. Every now and then we see the terrorist in the TV in their marches & camps why we do not destroyed them in Iran & Syria.
Take the fighting to them and do not hesitate! Where is all the association of human rights for the lost of the innocent people that died from terrorists?
This is the time that Europe & the UN should close or shut down the mosques in response to the Terrorism. In addition to lower the voice of the prayer of the Mosques in Europe there is now religion that is so noisy for the public such as the Arabians.
Enough we do not need to be dread from them.
We have to make a stop to their lunatics & to their terrorism.
From: SHAY WEISS MIAMI BEACH FL USA


The 2 best Israelis pilots-"aces"' sons were under my hands coaching & playing baseball.


My dream is to obtain lights for a baseball and softball field, for children in Israel & to write a book about my father David Weiss.

My dreams have inspired by my father lifetime.

In 1948, he lost his eyes, fighting. He was a Partisan who lost all his family in the Holocaust, except one sister; he found her after he was wounded from a bomb in Yafo, Tel Aviv, Israel.

My dad David Weiss never gave up.

He began from scratch and successfully raised a family.

To me he was a teacher, an inspiration, a house master, an inimitable human whom I harbor in my heart and soul every day of my life.

For me it was as if my father fought hard in the dark daily, to see me grow up.

I lost my father when I was 14 years old.

We had a golden retriever Guide dog named Arise

The day my father died, Arise and I felt something die inside us.

Today I am 40, married with two beautiful children.

I have coped with the pain and loss of my father by contributing to the needs of children and disabled people in Israel.

I coach badminton and baseball in Tel Aviv, where I grew up playing and dreaming of one day to become an American.

I contributed to the beginning of baseball in Israel.
21 years ago, we went to Europe representing Israel on our own expense to play in a fast-pitch softball tournament where I totaled had about 10-12 tournament on my record & more then 50 games always as a starter- (SS/2B, RF).

11 years ago in 1996, I played world championship fast pitch softball for the Israeli national team (SS) at Midland, USA.

I was the best Israeli born player playing fast pitch softball, and I was coaching the National teams: little & junior at the same time, as a volunteer for many years.

This was a meaningful contribution to baseball in general and to the Israelis kid's, who had been playing in school mainly soccer.

My dream is to obtain lights for the children on the field where I played 26 years ago in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The loves for the game have kept me going dreaming to be American one day.

Of course, my father spirit & manner kept me strong to demonstrate to be one of the best players ever in Israel.

If you wish to contribute or wish to help me in any way please let me know.

The movie Scent of a Woman (1992) reminds me of my dad:

However, this film is small for my dad image Directed by Martin Brest Writing credits (WGA) Giovanni Arpino (novel) Bo Goldman (screenplay)


From: SHAY WEISS MIAMI BEACH FL USA


Dear Mr. President,
George W. Bush
I would like to personally thank you and your presidential committee for progressive triumph over terrorism. I am a native Israeli and I have faced many hardships that terrorism has caused in Israel and around the world. Please continue your noble work and just know that I and many other Israelis support your effort for fighting terrorism. I was not able to vote in the passing 2004’elections but I am grateful that the American people made the right choice. There are a few suggestions I have, that I would like you to consider. I believe Cohn Powell should replace Kofi A. Annan as the United Nations secretary general. Cohn Powell has demonstrated to be a very determinant person and has positively influenced decisions affecting the United States and the world. I would also like to see a more proactive approach, by the United Nations, to fight terrorism. Troops, not only American, should be sent to defend “our” safety. Regulations should be established for preventing further terrorists from attacking innocent people. For example, deportation of terrorists’ families may help in deterring continuous attacks. In your father’s lifetime I believe it deserves to have a navy aircraft carrier named after him, which would protect the Middle East that would be in the best interest for the United States.
Again, I would like to thank you and the other “Three Aces” (Cohn Powell, Dr.Condoleeza Rice, and Donald Rumsfeld) for all of your hard work and effort.



God Bless all of you and America


Sincerely,

Shay Weiss


7441 Wayne Ave Miami Beach,

FL 33141

USA.