Communicated by the Prime Minister's
Media Adviser
Jerusalem, September 15, 1997 PM Netanyahu meets with
Jordanian Trade and Industry MinisterPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met yesterday (Sunday), 14.9.97, with Jordanian Trade and Industry Minister Hani Malki. National Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon, and Trade and Industry Minister Natan Sharansky were also present. At the start of the meeting the Prime Minister discussed several issues.
On the issue of the unfreezing of the Palestinian Authority funds, the Prime Minister said: "We have received indications of initial steps. I hope that they will be genuinely positive, as was promised following the visit of the U.S. Secretary of State, and the agreements she reached with the Palestinians, both on the issue of the terrorist infrastructure, and also on ending the "revolving door" policy regarding Palestinian prisoners. For both of these reasons, I thought that there were grounds for our making a goodwill gesture, in light of the possibility of positive developments in these two areas, which I hope will be realized."
On the issue of the message that he sent to Syria via US Secretary of State Albright: "The message is that Israel is serious in its desire for peace. Each side will be able to raise all of its issues. I hope to receive a report back from the Secretary of State, and that in this area too, we will see progress. I have not at this stage been updated by the Secretary of State, and thus cannot at this stage say if there has indeed been any progress."
The Prime Minister also spoke on the issue of the body of Hadi Nasrallah: "I can say that there are indications that this is indeed the situation. I have not fully checked the facts."
On the issue of Ras al-Amud, the Prime Minister said: "The Attorney General's decision, that on this question the government has the authority to act according to additional considerations, such as public security, remains in effect. We are, of course, continually checking such questions. The basic situation remains unchanged. At the moment, the issue remains theoretical, and the government's decision and policy remain unchanged."
Regarding the three-way meeting on security issues which was intended to take place before Foreign Minister David Levy's meeting with Abu Mazen, the Prime Minister said that the meeting may take place, but has not yet been officially agreed upon.
The Prime Minister also spoke on the issue of withdrawal from Lebanon: "There is nobody sitting around this table, neither myself nor any minister, who would not like to have left Lebanon already yesterday or the day before. But we do not want to create a situation in which we leave Lebanon, and Lebanon comes after us. I do not want a situation whereby Hizbullah is able to approach the border and rain down Katyusha rockets on Carmiel or the Haifa suburbs. Then what will we do? So we need to be very careful in our consideration of how exactly to deal with the question of our future withdrawal from Lebanon. It must be carried out in an orderly way, in which the Lebanese government will deploy along the border and ensure that Hizbullah will not attack us."