Israeli deputy defence minister Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff on perspective for the Middle East

By Inge Guenther

Jerusalem - Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon did not choose Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff as the country's first female deputy defence minister for reasons of female emancipation. He hoped the daughter of murdered former premier Yitzhak Rabin would give his national unity cabinet a liberal veneer.

In an interview with the "Frankfurter Rundschau" carried out just before the terrorist attack on the US, Rabin-Pelosoff, a member of the Labour Party, showed she knows how to keep a critical distance from Sharon's political line. She spoke of the military options and the chances for negotiation in the conflict with the Palestinians.

Frankfurter Rundschau (FR): The suicide bomber who detonated a bomb in Nahariye had an Israeli passport. It was the first time that an Arab-Israeli carried out such an attack. Why should Palestinian Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat take any part of the blame for it? Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff (DRP): I am not interested in apportioning blame. But when a member of the Arab minority turns terrorist, it is a critical turning point that is deeply worrying for us.

FR: Prime Minister Sharon did not ask if the Israelis were partly to blame for this, he directly accused Arafat.

DRP: Arafat directs the terror. For him it is an advantage if Israeli Arabs are involved. But we have not done enough to prevent it.

FR: Do you have real evidence that the Palestinian Autonomous Authority knows of plans for terrorist attacks? DRP: We have a lot of military secret service intelligence. This is how we are informed early before nearly every attack. Our information applies in first line to key figures in various terrorist groups inside the Palestinian territories. But it is usually impossible to know who will strap the bomb to themselves in the end.

FR: The Israeli government's policy is the targeted elimination of militant opponents. Aside from the fact that the world almost unanimously criticises Israel for this, do you not see the dilemma that every out-of-court execution of an activist provokes new revenge from the Palestinians? DRP: What is the alternative? To do nothing? We have to react.

FR: The most common complaint you hear from the Israeli people is that, in the face of the escalation of violence, there is no way out.

Do you believe military retaliation can achieve much? DRP: The whole political spectrum in Israel now sees that there is no military solution to this conflict. We can adopt measures for self-defence and prevention, and target militant ringleaders. But we cannot stop the terror by military means. A solution can only be found in the political arena. That is why we must get back to the negotiating table.

FR: Do you think it right that Foreign Minister Shimon Peres will soon meet with Arafat, when you are clearly convinced that he has given the terrorists the green light? DRP: Talking to each other is always the better way. While you are talking, no one gets injured, no one gets killed.

FR: Right-wing politicians in Israel would immediately reply that quite quickly after the last two Peres-Arafat meetings there were new attacks.

DRP: That is true, but not because of the meetings.

FR: If negotiations really do take place, what would be the subject? The Mitchell recommendations are only a pacification plan.

Are real compromises possible with Sharon? DRP: That is indeed the main problem. I cannot envisage a plan that could be discussed. A year ago at Camp David, Ehud Barak made a real offer that Arafat turned down. And Sharon's approach does not come anywhere near the Barak offer. There is a giant gulf between the two conflicting sides.

But say what you like about the Oslo process. In the end we will return to the concept of achieving peace in different phases.

Co-existence will not be possible from one day to the next, the level of hatred, incitement and violence is too great.

FR: Will that be possible with Arafat? DRP: I don't know. But I believe that Arafat and the people around him secretly know that one year of Intifada has not brought them any further. The idea some Israeli politicians have, of driving him into exile, I find dangerous.

The Palestinian people made Arafat their leader. We must respect that. The hopes for real negotiation between us are small. But we cannot afford to give up, even if the chances for negotiation are just five to 10 per cent.

FR: Peres still hopes to bring Sharon on track for peace, as he brought your father Yitzhak Rabin on the path to Oslo. Do you share this optimism? DRP: You cannot compare the two things at all. My father's concept was to achieve peace. With Sharon it is different. But he too is a pragmatist. That is why we in the Labour Party remain in the government. Perhaps Sharon will still come to the conclusion that the problems cannot be solved with violence.

FR: Do you remain confident after six months' experience in the cabinet? DRP: I will admit that my hopes were higher at the beginning. But Sharon has accepted the Mitchell plan in principle, which includes stopping the settlements. It is high time that Sharon and Arafat met.

That is the only way we can continue. Unfortunately, I see no sign of Sharon being prepared to do this, as I would hope.

FR: Rather than meetings with Arafat, Sharon has military buffer zones in mind. Do you support such military no-go areas? DRP: We need the buffer zones to prevent potential assassins from infiltrating Israel. But I am strongly against closed military zones.

Buffer zones mean stationing more military, erecting more fences and other obstacles, but not imposing more restrictions on the Palestinians who live there than on those who live in other parts of the West Bank or the Gaza Strip.

FR: What do you think of the idea of "one-sided separation"? DRP: Yes, I support a separation, but a bilateral one, based on an agreement with the Palestinians. How can we dissolve the settlements and move Palestinian villages without regulating by treaty? A one-sided separation would not work.