THE ISRAELI ambassador to Ireland yesterday gave the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs an optimistic view of the Middle East peace process, saying he believed negotiations were "on the verge of a satisfactory conclusion".
He rejected recent speculation that Israel will seek to renegotiate aspects of the Oslo accord which it does not like. Rather we seek to take into account those developments which now warrant further amplification of certain points in the agreement.
The implementation of aspects of the Oslo accord such as the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Palestinian town of Hebron had been delayed because of fears over security, be said. There was no point in implementing the agreement on the agreed dates, unless security was guaranteed. Quoting the late Israeli Prime Minister Mr Yitzhak Rabin, Mr Zvi Gabay said: "The agreement is holy, but the date is not holy.
Mr Gabay said the Israeli government intended to continue the peace process, and would also like to enter direct negotiations with Syria and Lebanon with a view to making peace agreements with them.
A number of committee members yesterday expressed surprise at Mr Gabay's upbeat assessment of the state of talks with the Palestinians. Mr Jim O'Keeffe (Fine Gael) suggested the Israeli government wads "foot dragging" and adopting "a tough hardline approach that involves flagrant breaches of the Oslo accords". Mr Michael Lanigan (Fianna Fail) suggested that Israel was concerned only about its own security, and not that of Palestinians.
Mr Gabay rejected suggestions that Israel was foot dragging and bluntly stated his country never had and never would make any concessions as a result of international pressure. "No pressure from outside Israel will force the Government of Israel to do anything it does not want to do."