TAKING an optimistic rather than the prevalent pessimistic view of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Mr David Bar-Illan, director of Communications and Policy Planning in the Israeli Prime Minister's office, stated firmly: "I believe we are going to have reconciliation between the two peoples . . . but it is going to take a long time."
In an exclusive interview with The Irish Times he said: "It's a mistake for the outside world to urge the two sides to reach a fast conclusion."
He was critical of the unprecedented attention the present stalemate in the peace process had attracted in foreign capitals and the international media which watched and reported "every little move and every little step". Putting such a process under the microscope hindered progress, he felt.
To illustrate the point he cited the negotiations between the United States and Panama over the Panama Canal, which took 15 years to produce a treaty.
"Negotiations are the only solution," be said, characterising as "talks about talks about talks" the discussions which began on Sunday in Cairo between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. He did not expect very much to come out of these talks the first in over two months, since the Palestinians broke off negotiations after the Israelis began to construct the contested Har Homa settlement near Jerusalem in March. However, he expected the negotiators, who have "developed very warm friendly relations", to continue talking until they achieve progress on a step-by-step incremental basis.
In his opinion the Likud government "is the only government capable of reaching this reconciliation" because "only a government of this hue, only a government representing the so called national camp can hope to achieve a solution". Only such a government "can command broad consensus" in Israeli public life, he argued.
If Labour tried, 100,000 opponents of the peace process would take to the streets, he said. But Labour has to support the Likud in peacemaking.
He did not comment when asked if the Likud could count on the backing of its right wing secular and religious coalition partners if the Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, proceeds to implement the Oslo accords. The religious parties oppose trading territory for peace. When pressed on this point, Mr Bar-Illan insisted that "this particular coalition" would make peace with the Palestinians with Labour's support.
As proof of his contention he cited the unprecedented 87 votes (out of 120) that the Netanyahu government won in the Knesset for the transfer of Hebron to the Palestinians in mid-January. The Labour party had suspended the transfer after 60 Israelis were killed in bombings in Jerusalem Tel Aviv and Ashkelon in February-March 1996. Labour, he observed, might at best have secured a majority of one.
Mr Bar-Illan could not say how long reconciliation would take. "It depends a great deal on what the other side accepts and is ready to accept," he said and quoted the former Foreign Minister, Mr Abba Eban, who quipped some years ago: "The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."
Mr Bar-Illan went on: "If the Palestinians take this opportunity they must not insist on concessions Israel cannot make."
He made it clear that the Netanyahu government was prepared to concede neither the Palestinian demand for Israeli withdrawal from 91 per cent of the West Bank nor to hand over as much as Labour left-wingers had been prepared to, give. Israel's main concern was its security and the security of its citizens, not possession of all the land Israelis call "Eretz Israel", the "Land of Israel", he stated.
The prime minister's proposal of an "Allon Plus" planunder which the Palestinians would have control over 40 per cent of the West Bank defined not what Israel would keep but "what Israel cannot afford to give up" because of its security needs.
The plan was based on the proposal put forward by Yigal Allon 30 years ago plus the settlements implanted since then. According to Allon, Israel should retain control of the heights along the old Green Line and over the Jordan Valley, which would remain the strategic frontier with the Arab hinterland.
But Mr Bar-Illan threw out the significant remark that "areas under Israeli control" did "not necessarily" mean "annexed" by Israel, hinting that the Palestinians could have a role in areas remaining part of Israel's security belt. (Other members of Mr Netanyahu's entourage have suggested the Palestinians could, eventually obtain additional territory if Israel's security needs were met by holding on to less.)
Mr Bar-Illan made the point that the Allon Plus plan has the advantage of having built-in Labour backing, because it was originally a Labour proposal.
