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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Daniel Ayalon

Aired April 06, 2002 - 12:54   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Just before the break, we heard the Palestinian perspective from the PLO's legal adviser. Now, we turn to Israel's point-of-view with Daniel Ayalon. He's the -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's senior foreign policy adviser and he joins us now from Jerusalem.

Good afternoon or evening there.

DANIEL AYALON, SHARON FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: Good afternoon. Good evening.

WHITFIELD: Thanks for joining us.

Your military planning chief has been quoted as saying, quote, "No one expects us leave these places just to encourage the terrorists to continue." President Bush in Crawford, Texas said this morning or this afternoon that Israel must withdraw without delay. So what's the strategy now?

AYALON: Well, right now, we are in the midst of a campaign to uproot terror since the Israelis cannot go to funerals anymore. We have been facing the most brutal campaign of terror, which was conducted and directed by Mr. Arafat and the Palestinian organizations.

As the operation unfolds, we have more and more compelling evidence, which directs him -- which indicates or implicates him directly with the financing of the most cruel terror of suiciders. So what we want to make sure is that this operation is successful in order that we can lay the ground for a future talks and stability and peaceful negotiations.

One thing is for sure, that you cannot conduct talks under this threat of terror. So far, we have been trying to be very restrained and with these half-measures that we tried, the terror always bounced back. So this time, we must ensure not only that we have immediate results and we have immediate results and successes against the terror, but also to make sure that it will not come back when the operation is stopped.

WHITFIELD: So are you really...

AYALON: We are not there for the duration and we certainly...

WHITFIELD: Are you really saying...

AYALON: Yes, please.

WHITFIELD: ... that President Bush's remarks really mean nothing, that an immediate withdrawal or withdrawal without delay, that that kind of charge coming from President Bush really has no impact on today's developments in Israel?

AYALON: No, not at all. President Bush is the best friend we have with this entire administration and indeed the entire American people. We will never ignore what the president has said or his advice. And for this, I'm sure we will conduct close consultations. We are in good contacts with the administration and we will keep doing that.

And I'm also sure that the president, who is, I know, committed to fight and to lead the fight against terror, would also see the same goal as we do, to make sure that terror here is not an option. But in any case, we will stay in close consultations and I'm sure that we will achieve our common goals.

WHITFIELD: So is it the plan of your government to continue with the incursions until at least Secretary of State Colin Powell were to arrive in that region?

AYALON: Well, I would like to get into operation details about the time span. I would say that we have great results. We also, I would like to emphasize to your viewers, that this takes time because we are not storming, we are not using air force or artillery, which would have, of course, shortened the campaign immediately, but at the cost of many lives. We're trying to be very patient, to round up and arrest in order -- and not to kill. And indeed, so far, we have a few hundreds of the most dangerous terrorists.

We also try to get a peaceful surrender of those, the terrorists, who go into churches and mosques and shoot at us. In any case, we never shoot back and we try to get their surrender in a peaceful way. But we must have these murders in our hands.

WHITFIELD: All right, Daniel Ayalon. He is the senior foreign policy adviser for Prime Minter Sharon. Thanks very much for joining us from Jerusalem this afternoon.

AYALON: Thank you.

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