ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
Well, now we're going to hear from a spokesman for the Israeli government and for the Palestinian Authority. First, Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, he acknowledges there is widespread cynicism about this peace initiative. But he says the Israeli prime minister, the Palestinian president, the Europeans and President Bush all wanted to succeed. And as for the contentious issue of settlements, Mark Regev says Israel is prepared to act.
Mr. MARK REGEV (Spokesman, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel): Israelis have, for a while, been saying the Palestinians have to implement all their obligations into the road map. And we've been saying, yes, and about our obligations, well, wait and see. Today, we say Israel will move forward, will implement all our obligations into the road map.
SIEGEL: That means that Israel would be eliminating, say, settlements and settlement outposts as an undertaking that Israel is obliged to make regardless of Palestinian progress, say, on achieving security. That's up to them, you're going to take part of your obligations independently or is it conditional upon Palestinian action?
Mr. REGEV: I think in the past, when there was an expectation on the Israelis to act and evacuate was more difficult for us to act. But today, in the framework of the post-Annapolis atmosphere, where both sides are taking steps, it's easier to move forward. And the truth is, if we both do what we're supposed to do, and I think there's a good chance we will, there is reason for cautious optimism.
SIEGEL: Here's a question now about the understandings of what those commitments are. Secretary of State Rice told the Jerusalem Post last night, the United States does make a distinction between settlement activity in East Jerusalem and settlement activity on the West Bank. And Israel's road map obligations, which included building freeze, according to Secretary Rice, relate to settlement activity generally. How can Israel square, say, the expansion of the Har Homa neighborhood of East Jerusalem with a commitment to the road map as other people understand the road map?
Mr. REGEV: We do make a distinction between the West Bank and Jerusalem. Having said that, we understand the sensitivity of the issue of Jerusalem. But it was last week my prime minister, Mr. Olmert, sent a letter to all the relevant government ministries calling for a freeze, saying no new settlement activity without his and the defense minister's specific approval. That there are still gaps, I accept, but we are moving on this issue, and we want to see the Palestinians move, as they are, on the important issues of security and fighting terrorism.
SIEGEL: But Har Homa is not part of that order. Do I understand that correctly because it's in East Jerusalem, and Israel regards it as separate?
Mr. REGEV: Correct. We make a clear distinction between Jerusalem and the West Bank.
SIEGEL: How far can this process between Israel and the Palestinians go without your negotiating partners, the Palestinians, having de facto control over the Gaza Strip?
Mr. REGEV: From my point of view, President Abbas is the president of all Palestinians. Now, at the moment a group has taken over violently, I would say, control of the Gaza Strip. And that's a sad situation. But it's clear we don't want a three-state solution, we want a two-state solution where there is Israel, the Jewish State and Palestine, the Palestinian State, living side by side in peace. And eventually, you have to have a situation where the Palestinian Authority exercises its political authority, it's political control also over the Gaza Strip.
SIEGEL: But at some point, don't the rocket attacks have to stop under the authority of the Palestinian Authority before you can have a signing agreement that somebody ignores what's going on in that part of the country, say?
REGEV: I think that's the Achilles heel of the whole process, what's going on Gaza. And I think we're all looking at Gaza, which (unintelligible) how can we stop the extremists there from exporting their violence and trying to torpedo any chance for historic reconciliation between us and the Palestinians.
SIEGEL: So is the policy, to paraphrase a famous statement from an Israeli history, to pursue the rocket attacks from Gaza as if there were no peace process and the peace process as if there were no rocket attacks from Gaza?
Mr. REGEV: I think you could say that, but it's more complicated. We believe that if was can succeed in working with the Palestinian government, if we can succeed in creating new realities, economic success, political developments, if people on the West Bank feel that their life is getting better, that is the best answer to the Hamas control of Gaza. You'll have an East Germany-West Germany type situation, a situation where Palestinians could understand that the path of moderation, the path of pragmatism, the path of negotiation serves Palestinian interests much more than the jihadists ever could.
SIEGEL: Well, Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Thank you very much for talking with us.
Mr. REGEV: Always a pleasure. Thank you.