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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/18507/full/18507/new-israeli-ambassador-is-tough-flexible-in-u-s-debut/ <br /><br /> <b>New Israeli ambassador is tough, flexible in U.S. debut</b> <br /> Friday, September 20, 2002 | by <p>Paula Amann </p> <br /><br /><p>WASHINGTON—Danny Ayalon has brought a dual message to the nation's capital. In his first formal remarks to policy-makers and opinion leaders, the new Israeli ambassador underscored his nation's desire for peace and its resolve to defend its citizens against both the Palestinian campaign of suicide bombings and the attacks of Hezbollah guerrillas on its northern border.<br /><br /> "We have proved our real desire to make peace with the Palestinians," Ayalon told a packed room at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on September 13th. He noted not only the "far-reaching and generous" offer by the former Barak administration at Camp David in 2000, but overtures early in the tenure of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.<br /><br /> "At the time Sharon was elected, there was a very short window of opportunity," Ayalon said, alluding to the premier's political capital after his landslide victory.<br /><br /> In March of last year, Sharon called Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat twice, urging him to quell the violence, to no avail. These gestures and a 48-hour cease-fire proved fruitless, the ambassador said.<br /><br /> But Ayalon reserved his sharpest words for the fledgling regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.<br /><br /> In response to questions, the ambassador made no bones about Syria's sponsorship of Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. He also implied that Israel's restraint in responding to provocations on its northern front will not last indefinitely.<br /><br /> "The key to quiet on the northern border is in Damascus," said Ayalon, noting Syrian provision of supplies for the fighters there. "They should know that they may bear the consequences."<br /><br /> Ayalon flagged as a special concern Hezbollah's diversion of water from the Vazani tributary which flows into the Hazbani River, which feeds the Kineret, calling it a potential casus belli or grounds for war.<br /><br /> "I cannot and I will not prejudge any Israeli response, but I would just point to the danger and explosiveness of the situation," the envoy said, noting that tensions over water rights had contributed to the Six-Day War.<br /><br /> Ayalon's appearance followed a busy week of public appearances. On Wednesday, Sept. 11, he spoke briefly at an embassy-hosted concert by Tel Aviv-born pianist Joseph Kalichstein in commemoration of the events of Sept. 11. Relatives of David Charlebois, co-pilot on American Airline flight 77, along with the families of Ernest Willcher, Lt. Darin Pontell and Gerald Fisher, who were killed at the Pentagon, were in the audience.<br /><br /> Meanwhile, at the Washington Insitute, the ambassador said that for the past two years, the Palestinian response to Israel has simply been bloodshed. Even the term Intifada, Ayalon told the Washington Institute audience, is a misnomer.<br /><br /> "Intifada suggests a popular uprising," he said. "Well, it's not a popular uprising—it was a very well-orchestrated .... coalition of terror where you see the Palestinian Authority. cooperating with Hamas, Tanzim, PFLP, [Islamic] Jihad—all of them working together against all the commitments and agreements."<br /><br /> The ambassador defended his government's armed incursions into Palestinian areas as a justified response to attack. It has reduced, he said, the number of suicide bombings from one or two a day in March, before the start of Operation Defensive Shield, to much lower levels.<br /><br /> "Terror can be fought," he said. "It could have been fought by the Palestinians, but in the absence of their efforts, we have to do it."<br /><br /> As for a future beyond war, the ambassador set forth a "horizon" made up of an interim agreement, trust-building measures and joint ventures in the interests of both parties such as desalinization.<br /><br /> "There was never a Palestinian state in history," Ayalon said. "The irony is that under a Likud government, it can be born."</p> <p> </p>

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