TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=89TT2032> <title> Aug. 07, 1989: Middle East:Masters Of Double-Talk </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989 Aug. 07, 1989 Diane Sawyer:Is She Worth It? </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> WORLD, Page 30 MIDDLE EAST Masters of Double-Talk </hdr><body> Depending on their audiences, Shamir and Arafat flip-flop Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir rounded up the usual expressions of ambiguity last week to deny reports that he had been talking to the Palestine Liberation Organization. Asserting for the umpteenth time that he never had and never would, Shamir did admit that he has been holding "get-acquainted" talks with a Palestinian from the West Bank identified with the P.L.O. But, he insisted, "there's absolutely no negotiation with the P.L.O., direct or indirect." As politicians -- especially Middle Eastern politicians -- are wont to do, Shamir was fudging the facts. Jamil Tarifi, a West Bank lawyer associated with the P.L.O., confirmed the talks and implied that he would report on the meeting to P.L.O. chairman Yasser Arafat. By meeting with Tarifi, insisted Labor Party official Yossi Beilin, Shamir made the P.L.O. leader implicitly part of the bargaining process. Said Beilin: "That there is negotiation with the P.L.O. is quite clear." In fact, such a dialogue is well under way as both Israel and the P.L.O. dicker through the U.S. on terms for elections in the occupied territories. Last week the P.L.O. offered a new list of conditions for its participation. The various parties interpreted the list to serve their own political ends. Some, including members of Israel's Labor Party, considered Arafat's terms relatively moderate because he reportedly dropped a demand for the total withdrawal of Israeli troops before elections take place. Others read the terms, such as the long-standing demand for an independent Palestinian state, as confirmation of Arafat's insufficient flexibility. Arafat, true to his own ambiguous style, conveniently chose to highlight his more rigid points to the Arab world. That kind of double-talk is, unfortunately, the common coin of the Middle East dialogue. As principal exponents of the opposing sides, Shamir and Arafat have more than occasionally been guilty of talking out of both sides of their mouth. Each has proved a master at sounding comparatively moderate to international listeners, but appealing to ancient strains of chauvinism when addressing their constituents. A recent sampler: Shamir Speaks . . . -- To the World "I address the Arab residents of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza district . . . We are ready and willing to create conditions of peaceful coexistence with you that will assure liberty and prosperity for you and your children." --Speech to the Knesset, Dec. 22, 1988 -- To His People "We won't give them a thing." --Address to Likud party members, May 17, 1989 -- To the World "Our proposals . . . will give, following the Camp David formula, equal opportunity to both sides to put forward and negotiate their positions." --Address in Washington, April 6, 1989 -- To His People "We hold the veto in our hands." --Address to Likud party, May 17, 1989 -- To the World "Both sides must overcome many things and must also make concessions." --Interview on Israel TV, March 26, 1989 -- To His People "Eretz Yisrael belongs to the State of Israel. Anything else is inconceivable." --Address to Likud party, Feb. 5, 1989 -- To the World "I can assure you we will be forthcoming." --Remarks at the White House, April 6, 1989 -- To His People "I am immune to pressure." --Address to Likud party, May 17, 1989 -- To the World "There can be leaders in the territories who are not connected with the P.L.O." --Interview in the daily Ma'ariv, March 24, 1989 -- To His People "An Arab is an Arab . . ." --Address to Israel Hotel Association, Jan. 24, 1989 -- To the World "The central fact of our life is that Arabs and Jews are inhabiting a very small piece of land, and they must learn to live in it, together, in peace." --Address in New York City, April 4, 1989 -- To His People "This small land belongs exclusively to the Jewish people. It is our land by right and by justice." --Address to Jewish settlers in the West Bank town of Ariel, June 20, 1989 Arafat Speaks . . . -- To the World "Come and bury the hatchet." --Paris press conference, May 3, 1989 -- To His People "Nothing and nobody can deter the P.L.O. from attacking its main enemy, Israel." --Quoted by AP, June 8, 1989 "We are bent on peace, come what may, come what may." --Geneva press conference, Dec. 14, 1988 -- To His People "The P.L.O. offers . . . the peace of Saladin." --Saudi Press Agency, Jan. 2, 1989 -- To the World "We totally and absolutely renounce all forms of terrorism." --Geneva press conference, Dec. 14, 1988 -- To His People "I did not mean to renounce . . . I am still committed to what I said in Cairo in 1985 ((when he retained the right to attack Israel and the occupied territories))." --Interview with Vienna television service, Dec. 19, 1988 -- To the World "As for the Covenant ((which called the State of Israel illegal)), I believe there is an expression in French, `C'est caduque ((null and void)).'" --Paris statement, May 2, 1989 -- To His People "I haven't the authority to effect changes in the Covenant by myself." --Quoted in Le Figaro, April 29, 1989 -- To the World "These ((Palestine National Council)) resolutions constitute a firm, unambiguous response to all arguments." --Address to U.N. in Geneva, Dec. 13, 1988 -- To His People "I can always come back to our P.N.C. and declare that moderation does not pay." --During the Algiers summit, Nov. 15, 1988 -- To the World "((The Palestinians')) human dignity shall be safeguarded under a democratic parliamentary system of government built on freedom of opinion." --Address to U.N. General Assembly, Dec. 13, 1988 -- To His People "Whoever thinks of stopping the intifadeh before it achieves its goals, I will give him ten bullets in the chest." --Speaking in Riyadh, Jan. 1, 1989 </body></article> </text>