PERSPECTIVE ON THE MIDDLE EAST : They Deal in War, Not Democracy : Peace has no hope in the region until the arms race is stilled and conditions of political freedom emerge.

Question: Having operated for decades in this part of the world as a military man, your view is that peaceful compromise with someone like Saddam Hussein is a mirage?

Answer: Yes. We come now to the issue of how to make real peace in the Middle East. I think we have a very good example in the new relationship between the Russians and the United States of how to reduce tension in the world.

People say, look what happened in Europe. Why can’t you in the Middle East follow this example? Well, let’s see what happened in Europe. Two major events took place, and it took decades to achieve them.

One is democratization in the Soviet Bloc. For decades, the United States broadcast the Voice of America. A tremendous effort was put into promoting Western ideals through radio, satellites, television and so on. It helped start the process of democratization.

Now go and talk to the Poles, for example, about going to war. They will laugh. Talk to the Hungarians, or even the Bulgarians, a more indoctrinated country. They will not even react to such an absurd idea.

What has happened in the Middle East? Nothing. They always think about war and not about democracy.

Saddam Hussein we see. Assad we know. He destroyed one of the oldest cities in the world, Hama, and killed at least 25,000 people there in 1982. Now in Beirut he murders again.

Can you point to one democratic country in the Middle East?

So, in order to arrive at peace in the Middle East, there has to be a start, because it is a long process of democratization in the Arab countries: political pluralism, freedom of speech and writing, freedom of demonstration.

Otherwise, no one can trust any peace plan to work. It will be all power plays and war. That is how a dictator can get up one day in Iraq and take a nation to war, occupy a small country and sit there for three months while the whole world waits. For all the times I have listened to Voice of America, I have never heard one word about democratization of the Arab world. Not one word.

A second thing happened in Europe. It took decades to finally stop the arms race. The two sides finally stopped the arms race and began to think in terms of the equalization of military strength. This idea first arose in the ‘50s, and it took 40 years to finally begin disarming. What happens in the Middle East? It is exactly the opposite. A tremendous supply by the Soviets--the most modern MIGs. The United States supplies F-15s to the Saudis. The Saudis are going to have four times more F-15s than Israel. F-15s, F-16s, the French Mirage jets. Israel can’t compete.

In order to arrive at peace in the Middle East, we need democratization and a process that starts immediately stopping the arms race and finding a way to equalize military strength.

If somebody thinks that the solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict is (Egyptian President Hosni) Mubarak’s 10 points, or (U.S. Secretary of State James A.) Baker’s five points, or whether in the group of negotiators there will be two Arabs who live in East Jerusalem with summer houses in Ramallah, or a winter house and shop in Jericho, that’s very superficial.

The problem is far deeper. Security relies on democratization and equalization of arms. Once that is in process, then there is room to move into talking about peace.

Can you imagine a situation where close to the Jordanian border now there are Iraqi ground-to-ground missiles deployed, plus modern planes at airfields near the border, plus thousands of tanks? Do you think Israel can take any risks in terms of territory or weapons reduction? So, if you want to talk peace seriously, take it for granted that we take our lives seriously. We know exactly what can bring peace to this part of the world.

Q: Despite the official denials that “linkage” to the Palestinian issue doesn’t exist as part of a peace settlement with Iraq, it is nonetheless on everyone’s minds. . . .

A: First of all, you must take what we say seriously. Israel will not pay anything. We will not make the smallest concession in order to satisfy what you call moderate, or non-moderate Arab countries.

We have one interest. We want to live here peacefully and defend our lives. We will pay no price to anyone.

Second, there is no linkage here. What is the linkage? How did the Palestinian problem bring Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait? . . . Let us assume that the Palestinian issue never existed. That would have prevented Saddam Hussein from invading Kuwait? Nonsense. There is no linkage whatsoever.

This shows again that the main problem in the Middle East is not the Palestinian problem. The main problem is those Arab dictatorships and the corrupted regimes that exist in the Middle East. They are the problem. I think the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait made it very clear that one must have “strategic depth.” Territory is all important. The distance from the Iraqi border to Kuwait City is about 100 kilometers (62 miles). The distance from the Jordan River--our Eastern front where Jordan, Iraq, Syria may attack us, and did so in the past--to Tel Aviv is only 70 kilometers (44 miles). The Saudis also participated in all the wars against us, don’t forget. The Saudis fought against us in 1948, in 1967 and 1973.

It is 60 kilometers (37 miles) to Haifa and only 30 kilometers (19 miles) to Jerusalem from the border with Jordan. For this reason, don’t expect us to enable a second Palestinian state. . . . There will never be a second Palestinian state. Jordan is the Palestinian state. We offer autonomy for the Arabs in Samaria, Judea and Gaza (the occupied territories), where the Arabs can conduct a life almost without interference. Israel will be responsible forever for security, because that is our whole problem.

Jerusalem is not negotiable. It will never be negotiable. Jerusalem is the heart of the Jews. It has been the capital of the Jews for the last 3,000 years. We will accept no other arrangement.