VOLUMES 4-5: 1977-1979
98. Remarks by Prime Minister Begin at Ben-Gurion airport upon his return from the U.S. 20 December 1977
On his way back to Israel from Washington, Prime Minister Begin stopped for few hours in England to brief Prime Minister Callaghan of his peace plan. He also met with a special representative of France’s President Valerie Giscard d’Estaign to inform the French government of Israel’s proposals. Returning to Israel, Mr. Begin announced that he would be leaving for Ismailiya on 25 December. On 20 December, Defence Minister Weizman flew to Egypt for talks with War Minister Gamasy and the next day with President Sadat. Text of Mr. Begin’s remarks:
P.M.: I brought a good plan with me from Israel to America and what I am bringing back with me from the U.S. to Israel is good news.
Our plan has won powerful support from the U.S., from the President, who stated that it would be a fair basis for peace negotiations, from the President and his advisers – the Secretary of state and others, as well as Senator Humpbrey – that committed friend of Israel – and Senators Jackson, Stone, Javits – the leaders of the Republican party in the Senate, and by the majority of the House of Representatives, as well as from the former President of the united States, Mr. Gerald Ford, and the former Secretary of State, Dr. Kissinger.
As to the Jewish community, the Chairman of the Union of Presidents, Rabbi Dr. Schindler told me, after studying the plan, that, once it was publicised, it would get the support of ninety-five per cent of the Jewish community.
I held talks at Chequers with Mr. Callaghan, the British Prime Minister, and he is about to issue a statement today to the effect that our proposals are a fair basis for negotiations for peace, leading to peace. Mr. Francois Poncet was sent to London by the French President, and I met him too at Chequers. We shall learn what the French position is within the coming days.
I shall ask for a cabinet session to be convened on Thursday and for the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee to convene on Friday. On Sunday I shall leave for Ismailiya in order to meet President Sadat.
The visit will be a working visit. It is not the return visit to Cairo with a speech before the Egyptian Parliament that was promised to me by the President of Egypt and that according to what he told me will take place.
I would like to point out that our programme is not secret, that everything will be published in good time, both from the rostrum of the Knesset and before the public. The problem with publication is one of timing. I could not very well have come to the President of the United States with a programme that he had already read in the press before my arrival in Washington. Similarly, it would be unthinkable to go to Ismailiya with a plan that President Sadat had already read through one of the news agencies or newspapers. It’s a problem of human dignity, of tact.
That is why we have not yet published the plan. There are rumours about it as well as misunderstandings that will be dispelled within a very short time, once all the details of the plan are made known to the public.
We are now keeping up the fast pace of the negotiations: They are bound to be fast because this is the propitious time for peace making in the Middle East.
There is no longer any doubt that both Egypt and Israel want and are interested in getting peace.
We seek an overall peace in the Middle East, not only with Egypt but also with our other neighbours. This will not be foiled even if peace treaties are signed one after another with certain time intervals, provided only it is clear that if, for example, Egypt proposes signing a peace treaty before we come to negotiate with Syria – that this will not mean the end of the process but rather its beginning and that in the wake of a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, peace treaties are signed with Israel’s other neighbours. It is the intention and aim of the two states – Egypt and Israel – that an overall Middle East peace be attained.
On Sunday, Christmas day, I shall be leaving for Ismailiya, but I have enquired of members of the U.S. government as well as those of Britain and France what the Christians’ attitude would be to the fact that President Sadat and I meet on Christmas day, and they all said that this would be an excellent thing if it was the effort far peace that was being promoted on Christmas day.