Netanyahu: Peace requires security

The former Israwli PM defended his policies in last night's talk in Irvine. Former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last night addressed a packed house in Irvine Auditorium on the need for a secure peace in the Middle East, focusing mainly on the high points of his contentious three-year tenure in office. In a 30-minute address to the crowd of 1,200 students, the Connaissance fall speaker began by stepping out from behind the podium and announcing that he would speak about what it means to be a leader. "What is the essence of leadership?" he asked the crowd. "True leadership is always about struggle," he added, noting that a good leader must have a "vision of values" that he believes in and be willing to "stand in the arena and fight for those values." But the charismatic speaker quickly moved from his ideas on leadership in general to defending the government he presided over as Israel's prime minister until he lost in his re-election bid this summer. While in office from 1996 to July of this year, Netanyahu said that his two main goals in office were to achieve peace through security and prosperity through freedom. He spent much of his address explaining the importance of these goals and how he tried to achieve them. "In our part of the world, if peace is to last it must be [grounded] in security," he said. "Peace must mean security," he added slowly in a loud voice. "The peace process will go forward providing that the Palestinians do their part on security." Touting his own achievements in working toward secure peace with the Palestinians after a terror-filled 1997, he said, "There is now tranquility in Israel." Netanyahu also noted that any peace treaty between a democracy and a non-democratic state must have an "external constraint" to ensure that the treaty will be enforced, noting that only a contract between two democracies can exist on trust alone. "In the Middle East -- in our part of the world -- we're the only democracy," he said. "You have to make sure it's a peace you can defend." And though he mentioned very few details of his views on peace and security, he did make one of his stances very clear: "Jerusalem will never be divided again," he said, drawing applause from an attentive audience. Netanyahu spent the second half of the lecture explaining his program to develop the Israeli economy. He said he had five major economic objectives when he came into office: reduce the Israeli government's deficit, cut inflation, privatize state assets, deregulate certain industries and free the Israeli currency. Netanyahu said his main goal was to move Israel's economy from its original socialist base to a free-market model. As an example of his accomplishment, he noted that after introducing competition into the Israeli cellular phone industry -- now among the world's largest and most popular -- phone rates dropped sharply within days. "When you have competition, it gives everybody an advantage," he said, noting that new companies get more business while consumers benefit from lower prices. On the issue of removing long-standing restrictions placed on the Israeli currency, Netanyahu said several economists warned him that an end to the restrictions could lead to a tremendous capital outflow. However, he said, he followed what he believed to be the right course and lifted the restrictions -- and international capital poured into Israel to a greater extent than ever before. He noted, however, that following beliefs comes with a price. "If you believe in your values? there's always a cost," he said. "But if you believe in it, do it." In the case of Israel, the cost of a free and open economy was a sharp increase in unemployment -- an issue which Netanyahu said cost him his job to current Prime Minister Ehud Barak. After his speech, Netanyahu held a 15-minute question-and-answer session during which he responded to eight questions. "I think I'm supposed to take questions and hecklers now," he quipped at the end of his lecture. Though he declined to comment on any specific peace agreements -- citing a pledge he made after leaving office in July to refuse comment on the actions of the Israeli government for 90 days -- Netanyahu did discuss his views on a final settlement with the Palestinians. He said he opposed the idea of a sovereign nation of Palestine because such a country would be able to arm itself and ally with such hostile nations as Iraq, thus severely compromising Israeli security. Instead of giving the Palestinians a sovereign country, he said, the final-status agreement should designate specific but limited powers to the Palestinian Authority for the areas of Israel under its control. And he shared with the audience his favorable outlook for the future of Israel. "As long as Israel is strong? then the Jewish people and the Jewish state will thrive," he said. The audience seemed very receptive to Netanyahu, with most attendees giving the former prime minister a standing ovation when the program ended. Afterward, Netanyahu descended from the stage for a few minutes to shake the hands of many eager students. College freshman Josh Wechter said he thought Netanyahu was "very energizing." "I enjoyed listening to him speak," Wechter said, though he noted that Netanyahu "had his own agenda he intended to address." "I thought he was a really good speaker and? he was easy to listen to," College freshman Eloise Kauvar said. Kauvar said she felt that Netanyahu's strong speaking skills allowed him to persuade many members of the audience to agree with him even if they didn't really share his views. Penn Arab Student Society Co-President Kareem Zaghloul, a fourth-year Medical student, said he was disappointed with the brevity of the question-and-answer period, adding that he had hoped it would have allowed for a wider variety of issues to be discussed. Connaissance had initially announced that Netanyahu would take questions for 45 minutes. Commenting on Netanyahu's speech, Zaghloul said, "I think what he said was not very surprising to the Arab students." Connaissance Co-Director Theo LeCompte said he was very pleased with Netanyahu's appearance. "It was a great speech and it was an honor for him to come," the Engineering junior said.