Beware Iran

The Israeli Ambassador to Malta, EHUD GOL, describes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a dangerous man whose threats cannot be taken lightly. In a frank interview with Herman Grech, the Rome-based ambassador also criticises Russia for being guided more by economic interests than moral values.

The last time we met you were expressing hope about the Palestinian situation. Since then, Israel lost Ariel Sharon, it has a new Prime Minister, the much feared Hamas are in power, and we're seeing a return to suicide bombings. Do you blame the rest of the world for losing hope in the Middle East?
Europe was mistaken in letting Hamas participate in the elections. Remember when someone used to tell you "I told you so". We told the US and Europe it was wrong to let Hamas participate because you don't give concessions to a terrorist group. You are giving an advantage to a non-democratic group because of a supposedly democratic process.

But Hamas was elected through a democratic process.
But who is paying the price now? We now have a terrorist group as our neighbours and the Palestinian people are paying the price because they have a terrorist group leading them.

Nine people were wounded last Tuesday in a second day of clashes between gunmen from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's Hamas. Is peace between the Palestinians themselves a distant thought?
It doesn't serve our purpose if they fight among themselves. We also see the situation in Iraq where Arabs are killing Arabs. This is unfortunately the culture of our neighbours. They kill their own brothers in a most savage way and what will stop them from killing us, their enemies?

It only enhances our need to defend ourselves. It's tragic. Last year things had begun to change. The Fatah was in power. It wasn't ideal but it was a beginning. Abu Mahzen was elected President, Yassir Arafat was gone. Instead of moving forward these last elections took us back at least 20 years.

Do you think the EU is doing the right thing with Hamas by slashing funds to the Palestinian government?
Yes, the EU, including the Maltese government, is taking the right step. I had a good conversation with Foreign Minister Michael Frendo and I adhere to his three conditions for Hamas. It's extremely important for Europe not to deviate one inch.

But don't you fear that stopping the funding could potentially create more fundamentalists?
No. I don't believe the Palestinians should suffer or starve. The financial assistance should not be channelled through Hamas because it could do like Arafat - who put half of it in his own pocket and used the other to promote terror and violence. We've been in this movie before.

No other national movement received as much money from the international community as the Palestinians did in the last 15 years. What happened to all this money? Did we give so much money to the National Movement of the Kurds or the national movements in Africa or Asia? Only the Palestinians received so much money on a silver platter... and look what they did with it.

What do you think of the new Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert?
I called him last Friday and we had a wonderful conversation. I trust him. He is a capable man and he was close to Ariel Sharon. I know him from the days I worked as a spokesman for (former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak) Shamir. I'm glad he formed a relatively broad government because we have so many challenges.

The international community perceives Mr Olmert to be a weak Prime Minister, evidently because he is living in the shadow of Mr Sharon.
He is not Sharon and he knows this himself. Sharon came to power after so many national positions and a glorious military past. We have a civilian as the head of the government - and we had good "civilian" prime ministers in the past like Shamir and Golda Meir. You don't need to be a general to lead our country.

Palestinians say Mr Olmert's proposal to evacuate isolated Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, bolster major enclaves and draw a frontier roughly along a barrier Israel is building would deny them a viable state.
What is a viable state? There is Gaza and the West Bank. Some Palestinians think there should be an integral territorial connection between the two. If that happens, Israel would be cut into two. We went a long way before this. Sharon at the UN openly and publicly said that Israel accepts the notion of a Palestinian state alongside ours. This was a revolutionary statement. But then the Palestinians interpreted our withdrawal from Gaza and our willingness to accept Palestinian state as a victory for Hamas!

Let's take a speculative situation and imagine Hamas renounces its violence. Will that be enough for Israel to start discussions?
We had the same situation with the PLO. It was a terrorist organisation but when it renounced violence we went on to sign the Oslo and Washington accords.

Many believe the election of Hamas is actually a blessing in disguise because it would have to renounce to violence because of international pressure.
Maybe. But at the moment it's bad news for us and even worse news for the Palestinian who are paying the price for terror and violence.

Let's move on to a man who never ceases to be in the news - Iranian President Ahmadinejad. How would you describe him?
Very dangerous.

Is he just a madman or a wise man who is clearly capitalising on the US's post-Iraq backlash?
He wants to score points domestically but he really is dangerous. We've seen dangerous and crazy people in the past. Nobody took Hitler seriously before he came to power in 1933. Nobody took Mussolini seriously. We can't take Ahmadinejad's threats lightly. These threats combine with a desire to beef up the nuclear capability of Iran.

What should the international community do?
The international community is only recently realising the threat. Iran went from a moderate leader to an extreme one but the goals are the same. We have to make sure Iran doesn't move forward with its programme.

How?
Diplomacy is always the best way. If that fails you move to other options.

Like sanctions?
Perhaps.

And give President Ahmadinejad the perfect opportunity to say that the international community is destroying the Iranian people.
Do you want the whole world to be destroyed?

Do you think he's capable?
If he has nuclear capability what is he going to do with it? Let's raise a hypothetical situation. Even before he finishes developing the nuclear armament imagine the possibility of a dirty bomb in the hands of a terrorist group. And he will say that unless everyone gives in to his demands he will make Malta the scapegoat. He will start with Malta to show he can destroy an entire country. Malta is, after all, a member of the EU, even though it's a friend of the Arab world. What will you say then?

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres warned Iran it could be threatened with destruction if it continues to vow to destroy Israel.
It's a responsible reaction to the unacceptable threats to erase Israel from the geographical map. Iran is a strong nation with a strong economy. Why does it need to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes when they are selling petroleum at those prices? They don't need other means.

In this whole scenario, do you trust Russia?
Two countries are guided more by economic interests rather than moral values - and this is sad.

I'm assuming you're referring to Russia and...
China.

The Bush administration appears to be keeping a low profile, too distracted by Iraq, skyrocketing gas prices and plummeting approval ratings to devote any attention to Russia.
If there is one country that is guided by moral values, it's the US. I fully trust the US, but the US alone cannot be the policeman of the world.

But the US is being rather "friendly" with both Russia and China.
The US is trying very hard to convince the EU3 and the UN Security Council to resolve the Iranian problem diplomatically. I think Iran is beginning to blink. The letter of Ahmadinejad to the US President was a first. The pressure should continue. Any idea to give them discounts will defeat the purpose.

Do you think the EU should also warn Russia about the Iran threat?
I think Russia should understand the danger of Iran. It's everyone's role to explain that the Iranian nuclear programme is not a naïve one but a very dangerous one.