Right now, Israelis want a security process rather than a peace process.

The forces that are shooting at Israelis day in and day out are not renegade units, … These are mainstream Palestinian organizations belonging to Yasser Arafat. … They are involved in mortar attacks against Israel...

You cannot harbor and give shelter to international terrorist organizations and expect a country to just absorb these blows,

When Israel announced its operation, it said it was a limited operation. It did not announce it was reoccupying parts of the Gaza Strip from which it had withdrawn,

I think today’s the day of tremendous national anguish. Many people thought this whole process would polarize Israeli society because that seemed to be the environment here leading up to the national disengagement effort.

We want the peace process to succeed. In order for it to succeed, you, Mr. Arafat, must move away from terrorism, shift this from a conflict process to a peace process. And then we’re ready...

Unless the green light is turned into a red light, unless there’s a clear message (from) Mr. Arafat to stop terrorism, there can’t be any peace process.

What is perhaps most disturbing about this announcement is that it says that terrorism is legitimate in certain areas and terrorism will be stopped in other areas. We will not accept, we will not greet...

it was pretty clear he didn’t think he could get a quid pro quo from the Palestinians. He did think, however, that he could get one from the United States.

It’s too early to say what will be the nature of that response, … What’s clear to us though is that the message that went to the Palestinian organizations [from Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat]...

understand exactly the kind of grief this terrible, terrible terrorism causes.

The escalation that has occurred is because (Palestinian Authority President Yasser) Arafat gave a green light to a variety of Palestinian organizations … to attack Israeli targets.

The assumption that just being there and talking about democracy and elections would work was naive.

The security meetings were good, but it’s clearly not enough. What’s important is what happens on the ground, and what’s happening on the ground is continuous violence against Israeli civilians.

There are lots of questions about what the security situation of Israel will be the day after the last withdrawal,

This is intolerable and something Israel will have to address,

Setting them on fire isn’t a way of creating a new environment for a hopeful future.

It’s clear that when young men strap dynamite to themselves and go into a crowded Israeli cafe, we are talking about terrorism, plain and simple.

We are giving one more chance for peace at present by seeing whether Mr. Arafat will follow through his cease-fire commitment,

Right now the evidence is not very promising.

What we can give our blessing to is the vision in the road map, the specific call for an unconditional cease-fire, with security steps like dismantling the terrorist infrastructure, … Late Edition.

The proof [of reforms] will be whether the situation on the ground will be fundamentally different tomorrow than it was yesterday,

The parties reiterated their commitment to Oslo and its implementation,

Any shift in deployment of Israeli forces is largely dependent on the security situation on the ground, … More importantly, a guarantee by the Palestinians to take responsibility for areas that Israel might eventually vacate...

There are no quick solutions. This is not armored warfare in the Sinai, where you encircle divisions of the other side and end it in six days. But with determination and perseverance, Israel will win...

The real question is not just a political science question of how many ministers there are. The real question is whether Mr. Arafat will abandon violence, and that can only be seen on the ground.

Much of the U.S.-Israel strategic relationship is classified, particularly in the area of intelligence sharing. There are two direct consequences from this situation. First, most aspects of U.S.-Israel defense ties are decided on the basis...

We came here in order to listen, and also to let our friends in the administration hear our views and I think we started on the right foot.

Israel expects that the Palestinian Authority will fulfill its road map commitments and once and for all dismantle and disarm the terrorist groups that are in its areas of jurisdiction.

Prime Minister Sharon has been absolutely clear about his goals. He wants to reach limited arrangements, pragmatic arrangements with the Palestinian Authority, but there cannot be peace with terrorism.

a blunt political instrument to serve the PLO’s diplomatic and military agenda against Israel.

We now need a detailed security plan from the Palestinians,

Israel has been willing to work with the Jordanian-Egyptian initiative to bring the current round of Palestinian violence against Israeli civilians to an end. Unfortunately, this morning we have seen the response from the Palestinian...

Israel is left with no choice but to thwart such attacks in order to protect its civilians and keep its population safe,

I think Israelis felt that by completing the withdrawal from Gaza, they had created an opportunity for peace for the Palestinians to seize upon. And what they saw was synagogues in flames, and that’s something...

When we see the everyday security of the Israeli people vastly improving, we’ll know real reform has occurred.

If the Palestinian Authority continues to support violence, it is important that Israel and the international community make it clear they cannot advance their political agenda, their political goals, … Violence will bring about a...

This is the first test of the new Palestinian government, and so far it is an utter failure.

The strongest images were those of the settlers and soldiers embracing and crying together,

We pay very close attention to statements made by the United States and they’re very important to us.

The closest thing to Kfar Darom in the United States is the Alamo. Imagine pulling people out of this place. They are heroes of Israel and we owe them a great deal after they are...

There have been a lot of declarations before. The most important thing is to see what kind of action we have.