it's not quite back where it was before rabin's assassination, but there's hope there. anyone dealing with the middle east has to be an optimist. i am. jehan is. sadat was, many others. i'm optimistic, not as a naive foolish person, but i'm optimistic because i know the israelis and the lebanese and the syrians and jordanians and the palestinians and the egyptians, i know the israeli mothers want peace. palestinian mothers want peace. syrian mothers want peace. jordanian mothers want peace. the obstacle are politicians who don't have the courage to honor the demands and prayers of the mothers. i made the same statement in a speech to the knesset back in those days. i don't know what's going to happen in the future. i'm inclined to be cautiously optimistic. those of us in this room who have demonstrated an interest in the process need to be involved. however we might. some with authority, some without authority. all of us with some degree of influence. we need to support president clinton in his efforts. i sent him a congratulatory letter day before yesterday. we need to

rabin as a traitor.le, withdraw fully from the territories occupied in �*67, including, of course, all of the west bank, he would be regarded by so many powerful israelis as a traitor. probably there will be israelis that would look at him as a traitor. i'm sure that there are quite a few that listen to me, the bbc, and think that i am a traitor, but they didn't kill me yet. so we will continue to battle against these voices. and it's not simple. i didn't say that it's simple. i didn't say that it's not without dangers. it is with dangers. it is with risk. it is with strong opposition. it is with messianic groups that are absolutely committed to fulfil the divine providence commitment to the jewish people to annex and integrate all of the territories. but there are powerful forces within the israeli society that are against it, and i believe that we will prevail and we will win and we will defeat them. it will not be an easy battle. it will be difficult... well, the problem is that those forces are in po

i began to meet, when i went to meet prime minister rabin who was extremely cautious. i flew to london, geneva, switzerland. syria. i have the crown prince from saudi arabia, that was not even the totality of it. we had our normal conference, one side of the table filled with americans, the other side filled with egyptians. we had a banquet that evening with some entertainment. afterwards, i felt a strange rapport with that man. that has been almost unequaled in my life. i invited him to go upstairs with me to a place in the white house were very few people visit, on the second floor where the families live. he went up with me. my little daughter amy was asleep and i woke her up. i said amy, i want you to meet a new friend. he met my daughter. sat on the corner of a chair, sofa, i began to explain to him my dreams of peace in the middle east. i found a receptivity i have not experienced anywhere else. i begin to recognize the attributes of this man that made him great. calm, self assured, a farsighted awareness of global interrelationships. he was bold. didn't lack pol

when i was ambassador to israel then prime minister yitzhak rabin whose credentials in terms of securityis no military solution. israel has to work for a political solution on the israeli—palestinian conflict. i hope that state grab will enter the steep —— enter the scene under the trump administration, the met —— that a major move will be made because the conditions on the ground, let me say this as we saw in the war in 1973 when israel was taken by surprise also, years later that led to late presidentjimmy carter brokering the israeli egyptian peace treaty. my intuition tells me that the political landscape has shifted enough now in the middle east and in the israeli—palestinian conflict, in lebanon, in syria, vis—a—vis iran, at if statecraft and diplomacy is pursued, it could be a real possibility of brokering an israeli—palestinian agreement. new caveats. there has to be a leadership in the government in israel that has an interest and expressed interest, in a two state solution or negotiating a peace agreement with palestine and on the palestinian side there needs to be a reinvigora

the united states today, according to prime minister rabin of israel, is at a peak in its influence and power in the middle east. but let's turn for a minute to the southern african operations that are now going on. the united states of america took the initiative in southern africa. we wanted to end the bloodshed in southern africa. we wanted to have the right of self-determination in southern africa. we wanted to have majority rule with the full protection of the rights of the minority. we wanted to preserve human dignity in southern africa. we have taken the initiative and in southern africa today, the united states is trusted by the black front line nations in black africa, the united states is trusted by the other elements in southern africa. the united states foreign policy under this administration has been one of progress and success and i believe that instead of talking about soviet progress, we can talk about american successes. and may i make an observation part of the question, you ask, mr. trewhitt? i don't believe that it's in the best interest of the united states and the

about one hour ago, the four captives arrived at the rabin medical centre, all of us awaited at the arrivalnd gratefulfor the privledge to be able to witness their return home. the preparation for receiving them, as well as all of those returning, include establishing a broad professional and sensitive medical and mental health framework. over the last year, we meticulously planned for the reception, treatment in the hospitals and the ongoing care at the community, drawing on lessons learned from previous events. today, we are meeting them after a77 days in hamas captivity. this is an unimaginable reality. we, the medical teams in the health care systems, stand ready to address any medical needs that may arise. let's cross live to tel aviv and speak to our middle east correspondent nick beake. nick, i imagine there are scenes notjust of celebration but feelings of apprehension as well. i want to bring you something that yolande knell has said. she has heard from someone at the israeli hostages and missing hostages for that this may be the last chance for hostages. i this may be the last cha

about one hour ago, the four captives arrived at the rabin medical centre.f us awaited at the arrival excited and grateful to be able to witness their return home. the preparation for receiving them as well as all of those returning including establishing a broad professional and sensitive medical and mental health framework. over the last year, we meticulously planned for the reception, treatment in the hospitals and the ongoing care at the community, drawing on lessons learned from previous events. today, we are meeting them after a77 days in hamas captivity. let's cross to correspondent nick beake. good news but it must be an anxious time. it good news but it must be an anxious time.— anxious time. it certainly is. this is hostage _ anxious time. it certainly is. this is hostage square - anxious time. it certainly is. this is hostage square and i anxious time. it certainly is. l this is hostage square and for the last 15 months it has been a focal point for the friends and families of those taken by hamas on october seven. it is a place of wildly contrast

just recently, president rabin said that our relations were never better. ms. frederick: mr. trewhitt, a question for president ford. mr. trewhitt: mr. president, you referred earlier to your meeting with mr. brezhnev at vladivostok in 1974. at -- you agreed on that occasion to try to achieve another strategic arms limitation, salt agreement, within the year. nothing happened in 1975, or not very much publicly at least. and those talks are still dragging and things got quieter as the current season approached. is there a bit of politics involved there, perhaps on both sides? or perhaps more important are interim weapons developments and i'm thinking of such things as the cruise missile and the soviet ss-20, an intermediate-range rocket, making salt irrelevant, bypassing the salt negotiations? mr. ford: first we have to understand that salt i expires october 3, 1977. mr. brezhnev and i met in vladivostok in december of 1974 for the purpose of trying to take the initial step so we could have a salt ii agreement that would go to l985. as i indicated earlier, we did agree on a 24

you know, september 1993, there i was on the white house lawn when yasser arafat and, yitzhak rabin and, president clinton all clinched a political deal now that did not resolve the issue. but i'm just saying that putting people into boxes and demonizing them and dealing atomizing them doesn't actually get you anywhere unless can understand where movements come from and. this is a movement with, long history. it's gone through many developments and learned about many of those in our in our webinar series and presented those learnings in. the book we wanted to make both the webinar series and book very accessible to a non-specialist. so i hope that you read it you will agree with that. we also included the back some vital documents because we think that you know there is so little known about the history of the movement we just put in six pieces of documentation we think will be helpful. so sorry went on a bit that day. you know that's that's it's good to know the background of how this came together and let me just say it's a great it's very conversational because draws out of those web

they have been taken to the rabin medical center where we just got word that they are now in stable conditionmmediate threat to to their health. we'll see how they are emotionally, but what we have seen, speaking of emotions, is four scenes of tearful reunions with mothers, with fathers and now that they're in the hospital, they're getting to meet extended family. again, more tears, more reunions. they were released in exchange for some 20 200 palestinians. 70 of them have been exiled, never to return to israel or the palestinian territories, many of them serving life sentences. some of them if you remember the restaurant bombing in the north of israel that resulted in 15 dead back in. so some serious palestinians have been released. there have been hang-ups in this exchange9, and the ceasefire and hostage exchange agreement mandatedded that women and children, women civilians and children be released first. if you notice, the four women who were released today, they were all soldiers. that means that two female civilians that we know about, one was taken hostage with two of her very young ch

they were transferred to the rabin medical center where we just got word that they are in stable condition, so no immediate threat to their health. now, they were liberated in exchanging for 200 palestinian prisoners held in israeli jails, some of them on violent offenses, some of them serving life sentences. 70 of them, the palestinians, have now been exiled, never the return to israel or the palestinian territories. some of them went back into the west bank where they were greeted by crowds of palestinians who celebrated their release. there was a hang-up in this stage of the hostage release, and the hang-up was simply that the women and children were supposed to be released before the soldiers. even female soldiers. there are two civilians, female civilians we know were taken hostage. their names are shiri who was taken hostage along with her two toddlers. status unknown. arbelia is believed to be held by islamic jihad in the gaza strip. still, according to israel with the tenets of the ceasefire agreement, they were supposed to be released from the soldiers, and they were not. therefor

undermined it, aggravated the israeli public until itzhak rabin, the prime minister of israel, who signed agreement, was assassinated. that's the truth. that's the reality. they call them terrorists. well, george washington was accused of being terrorists by the british colonialism. the same applies to nelson mandela, who was on terrorist american list in the american congress for a very long time until he became the elected president of south africa please. we want the world to see us as equal human beings, as people who deserve freedom. we don't need other people to rule us. we want to rule our lives, our lives. and if there is end of occupation, we will have peace. nobody will be threatened. israel will have security. we will have security. israelis will have security. we israel cannot have security alone, and not without palestinians having security. that's the basic rule, and that's what they should understand. without our freedom, without indian occupation, without ending the system of oppression and apartheid, we will not survive. and that's the only way out of this, not to continu

just recently, president rabin said that our relations were never better. ms. frederick: mr. trewhitt, a question for president ford. mr. trewhitt: mr. president, you referred earlier to your meeting with mr. brezhnev at vladivostok in 1974. you agreed on that occasion to try to achieve another strategic arms limitation salt agreement, ah within the year. nothing happened in l975, or not very much publicly at least. and those talks are still dragging and things got quieter as the current season approached. is there a bit of politics involved there, perhaps on both sides? or perhaps more important are interim weapons developments and i'm thinking of such things as the cruise missile and the soviet ss-20, an intermediate-range rocket making salt irrelevant, bypassing the salt negotiations? mr. ford: first we have to understand that salt i expires october third 1977. mr. brezhnev and i met in vladivostok in december of 1974 for the purpose of trying to take the initial step so we could have a salt ii agreement that would go to l985. as i indicated earlier, we did agree on a twen

think to take more land away from the palestinians or it was originally conceived by prime minister rabin, who was assassinated because of he wanted to bring peace. now as a wall to go along the israeli border and international courts and all approve that that was changed later on to make it a wall that doesn't divide israelis from palestinians. it divides palestine from other palestinians as and is a horrible imposition and a breakdown of freedom, speech and travel of against it, against the. this is all typical of what's going on in palestine now. hmm. there's been a furor as you know, or in country and i share part of the grief about the one israeli soldier that was taken out. the other question when palestinians who were locked up inside gaza there's a wall completely around gaza with only two doors in it or but some palestinians dug a tunnel underneath wall and captured israeli soldier who still had been held a whole safe and alive, at least. and that's a tragedy. but the reason that they did it they claim publicly was because israel is holding. about 9000 palestinian prisoners. and