'All in all, we had a little luck in the last elections. The percentage barrier [minimum votes for a Party to be elected - IMRA] was increased and Geula Cohen and Rav Levinger did not make it into the Knesset. If they had made it in, even one of them, the picture would have turned around. Everything, after all, is completely coincidental.'

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres
Interview 'Haaretz' 20 January 1995

'David Levy said that the Likud thinks to this day that Moroccans haven't yet come down from the trees....It was only a question of putting out a hand and reaping the fruits provided by Levy.'

David Fogel,
the man responsible for
the Labor Party's advertising campaign
'Haaretz' 15 April 1994

'The government of Israel declines to sketch out the final arrangement first and foremost because if it did sketch it out, hard arguments would break out within the government and the parties which form it. ... An action like that (clarifying the government's position) has built into it the break up of the government.'

Minister of Interior and Tourism, Uzi Baram
'Haaretz' (March 22, 1995)

'The Labor leadership has not yet set for itself the final goals which it wishes to reach in its arrangements with the Palestinians.' Labor Party General Secretary Nissim Zvilli,

'Haaretz' January 13, 1995

'This week I asked a senior political official if Yitzhak Rabin has a program of goals for the peace with the Palestinians and the Syrians, and if, at any time in any governmental forum, these were discussed. The answer was negative. 'But I am certain', he added, 'that in his belly he knows where he is going.''

Yoel Marcus
'Haaretz' 25 November 1994

'We [Israeli society] tend to ignore the fact that our surroundings remain dangerous and violent.'

IDF Chief of Staff Ehud Barak
'Yediot Ahronot' 23 December, 1994

'The Casablanca Conference was a negative turning point in the integration of Israel into the economy of the Middle East. The leadership in the Arab states is very concerned by the Israeli attempts at economic hegemony, and the very large delegation which Israel brought to Casablanca was seen as an attempt to seize control of the economy of the Middle East....In terms of economics, the changes are slim that there will be a 'New Middle East'.

Maj. Gen. Uri Sagi, Head of Military Intelligence
'Haaretz' April 30, 1995

'Everything can get stuck if Assad insists on a few meters or on fishing rights in the Kinneret.'

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres
'Haaretz' 3 May 1995

'If you [Rabin] would have said this in 1992 [about the Golan] you would not have been elected to head the government.'

Labor MK Immanuel Zissman
'Haaretz' February 8, 1995

'The elite which rules relies on a small minority in Syrian society, the Alawites (around 13% of the population), which derives its legitimacy , in part, from the ideology of the struggle with Zionism and defense of Pan-Arab interests. Regimes of this type generally find their ultimate legitimacy in struggle.....Peace with Israel, open borders, free tourism, embassies and flags, the end of the ideological tension with Zionism - has only one meaning: the beginning of the end of Bath rule in Syria.

How does, if at all, an agreement with Israel jibe with the stability of the regime and its survival - this is the central dilemma of Assad.'

Shlomo Ben Ami
'Haaretz' April 28, 1995

'Rabin has made clear in recent weeks that he will not insist on a reduction in the Syrian army, since there is no precedent to it in the agreement with Egypt, and since it is impossible to differentiate between conventional and nuclear forces.'

'Haaretz' diplomatic correspondent Aluf Ben
'Haaretz' 1 May, 1995

'Those who support terror don't necessarily support truth' Foreign Minister Shimon Peres commenting on Syrian denials of involvement in terror activities in Southern Lebanon.

Globes [business paper] 14.12.94

'It is necessary to consider as uncertain all of the declarations of President [Clinton] regarding aid to Israel and his help to limit the risks of peace.'

Position paper presented to
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres
by the Planning Department of the Foreign Ministry
on Thursday, 10 November, 1994
'Haaretz' 11.11.94

'It is very unpleasant to hear what I hear from the Palestinians. They do not talk about the house in Hebron or Givat Tamar. They talk about Givat Ha'Universita in Tel Aviv [the campus of Tel Aviv University]. Also in the negotiations from time to time. In one of the meetings I called for the head of their delegation and told him, that if I were to record the deliberations and play it for members of the party - not the opposition - 90% would say: end the talks at once. Where are you living? What terms are you talking with.'

Deputy Defense Minister Motta Gur
'Haaretz' January 30, 1995

'Poverty has existed throughout history and in every place. The root of the problem is injustice which leads to fundamentalism.'