Interview on Israel Radio, Kol Israel in English, 27.11.07

Newscaster: Gadi Baltiansky, the director general of the Geneva Initiative. says the Annapolis conference can "launch a process that will end in peace.
Gadi Baltiansky: There's no doubt that the Annapolis conference can be the launching point for serious negotiations, but the test is in the pudding, we'll see on the day after Annapolis if Annapolis was a success story or a failure. The speeches will be nice speeches, no doubt and maybe important things will be said, but the real test is in the deeds on the day after Annapolis and this is something that we should wait for.
Newscaster: On the other hand, we have relatively weak Israeli and a Palestinian leaders, we have an American President with just over a year in office. Bearing this in mind, surely this is not the right opportunity to launch such an important process.
Gadi Baltiansky: Always we can find reasons or excuses why it is not the right time, and why not go ahead. The Middle East cannot stay in a vacuum, if it will not be sealed by positive forces, by pragmatic ideas, by real progress towards peace, it will be filled by extremists, by those who oppose peace, those who support violence and extremism. That's why we cannot wait until we will have
ideal leaders and an ideal international atmosphere. Today there is a rare window of opportunity when there is a majority among the Palestinians and among the Israelis. When both leaderships, Mahmoud Abbas, Salam Fayyad, Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barak, all of them support the two state solution. There is an American President who apparently is more committed to that than in his first six years, and if we'll miss this opportunity in the coming year, we may regret it and we may pay a very high price.
Newscaster: Finally, if you compare today the beginning of the Annapolis process with, say, when Barak went to Camp David, or the period of the Oslo agreements, there is definitely a distinct apathy, I think, it's fair to say amongst the Israeli public. Isn't this a sign that the majority of the Israelis today don't believe we are indeed at the beginning of an historic process?
Gadi Baltiansky: I think most of the Israelis now are very cautious, and they're skeptical, and they are not sure that something good can come out of a peace process. But this is the price that we are paying for seven years of fighting each other, of 5,000 Israelis and Palestinians that got killed in those seven years, of seven years without any negotiations, any serious talking between both sides. So it's only natural. I believe that if a serious process will be launched, and real negotiations on the real issues will be conducted, confidence will come back to the Israelis and to the Palestinians that a peace treaty is not only a must, but it's also something possible.
Newscaster: Gadi Baltiansky, the director general of the "Geneva Initiative."