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American Morning

Muted Response from Both Palestinians and Israelis to Powell Mideast Speech

Aired November 20, 2001 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN NEWS: Let's get the latest headlines from Bill Hemmer, who is on war alert in Atlanta - Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN NEWS: Paula, good morning, again.

We begin this half hour with the hunt for Osama bin Laden. In President Bush's words, the noose is narrowing, the U.S. now dropping leaflets and sending radio messages describing multi-million-dollar rewards for the capture of bin Laden and 21 others. The rewards now total $25 million.

U.S. bombers again pounding positions held by Taliban forces in the north at the town of Konduz.

On the ground, Northern Alliance forces have the Taliban surrounded, and now demanding a surrender.

As the fighting continues, large numbers of refugees leaving the area on foot.

The U.S. sending more food aid to Afghanistan. The latest effort to help prevent starvation among Afghan refugees during the approaching winter months. Five million dollars of processed food is being shipped from Louisiana.

The former president, Bill Clinton, says the battle against terrorism is part of the struggle, he says, for the "soul of the new century." And he says the history of terrorism can be traced from the Crusades to modern times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: September the 11th and the anthrax scare are the dark side of the benefits we have been receiving from a world in which we have torn down barriers, collapsed distances and spread information to an extent never before known.

Openness brings us both greater opportunity and greater vulnerability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: The former president speaking with the students at Harvard University yesterday, on Monday.

No federal charges will be filed against the man whose actions shut down Hartsfield Airport here in Atlanta on Friday.

Michael Lasseter ran through a security checkpoint, forcing the evacuation of 10,000 in the airport and delaying hundreds of flights across the country. Lasseter could face local charges, however.

It looks mean, he says, but it's a sweet bird. President Bush describing the White House turkey named Liberty yesterday. In a presidential pardon ceremony, Liberty's life was spared.

The President said the other turkey was named Freedom, but Freedom was in a safe and secure location. The scene from the White House yesterday.

More coming up shortly. Back to Paula again in New York.

ZAHN: I tell you how comfortable former President Bush told me he was ...

HEMMER: (INAUDIBLE)

ZAHN: ... with the pardon (INAUDIBLE) ...

HEMMER: He didn't like it.

ZAHN: ... turkey. It looks like his son was quite comfortable doing that yesterday.

HEMMER: Yeah, nice little pet. Maybe comes ...

ZAHN: (INAUDIBLE)

HEMMER: ... with a ranch hand back in Texas.

ZAHN: Exactly. Thanks, Bill.

Turning now to the Middle East, both Israelis and Palestinians are reacting in a mutative way to Secretary of State Colin Powell's major policy speech.

Powell announced yesterday that he is sending a retired Marine general to the Middle East to work with Israel and the Palestinians on a cease-fire.

Powell talked about the importance of restarting the peace talks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: My friends, the stakes in our effort are enormous. It would be a tragedy to divert the energies and talents of another generation of young people from peace and prosperity to war and survival.

It would be a tragedy to sacrifice so many more potential presidents and prime ministers and peacemakers and poets to this cruel conflict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Joining us now to talk about the Middle East and efforts towards peace, Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Adviser to President Carter.

Welcome back. Good to see you, sir.

ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: So there seem to be (INAUDIBLE) muted response from both the Palestinians and the Israelis to this speech. Did you hear anything new?

BRZEZINSKI: There were a few new elements. But the reason that their responses were muted was that the speech was cautious, moderate. It went a little further than previous U.S. mediation, particularly in recent months, when the Bush administration decided to take hands off.

But it didn't really announce a major American initiative, or an American plan or some form of American arbitration.

I would call it a mediation plus. There were some new elements in it, though.

ZAHN: I guess it's almost getting as much attention for what it didn't lay out as what it did. Among the things that weren't clearly stated, that there's no timetable that would commit Israel to any political or territorial concessions.

In the speech it talked about further settlement activity must stop. But an Israeli official said, it didn't say we have to stop now.

Is that the way you interpreted the speech?

BRZEZINSKI: Well, I think if they keep saying that, then they'll hear now. Because I think he meant now. And if they want it spelled out, they'll get it spelled out.

I think the interesting elements in this speech were the reference to a viable Palestinian state. That's a word that Prime Minister Blair recently introduced.

And that's a subtle reaction to some Israeli plans, essentially for a divided Palestinian state into a kind of three cantonments, separated by Israeli security roads, and even in some instances by settlements.

So the word viable implies a more serious, contiguous entity.

The references to Palestine, the reference to Palestine, is a clearer indication that the U.S. views both Palestine and Israel as the natural inheritors of the Holy Land that will have to coexist there on a basis, more or less, of equality.

The reference to 242 and 338, the U.N. Security Council resolutions, were a reminder that ultimately the peace formula has to be land for peace - most of the land, if not all of the land, but certainly most of it.

So these were all kind of tangibles that pushed things forward a little bit, but very cautiously.

ZAHN: How significant is it that Secretary Powell made a number of references to Israeli occupied Palestinian land?

BRZEZINSKI: I think that is significant, because it is a form of recognition of the fact that occupation has lasted a very long time - it's in the thirty-fourth year - and more importantly, that it involves hardships, indignities, various forms of repression, and that the U.S. is sensitive to it.

That was important, just as for the Israelis it was important that the Secretary of State was very, very strong in his condemnation of terrorism, of attacks on innocents, particularly on civilians, and so forth.

So, he tried to be evenhanded, but in being evenhanded, he was trying to push the process forward.

And I think it's becoming increasingly clear to everyone that if there is ever going to be peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, it has to be based on some degree of equity. That is to say, the Palestinian state that is created cannot be a series of little satellite states, but a genuine state that coexists with Israel.

ZAHN: As you know, the Bush administration, up until this point, has been criticized for not being as engaged in the reason - region - as former President Clinton was.

Do you see this as the first step in a much broader involvement in the region?

BRZEZINSKI: Yes, I do, because ultimately, as we look at the region, we have to think of various other problems beyond the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, namely, the insecurity of some of the Arab regimes, the problem of corruption in some of them.

And last but not least, terrorism - including, perhaps, even state-sponsored terrorism. I have in mind the issue raised by Iraq.

But we can't address any of these issues if the Israeli- Palestinian conflict is volatile and flammable, because if we were to concentrate, let's say, on dealing with state-sponsored terrorism, and were to act decisively, we could at the same time precipitate some sort of an eruption in Egypt or in Jordan, because we'd be viewed, essentially, as beating up on the Arabs.

So we have to be sensitive, also, to the need for peace and more genuine movement towards peace in the Middle East, particularly between Israelis and the Palestinians.

ZAHN: It's interesting that you just raised the issue of Iraq, because in the "Wall Street Journal" this morning in a piece, the story says that in fact it is Iraq that opposes an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian deal.

It says, the reason Israelis agonize so much about turning over the West Bank is that "they fear Iraqi tanks coming across the Jordan Valley."

BRZEZINSKI: Well, that is probably just a form of speech. I don't think Iraqi tanks coming across the Jordan Valley are a real threat to the Israelis. The Israelis are by far the strongest military power in the region.

But they do have a legitimate security concern, because they are a very small country, and they're living in a region that by and large is hostile to them. So, they have to be concerned about security.

And they have to have a Palestinian state next to them that is reasonably friendly and accommodating.

The question is, how do get one? And you won't get one if the Palestinian state is reduced to the level of a satellite, is frustrated, denied the dignity that most people want on the political level, as well.

And if we move that way, then I think we will also be able to deal more effectively with Iraq. And if that problem were to be resolved, Israeli security would certainly be very much enhanced.

ZAHN: Mr. Brzezinski, as always, delighted to have your insight.

BRZEZINSKI: Nice to talk to you.

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