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American Morning
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Tried to Reassure His Nation Yesterday
Aired February 22, 2002 - 07:32 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 ANCHOR: We're going to move on to the Middle East now. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon tried to reassure his nation yesterday, telling them -- quote -- "The state of Israel is not collapsing." But the only concrete step he announced was to create buffer zones, putting barbed wire and troops between Israelis and Palestinians.
The Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat, yesterday told CNN in an exclusive interview that the hope for peace is not dead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YASSER ARAFAT, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY CHAIRMAN: I am offering my hand to make the peace of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and to continue with this strategy, not only for the Palestinians, for the Palestinians, for the Israelis, for the whole Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Arafat also met one of Israel's preconditions for peace talks yesterday by arresting three suspects in the killing of an Israeli tourism minister.
Joining us now for his views is Richard Butler, our ambassador- in-residence -- good morning.
RICHARD BUTLER, FORMER U.N. CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: What a difference one day makes. All right.
BUTLER: Indeed.
ZAHN: So Ariel Sharon makes this...
BUTLER: Yes.
ZAHN: ... much anticipated speech, many believe falling way short of what they wanted to hear.
BUTLER: That's right.
ZAHN: And nevertheless, setting up these buffer zones. BUTLER: Yes.
ZAHN: Where does that lead the peace process?
BUTLER: Well, he was pretty dismissive of the various proposals that are out there, and he did say -- but he did say he has a proposal somewhere in the wings, but gave no details of it. So, Paula, in short, on the peace process, nothing. Nothing. What he did was talk about setting up these buffer zones. That's the only concrete thing that happened.
ZAHN: And let's quickly replay part of Yasser Arafat's reaction to this speech -- let's listen again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARAFAT: Is he now insisting to carry on the peace process or not? This is the most important thing. Or he is insisting to continue this escalation -- military escalation against our people who are under their occupation? And we are the only people now all over the world who are under occupation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Your reaction to that.
BUTLER: Well, I have a bit of a problem with Mr. Arafat in certain ways, but let's try and be fair here. He's got a point. One has to wonder where Ariel Sharon is at the moment. Quite frankly, Paula, he says, "Israel is not collapsing." Who asked? I mean, that's not even remotely the case. So why is he talking like that? Does he feel threatened? Is he under siege in some way? An isolated man, it would seem so on a psychological level, because he said, "I know you are all in difficulty, as I am." Well, leaders face difficulties. They face problems.
I mean, I think frankly, given the circumstances that are really very, very serious, the way in which he is approaching them seems to confuse force with leadership. They are not the same thing. And he seems to me to be somewhat isolated from what's happening around this very serious problem.
The secretary-general of the U.N. yesterday said, "We are sliding towards war." Many people know and fear that. That's why there are these various proposals out there. All Ariel Sharon said yesterday is that I am going to set up these zones, where Palestinian people will live behind a no-man's land or a barbed wire fence. I mean, it's reticent a little bit of what happened in South Africa years ago under apartheid (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: All right. So put all of these pieces together, because at the same time Kofi Annan was essentially saying that everybody has sort of given up on the precondition that there must be a cease-fire in place before you start negotiating again. What does that mean? BUTLER: Well, I think that precondition has now been exposed as unattainable. Secretary of State Colin Powell a couple of weeks ago said, look, we accept we won't get rid of every piece of violence, but we can certainly bring the level of it right down to a much lower point. And I think sensible people recognize that that should be good enough.
Now, what the secretary-general is saying, in a way it's a bit like what the Saudi proposal does, is saying something that I think we do know in international politics, which is that when you have a serious problem with many facets that has been going on for a long time, you can get stuck in the detail. And that the only way to get over that is to leap over it, to set some of the detail aside, not saying it doesn't exist, like Jerusalem, like refugees. Of course, these problems exist.
ZAHN: So you would move those.
BUTLER: Put them off the table for the time being, and take a leap. Go somewhere else. It's like taking an object and turning it around and looking at it from the other side, a different perspective, and then we might get progress. That's what the Saudi proposal is doing.
ZAHN: So the reaction today isn't quite so cynical about what the Saudis have proposed.
BUTLER: No, the...
ZAHN: Because there were people yesterday saying, hey, wait a minute, this is all about protecting the monarchy, that this is a legitimate plan.
BUTLER: It may have partly that motivation, as you and I, I think, talked about yesterday, and I think you very rightly raised those questions. But what does it do in practice? Many people within 24 hours, including in Washington, are saying, hey, wait a minute, maybe this has got some merit. Maybe it is that leap over or a new perspective that we need. And the one person who seems to be saying no to that is, unfortunately, Ariel Sharon. It's a problem.
ZAHN: Well, we've had a fascinating look at the world through your eyes this week. We have been everywhere.
BUTLER: We have.
ZAHN: We were in China. We have been in the Middle East. What did we leave out this week? Just about nothing.
BUTLER: Nothing.
ZAHN: We even went to the Philippines this week.
BUTLER: Oh, the world is in a fascinating state.
ZAHN: Yes. It certainly is. BUTLER: And what a sadness about Mr. Pearl. I am really upset, I must say. That's awful.
ZAHN: The details are just horrible of his killing.
BUTLER: Horrible.
ZAHN: Richard Butler, hate to end it on that note -- go off and try to lighten up the weekend. Thank you.
BUTLER: OK. Good to see you.
ZAHN: Thank you -- see you Monday morning.
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