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'Newsweek' Editor Discusses Arab Summit

Aired March 27, 2002 - 10:17   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, we want to turn our attention back to the Arab summit in Lebanon. The focus was supposed to be the Middle East peace process, but the summit appears to be unraveling with delegation walk outs and the Arafat speech lock out. There are concerns about what will happen next in the region.

Our guest this hour took an in-depth look at the Middle East peace process and Israel's future, a "Newsweek" cover story. Christopher Dickey is the Middle East regional editor for "Newsweek," and he joins us now -- he is Beirut -- to give us some perspective on the latest developments -- hello, and thank you for joining us.

CHRISTOPHER DICKEY, "NEWSWEEK": Hello. It's my pleasure.

KAGAN: Does this conference seem like it's turning into as big of a mess from where you are in Beirut is it does here from the States?

DICKEY: Yes, it does. It looks like it is turning into a farce, I am sorry to say. With so many people dying, so many people suffering, everybody expected or at least hoped that this summit would be a breakthrough and offer a chance to really advance the peace process. But what we are seeing is such a spectacle of disorganization, division, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), King Abdullah not coming because supposedly he has a sore throat. All kinds of things going on that are implausible unlikely and very unfortunate, I think, for people who were hoping that this would advance the cause of peace.

KAGAN: Well, let's start with the no-shows. You mentioned King Abdullah, also Hosni Mubarak, he is a no-show as well. And then Yasser Arafat, not only not finding his way there, but making a speech that was broadcast, and this explanation we are hearing as to why it was blocked out of this conference is just mind boggling. Why wouldn't they allow that to be played?

DICKEY: Well, it is mind boggling. I think nobody really believes the official explanation which was that Ariel Sharon might somehow pop up in the middle of the live broadcast, and therefore they couldn't do it. Another explanation was that -- things are falling apart around me as I speak. Another explanation was that the -- it was out of order -- that they wanted him to appear at a certain time, and he didn't want to appear at that time.

All of this sounds like a lame excuse, but we don't actually know the real reason. There are obviously deep divisions behind the scenes, and we are going to keep reporting to find out what those are.

KAGAN: Well, one thing we do know, and it's something that you just pointed out. There was some very serious business for these leaders to undertake, and it looks like that has just turned into a huge distraction. The big item of this conference was supposed to be this Saudi peace proposal. Any hope that this is going to go anywhere from here?

DICKEY: Well, I think the proposal will come out more or less intact. There is debate about the refugee issue, and how that will be phrased. But the question is whether the atmospheric, the theater that surrounds this initiative will give it the impetus and the drive that it needed, because the details are not all that important really. The fact is, it was supposed to be a picture of the Arab world getting together and saying, we want peace. And in fact, that's not the image that's coming across.

KAGAN: Well, as you mentioned, the image leading up to this was the Arab world versus the Israelis, but it appears from within the Arab world that it is one faction after another. They can't even get their act together to come up with some kind of a proposal for themselves.

DICKEY: Well, I think there will be unanimity on whatever the final document is, but what we have seen is a kind of a pettiness, back-biting, people not appearing, not giving plausible explanations for why they don't come, and all of that, of course, undermines the image of unanimity, even if everybody finally signs on to the document at the end of the day.

KAGAN: And then finally, because your cover story did focus so much on Israel, what is Israel to take from these developments in Beirut?

DICKEY: Well, I think that the people in Israel, and there are many who were hoping that this would be a really plausible, solid initiative coming from the Saudis, coming from this summit, and were hoping that this could be used by the peace camp in Israel to start to change the direction of events. And I think those people are going to be very disappointed.

KAGAN: Christopher Dickey from "Newsweek" joining us from Beirut -- thank you, sir, and thank you from that article as well. It was very informative -- the cover story from "Newsweek" magazine this week.

DICKEY: Thank you.

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