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CNN Live Today

Professor Discusses Middle East Crisis

Aired April 08, 2002 - 10:15   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: And all of this Israeli action taking place, even though Secretary of State Powell has now gone off to the Middle East. President Bush has returned to Washington. He spent the weekend at his Texas ranch, huddled with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Checking on that situation in the Middle East, our senior White House correspondent, John King, joins us from the White House with the latest -- John, good morning. The president cannot be pleased by what he is seeing taking place in the Middle East.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, senior U.S. officials telling us both the ongoing Israeli military offensive and Prime Minister Sharon's tough talk today significantly complicate that ongoing mission. Secretary of State Colin Powell beginning by meeting with Arab leaders ultimately will make his way to Jerusalem. The president over the weekend, of course, called on Prime Minister Sharon to end the military offensive without delay. It obviously continues.

So on the one front, the United States worried that its credibility in the Arab world will be called into question, that as Secretary Powell urges the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, the president of Egypt, the king of Jordan to put pressure on Yasser Arafat to do more to end the violence, they in turn will say, why is not Israel heeding the president's call to end the military offensive? So that's one complication for Secretary Powell.

On the other hand, as Jerrold Kessel just noted, there is no hope for a peace process here right now. The hope is simply for a cease- fire, but Prime Minister Sharon again dismissive of the existence of Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, as a partner for peace. Secretary Powell's goal is to bring the Palestinians and the Israelis to the point where they can at least negotiate a cease-fire, but again, the prime minister signaling he is not willing to have any conversations with Mr. Arafat right now.

So a very delicate mission under way for Secretary Powell, the highest level Bush administration involvement in the crisis, a great deal of frustration here at the White House, and after the prime minister's remarks today, a great deal of concern that his can be brought about. U.S. officials do say privately they are receiving assurances from the Israeli government that this operation should be wrapped up in the next day or so. But as a reminder to the government of what the president means, his national security adviser over the weekend saying, once again, without delay means without delay. They want that offensive over in the next day or so. Otherwise, they believe the Powell mission will be significantly compromised -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And, John, when the president was asked about this over the weekend, you know, what is the Israelis don't listen to you. He seemed a little short tempered. But really, what are the U.S. options if, in fact, the Israelis don't pull back?

KING: Well, they are in a very difficult position, because on the one hand, the administration has said that it recognizes the right of the Sharon government to go after terrorist groups, to strike out and try to dismantle the operations of those blamed for the attacks. On the other hand from a diplomatic standpoint, the administration has said this offensive must end, so that you can bring the parties at least to a cease-fire agreement.

So the Bush administration caught, if you will, in the politics of the moment. On the one hand, its own policy against terrorism has given Prime Minister Sharon some leeway to argue he is doing in the West Bank and in the Palestinian territories just what the United States is doing in Afghanistan. What are the U.S. options? They will continue to apply pressure on the Israeli government, as both President Bush and Prime Minister Blair said over the weekend. The biggest obstacle right now is convincing both parties that there is no military solution here. That ultimately they must get back to the bargaining table.

KAGAN: John King at the White House -- John, thank you very much.

And here to talk more about the ongoing Middle East crisis, we are joined by Shibley Telhami. He is a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland.

Professor, good morning -- thanks for being with us.

SHIBLEY TELHAMI, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: Good morning to you.

KAGAN: Let's look at this Powell trip. Secretary of state now in Morocco, starting by going to moderate Arab states trying to build support for a peace plan. But really as he heads toward Israel, what are his options, and what are the hopes for his mission?

TELHAMI: Well, you know, if he is trying to get any positive signal publicly from the Arab states, it's going to be practically impossible in this environment. We have to put this in perspective. What the Arab public is watching is daily deaths of Palestinians. CNN is covering a lot. CNN started a revolution, really, in communications a decade ago, but now it has spread all over the region. People have live coverage of Palestinian sufferings, of Israeli tanks. They hear people calling it massacres. They hear people calling it genocide. And they feel helpless, and you can see -- you hear people phoning to the station saying, Arab governments are traders. They are all servants of America and Israel.

KAGAN: To be fair, sir, aren't they all seeing the same pictures?

TELHAMI: This is the kind of pressure...

KAGAN: Aren't they seeing the same pictures broadcast on our airways internationally of suicide bombers that are going from the West Bank into places like Jerusalem and all of that?

TELHAMI: They are. They are, but understandably -- you know, for example, Israeli television focuses almost entirely on their victims, which is understandable. That's the human story. Arab television focuses mostly on their victims. So, yes, they do that, but of course, this is the thing about conflict. People focus on their own victims. And so they feel incredibly helpful. They felt the governments aren't doing anything. So in this environment, having heard the president demand a withdrawal and not got it, it's very, very hard for...

KAGAN: I mean, frankly, you wouldn't even know -- you wouldn't even know that Secretary of State Powell is on his way to Israel right now, given the state of things today.

TELHAMI: Absolutely. And I think it's hard to imagine that the president of Egypt or the king of Jordan, in this environment without an announcement of withdrawal, are going to be able to do anything positive, and it's hard to see what Powell can say publicly to assure the public in the region.

KAGAN: Well, and explain to us the tough spot that these leaders, like Mubarak and like the king of Jordan are in, in that even if they want to help and they can see the bigger picture of trying to bring peace or at least a little bit more quiet to the Middle East, the sentiment on the street. I was reading a million people rioted or protested in the streets of Morocco over the weekend.

TELHAMI: Absolutely. We have seen -- we are seeing demonstrations on a large scale, including demonstrations in places that are strategically important, like Bahrain, where the demonstrators broke into the U.S. Embassy. It's hard to know whether there is any immediate threat to governments, and nobody can take it for granted. Obviously in the past, governments have had -- have been very effective in controlling it. One of the problems right now is that the public has seized information the governments cannot control, and 2, the public feels more empowered than in the past. The globalization era has empowered the public in ways that we haven't seen in the past.

So we are really in a new area, a new arena, a new time. It's very hard to know what the consequences are, and no one wants to take a chance.

KAGAN: Well, and on that chance and on that note, it's not surprising that the secretary of state is trying to lower expectations as he heads towards Israel, saying, look, I'm not promising I am coming back with a cease-fire agreement.

TELHAMI: You know, but that doesn't help any, because you have -- you know, if you are a superpower at this time and you're going to lead, you're going to have to define what success means. If you go in there without a defined success, when you come back, it's going to be a problem. And I think it's going to be a problem no matter what, frankly, because even after Israel withdraws, if you have another suicide bombing, unfortunately, as is likely, then where do we go from there? We have to have some political clout on the table very quickly to be able to ride these rough periods where you have a lot of innocent people who are dying needlessly.

KAGAN: A lot of innocent people on both side, we should mention.

TELHAMI: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Professor Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland -- want a chance to say go Turks?

TELHAMI: Go Turks.

KAGAN: Since your team -- yes.

TELHAMI: Go Turks.

KAGAN: I bet you're still pretty happy there on campus.

TELHAMI: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Thanks for joining us.

TELHAMI: My pleasure.

KAGAN: Good to have you with us.

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