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CNN Live Today

Numerous Obstacles Confront Powell's Peace Mission

Aired April 11, 2002 - 12:08   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.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: After meeting King Abdullah of Jordan later this afternoon, Secretary of State Colin Powell is due to arrive in Israel. The stakes are incredibly high in the battle to attain some sort of truce. CNN's Jerrold Kessel takes a look at the obstacles threatening the chance for lasting peace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This time, the would-be suicide bomber came up short, blowing only himself up, not the Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in the divided West Bank city of Hebron, a bleak prelude to the mission of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

For Mr. Powell, a mixed Israeli message: fighting ends in the Jenin refugee camp, one of the hotspots during the two-week offensive. Israeli forces remain poised outside Jenin, and they have also pulled out from 24 smaller West Bank towns and villages, just as they conduct fresh sweeps through two other sizable villages.

A mixed message from Mr. Powell himself, speaking alongside Russia's foreign minister, Igor Ivanov. For the first time in a week, we heard no public insistence on the need for the Israeli military offensive to end immediately, without delay, or at least hastily, but a public distancing by Mr. Powell from the value of the Israeli campaign.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: However long the Israeli incursions occur, whether they pull out of everywhere today or whether they pull out of everywhere they are now in over a longer period of time, the problem will still be there of people who need to be brought into a negotiating process that will lead to peace.

KESSEL: The difficulty with the Powell mission is that it does not seem to have a commonly-agreed goal: The U.S. looking for a stabilizing cease-fire; Ariel Sharon saying there can be no valid cease-fire until he's completed his war on terror; Yasser Arafat insisting not only on a military cease-fire, but on immediate reopening of political talks that would lead to a Palestinian state.

There has been a slight easing in the isolation in which the Palestinian leader has been held, Sharon allowing Arafat to meet with his top aides in advance of Powell's arrival. Palestinians still insist that there's nothing to talk about until the Israeli onslaught is rolled back. The rhetorical question of their top negotiator, Saeb Erakat: If the U.S. can't end this Israeli reoccupation right away, how can we expect them ever to be able to get an end to the whole Israeli occupation?

Prime Minister Sharon may be pleased that others have heard the forceful message he delivered on Wednesday, when he met with his troops who'd been involved in the fierce Jenin battle, that the operation will only be over only when he says the goal of scuttling terror has been secured. But the political direction in which the United States is seeking to prod both sides is already ringing Israeli alarm bells.

CHEMI SHALEV, ISRAELI ANALYST: He is concerned that, from his point of view, Arafat will pull the wool over Powell's eyes, will make noises about a cease-fire and perhaps a diplomatic process, and then, once again, Sharon will have to fend off American pressure to renew direct contacts with Arafat. But I think generally speaking in Israel, there is the thought that Arafat will not be an easy partner for Powell.

KESSEL (on camera): For the Palestinians, the most important thing is how to bring about the immediate end to what they consider Israel's reoccupation in the West Bank. For Israel, the issue is how to avoid cease-fire talks and political negotiations starting at the same time. The success or failure of the Powell mission may very well be determined by his ability to bridge the chasm of these two conflicting demands.

Jerrold Kessel, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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