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CNN Live At Daybreak
New Effort Underway to Revive Middle East Peace Talks
Aired July 16, 2002 - 05:30 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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: New efforts are under way to revive Middle East peace talks. Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have a plan. The Associated Press reports they want a Palestinian state to be established within a year and wait a while to settle the more contentious issues.
For more, let's turn to CNN Jerusalem bureau chief Mike Hanna -- hello, Mike.
MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Catherine.
Well, the meeting in New York being watched very closely from this region here. Basically what's happening in the course of the day is the so-called quartet, that is representatives from the U.S., the E.U., the United Nations and Russia will be meeting in New York to discuss essentially a common position on how to begin the process of renewing some kind of peace process within the Middle East.
That meeting will be attended by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell as well as the Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan as well as representatives from the E.U.
After that meeting, they will be joined by the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan, extending their discussions as to where to go from here.
Now, what most analysts believe that the central point that will be discussed in the course of the day's conversations is the future of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader. The U.S. had made very clear in recent weeks that it does not see him as a potential partner in any potential peace talks, that it will not do business with the elected Palestinian leader. Others within the quartet differ and certainly the Arab nations who will be taking part in the talks later on in the day differ with this particular interpretation, as well.
So the first step is for all the parties to agree on this particular issue before proceeding to wider ranging talks about where the situation goes from here -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Well, Mike, if not Yasser Arafat, then who? What kind of discussions are being made about that?
HANNA: Well, the position of the Arab nations, the position of other members of the quartet, in particular Russia, is that the question of a Palestinian leader is a matter for the Palestinian people, certainly not the United States or any outside party; that the Palestinian leadership should be elected by the Palestinian people, that there must be political reform, certainly, but that is a reform on the basis of what the Palestinians want.
The U.S. taking a slightly different position. They are saying that Yasser Arafat is unacceptable as a partner.
Now, Arafat has announced that there will be presidential elections early next year. The U.S. is implying that it does not want Arafat to take part in those elections, as well.
Arab nations or Palestinians here in particular insisting that that is a matter for the Palestinian people, that whoever takes over from Arafat, if, indeed, somebody does, that will be a result of a Palestinian vote and should not be a result of U.S. pressure.
CALLAWAY: Mike, it seems that we've been here before, seemed to be somewhat closer to peace in that region. What makes these plans, this proposal, different? Or does it?
HANNA: Well, perhaps it is a process of gaining greater clarity on what the outside, outsiders' position is in terms of the region. It is significant, perhaps, that we do have a quartet meeting, joined later by a couple of the Arab nations. However, the actual parties are not represented at all. No Israeli representative, no Palestinian representative.
So essentially this is deciding a common approach between those who are attempting to mediate the ongoing conflict here. The plan that they may come up with is a plan that will then be put to the Israelis and the Palestinians.
The whole key issue here and why these talks may not be that significant is that this is just the beginning of a new process, a process which has to start with the outside mediators coming to terms and coming to an agreement on how to approach things and then engaging in discussions with the direct parties concerned, and that is the Palestinians and the Israelis.
CALLAWAY: Mike, just to be clear on this, you say, you know, there's no Israeli or Palestinian representation in this, but certainly there has to be some back room discussions of representation from them?
HANNA: Well, there have been back room discussions in terms of contacts, ongoing contacts by all the parties in an ever evolving way. Just this morning, for example, the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had a telephone conversation with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. This follows, in turn, a visit to Egypt by Israel's defense minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, yesterday. There have been talks between the U.S. and the Israelis on a regular basis, not so regular on a formal basis between the U.S. and the Palestinian Authority because the U.S. will not deal with Yasser Arafat at the moment, aping Israel's position on that matter.
CALLAWAY: Right.
HANNA: But certainly there have been contacts at various levels between all the parties. So, yes, there is an Israeli-Palestinian position that has been outlined to these parties and there is an awareness of those as a background to these discussions.
CALLAWAY: All right, Mike, thanks for following it for us. We'll be back with you soon, I'm sure.
Mike Hanna, the CNN Jerusalem bureau chief.
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