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CNN Live At Daybreak
'Mideast Brief': Powell, Palestinians Meet
Aired August 08, 2002 - 06:33 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to talk more about today's meeting in Washington between Secretary of State Colin Powell and Palestinian negotiators.
And we are very excited, because our Jerusalem bureau chief, Mike Hanna, is in Atlanta today visiting, and he was kind enough to get up really early to join us.
Thanks for being here -- Mike.
MIKE HANNA, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: It's nice to be here, Carol.
COSTELLO: It's so good to see you in person. Is it weird being in the United States?
HANNA: Well, it is strange. At least we are speaking at the kind of common time now, early in the morning, rather than me in the afternoon, you in the morning.
COSTELLO: That's true. Tell us more about these talks going on in Washington today. Do you think that they will be useful?
HANNA: Well, the fact that the talks are taking place is important. There haven't been contacts between the Palestinians and the U.S. for a period of time, and this perhaps is the first little sign that maybe there is a movement towards establishing some kind of momentum that has to do with other than -- something other than violence.
So, yes, they could be important, they could be significant, and that is what all of the people in the region are hoping for.
COSTELLO: Is Yasser Arafat connected in any way to these talks?
HANNA: Well, in the background, yes, but here's the trick. There has in recent weeks, I think, among the U.S. administration and among the Israelis, the awareness has grown that the more they focus on Yasser Arafat or his continued absence from any process, the more attention is paid to Yasser Arafat. So there does appear to be this sense, the U.S. has said it won't have anything to do with him, so has the Israelis. But that was holding things up.
So the sense now appears to be that, well, let's put that on the back burner, let's get on with it, let's leave him on the sideline, but let's not focus all of our efforts around him by saying that he mustn't be there, because otherwise we're not going to get anywhere. And that is what's happening at the moment.
COSTELLO: So what do you think they are saying, the Palestinian negotiators and Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice? What are they talking about specifically, do you think?
HANNA: Well, I think they are talking, first of all, about the fact that so many Palestinians are suffering very seriously in terms of the Israeli closure of Palestinian territory. Reports have come out indicating high rates of malnutrition. The life of -- day-to-day life of Palestinians is absolutely terrible. That is what they will be talking about on one level.
The U.S. will be saying, well, it understands Israel's position that it has to establish this closure for security reasons, for self- defense, as Israel will put it. But the Palestinians will be asking, too, for some kind of political dimension, saying, all right, we will try our best, is what these negotiators are probably going to be saying. We cannot exercise any security control, because our cities are blockaded. The U.S. is going to be saying, well, they are blockaded, because you aren't exercise security control.
So there will be a lot of argument, there will be a lot of discussion, but the critical point is that there is dialogue, and that is absolutely crucial.
COSTELLO: Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, talked on the Aaron Brown show. Right now -- we want to show an excerpt right now, so you listen and you tell me what you think.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: We need the help of a third party. We don't need the Americans to negotiate for us. Neither us nor the Israelis want the Americans to negotiate or to make decisions for us. We will do the negotiations. We will make the decisions. But we need a third party ingredient to monitor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So what do you think? What's your reaction?
HANNA: Well, it's very interesting. The Palestinians have been saying for a period of time -- well, for a long period of time, that there has to be a third party involved here, is that Palestinians and Israelis are clearly unable to make this break themselves.
Now, the Palestinians have been privately very critical of the U.S.'s role. They have been very critical of the fact that the U.S. has accepted the Israeli line hook, line and sinker, as the Palestinians believe. But at the same time, the Palestinians know that if any third party is going to resolve this ongoing conflict, this ongoing crisis, it is going to be the United States. So while some may not like the United States and may be critical of its support for Israel, a perceived support for Israel, it is the only game in town. So for the Palestinians to be talking to the U.S. leadership is, once again, fundamentally important, because they haven't been talking for a long period of time now. And now that little gap has opened, so that they can talk face to face and rather than through intermediaries that was happening before. The U.S. is the only game in town as far as the Palestinians are concerned.
COSTELLO: I think, though, many Americans are so frustrated by the situation there, because it just -- I mean, the same things keep on happening, and nothing ever seems to change no matter what the United States does.
HANNA: Exactly. It is a situation of constant new crises. Every time you have that little step forward or you have a little glimmering of hope, of optimism, something happens. There is a suicide bomb attack against Israeli civilians, the Israelis attack a Palestinian target and kill civilians. There always seems to be something that happens. But there is a little awareness...
COSTELLO: I know, you just want to wring your hands, and you want to say, it's just not working.
HANNA: Yes, I mean, very much so, and one senses at times that the Bush administration has felt that very strongly.
But there is that sense that all of the parties are aware of this. They are aware of the fact that their absolutely intractable dislike or hatred for each other, the fact that the whole process is one of crises time after time, that they need to change that momentum from things getting bad to worse, which is the momentum that we have had for two years now, to a momentum of things getting a little bit better, and it's little baby steps. It is tiny, tiny, tiny, little moves, and that is the only way it can happen.
Any grand plans and immediate resolutions are not going to happen. All that is going to happen are these little inching forwards that we are seeing with the talks in Washington today, and talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, which are not going very well at the moment, but they are happening, and that is the key issue.
COSTELLO: OK. Well, we're hopeful. Thank you, Mike Hanna, for stopping by. We sure appreciate it.
HANNA: Thank you very much -- nice to be here.
COSTELLO: Have a nice trip back.
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