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American Morning

Palestinian Shake-Up

Aired September 08, 2003 - 07:05   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The Middle East again, news again today. The nominee for Palestinian prime minister needs to be convinced, he says, that all sides are serious about peace. Ahmed Qorei was offered that position by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat the day after Mahmoud Abbas resigned. Qorei insists he needs to know how much cooperation he will get from Israel and the U.S., he says, before he takes that post.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMED QOREI, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE SPEAKER: I've been nominated. I've not accept yet, because before that I want to see what kind of support I will receive to change the situation on the ground Palestinian people. That's very important. Without it, I am not going to accept for a new failure. I don't want to fail.

And therefore, I want to see what kind of change on the ground the Israelis will give, what kind of support from the United States in this regard from the United States. I want to see that the Israelis will change the way of dealing with President Arafat. They elected the president, because I cannot go without his support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: More now about Yasser Arafat's choice for the new prime minister and what it may mean now for the Middle East road map. From Jerusalem, Stephen Cohen, Israeli Policy Forum, is our guest now to talk about this and what goes forward. And we just heard from the new man who may be the new man in charge, talking about Israel, talking about the U.S.

What has he said about getting Palestinian support for cracking down on Palestinian militants, especially Hamas?

A bit of an audio difficulty with our link-up from Jerusalem. Stephen Cohen is our guest.

And, sir, if you can hear me now, I'm going to give it another shot. We have heard from the new man who may be the next prime minister direct his criticism toward Israel and the U.S. What has he said about support he may or may not get right now on the Palestinian side directed at Palestinian militants, including Hamas?

STEPHEN COHEN, ISRAELI POLICY FORUM: I don't think at this point we can expect from Abu Ala to make important moves against other Palestinians until he is firmly in the seat and has established credibility. We should not do to Abu Ala what we did to Abu Mazen, which is to make demands before we establish that they have legitimacy, and help to build their legitimacy as leaders in the Palestinian community.

It's only when they have legitimacy in the street and legitimacy in public opinion and legitimacy in elite opinion among Palestinians that they are going to be in a position to do things that will change the situation of what will Palestinians are doing in their violence against Israel. If we insist upon their doing things before they have established any established any legitimacy, we will only ensure that Abu Ala will go the direction of Abu Mazen, which is discouragement and eventually resignation.

Now, I believe that Abu Ala has a chance to do more, because Abu Ala has the support of the Palestinian parliament, and because Abu Ala has a different relationship to Arafat. But to go from that to saying that he's going to be able to do something about Hamas and Islamic Jihad requires a different kind of cooperation between him and the prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, and the president of the United States, George w. Bush.

HEMMER: You mentioned Abu Mazen many times.

COHEN: They both have to work...

HEMMER: And I apologize for the interruption here with the satellite delay here. You spoke with Mahmoud Abbas over the weekend. What did he tell you specifically as to why he gave in now?

COHEN: Well, I must tell you that I met with both Abu Mazan and Abu Ala, the man who is leaving and the man who is coming in. I met them both the day that they met with President Bush in Washington, and I met with both privately that day. And I must say that it was clear from them that Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Mazen, did not believe that he was getting the support necessary from either Israel or from the United States or from within his own camp to be able to do what he needed to do in order to be a successful prime minister.

And I believe that at that point it was clear that Abu Ala was teeing up to get ready to be the next victim of this system. And it is now clear that these two men, who have worked together many times and who are both close colleagues as well as rivals, are now again doing what they've done many times before: handing the ball over from one to the other.

Now, Abu Ala -- what is going to be distinctive about Abu Ala is that Abu Ala is a negotiator, and he will have to have somebody to negotiate with in order for him to be able to achieve anything. That means that he is going to be making very clear demands that Ariel Sharon enter into serious negotiation with him. And the question is whether the Israeli prime minister is interested into doing that.

HEMMER: Countless questions out there.

COHEN: And he is also going to be interested...

HEMMER: Stephen Cohen, I apologize. COHEN: He is also going to be interested in...

HEMMER: There is a bad satellite delay here, and I apologize for that. We are out of time. But thank you for your time. Stephen Cohen in Jerusalem with many issues still outstanding.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired September 8, 2003 - 07:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The Middle East again, news again today. The nominee for Palestinian prime minister needs to be convinced, he says, that all sides are serious about peace. Ahmed Qorei was offered that position by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat the day after Mahmoud Abbas resigned. Qorei insists he needs to know how much cooperation he will get from Israel and the U.S., he says, before he takes that post.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMED QOREI, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE SPEAKER: I've been nominated. I've not accept yet, because before that I want to see what kind of support I will receive to change the situation on the ground Palestinian people. That's very important. Without it, I am not going to accept for a new failure. I don't want to fail.

And therefore, I want to see what kind of change on the ground the Israelis will give, what kind of support from the United States in this regard from the United States. I want to see that the Israelis will change the way of dealing with President Arafat. They elected the president, because I cannot go without his support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: More now about Yasser Arafat's choice for the new prime minister and what it may mean now for the Middle East road map. From Jerusalem, Stephen Cohen, Israeli Policy Forum, is our guest now to talk about this and what goes forward. And we just heard from the new man who may be the new man in charge, talking about Israel, talking about the U.S.

What has he said about getting Palestinian support for cracking down on Palestinian militants, especially Hamas?

A bit of an audio difficulty with our link-up from Jerusalem. Stephen Cohen is our guest.

And, sir, if you can hear me now, I'm going to give it another shot. We have heard from the new man who may be the next prime minister direct his criticism toward Israel and the U.S. What has he said about support he may or may not get right now on the Palestinian side directed at Palestinian militants, including Hamas?

STEPHEN COHEN, ISRAELI POLICY FORUM: I don't think at this point we can expect from Abu Ala to make important moves against other Palestinians until he is firmly in the seat and has established credibility. We should not do to Abu Ala what we did to Abu Mazen, which is to make demands before we establish that they have legitimacy, and help to build their legitimacy as leaders in the Palestinian community.

It's only when they have legitimacy in the street and legitimacy in public opinion and legitimacy in elite opinion among Palestinians that they are going to be in a position to do things that will change the situation of what will Palestinians are doing in their violence against Israel. If we insist upon their doing things before they have established any established any legitimacy, we will only ensure that Abu Ala will go the direction of Abu Mazen, which is discouragement and eventually resignation.

Now, I believe that Abu Ala has a chance to do more, because Abu Ala has the support of the Palestinian parliament, and because Abu Ala has a different relationship to Arafat. But to go from that to saying that he's going to be able to do something about Hamas and Islamic Jihad requires a different kind of cooperation between him and the prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, and the president of the United States, George w. Bush.

HEMMER: You mentioned Abu Mazen many times.

COHEN: They both have to work...

HEMMER: And I apologize for the interruption here with the satellite delay here. You spoke with Mahmoud Abbas over the weekend. What did he tell you specifically as to why he gave in now?

COHEN: Well, I must tell you that I met with both Abu Mazan and Abu Ala, the man who is leaving and the man who is coming in. I met them both the day that they met with President Bush in Washington, and I met with both privately that day. And I must say that it was clear from them that Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Mazen, did not believe that he was getting the support necessary from either Israel or from the United States or from within his own camp to be able to do what he needed to do in order to be a successful prime minister.

And I believe that at that point it was clear that Abu Ala was teeing up to get ready to be the next victim of this system. And it is now clear that these two men, who have worked together many times and who are both close colleagues as well as rivals, are now again doing what they've done many times before: handing the ball over from one to the other.

Now, Abu Ala -- what is going to be distinctive about Abu Ala is that Abu Ala is a negotiator, and he will have to have somebody to negotiate with in order for him to be able to achieve anything. That means that he is going to be making very clear demands that Ariel Sharon enter into serious negotiation with him. And the question is whether the Israeli prime minister is interested into doing that.

HEMMER: Countless questions out there.

COHEN: And he is also going to be interested...

HEMMER: Stephen Cohen, I apologize. COHEN: He is also going to be interested in...

HEMMER: There is a bad satellite delay here, and I apologize for that. We are out of time. But thank you for your time. Stephen Cohen in Jerusalem with many issues still outstanding.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.