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American Morning
What Could be Another Roadblock to Road Map for Peace
Aired September 08, 2003 - 08:12 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In the Middle East, concerns about what could be another roadblock to the road map for peace. Yasser Arafat has tapped the speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Ahmed Qureia, to succeed Mahmoud Abbas as prime minister. Abbas resigned on Saturday, saying he hadn't gotten enough backing to reign in the terrorist groups that are attacking Israelis.
Is this a step backward in the peace process?
Joining us now from Washington this morning, Ambassador Edward Djerejian. He is a former assistant secretary of state and he is now the director of the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.
Good morning to you, sir.
Thanks for joining us.
AMB. EDWARD DJEREJIAN, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Beyond being the leader of the, the speaker of the legislature, tell us a little bit about Ahmed Qureia.
Who is he?
DJEREJIAN: Well, he's one of the leading Palestinian officials. He's been a key personality in the Arab-Israeli negotiations, especially the Oslo process starting in 1993. He is a confidante of Yasser Arafat. Indeed, what we're seeing here is the three leading personalities in the Palestinian movement, really, is Arafat, Abu Mazen and Qureia. And this is really dipping into the remaining level, in my eyes, of a person with enough stature to make things happen.
But he has an incredibly difficult challenge before him.
O'BRIEN: No question about that. He was nominated by Arafat.
Does that signal that he has a better relationship with Yasser Arafat than Mahmoud Abbas had with Arafat?
DJEREJIAN: He may have a slightly better relationship, but let's look at this as objectively as we can. Abu Mazen, Arafat, Qureia, they've all been in the trenches together for years. The issue is the empowerment of the Palestinian prime minister. He simply must be given power by Arafat and allowed to be able to perform the tasks ahead of him.
And one of the key issues is security. And that's the critical issue that Abu Mazen, I think, was really hindered, the fact that he did not really have control over the major security apparatus of the Palestinian Authority and could not really control or at least restrict severely the actions of Hamas, Palestinians, Islamic Jihad and other organizations.
O'BRIEN: Is there any indication then that that power of security, which is obviously so critical, will be handed off to Mr. Qureia?
DJEREJIAN: Well, he's made a very interesting statement. He has stated, as you've seen and reported, that he wants to have guarantees. And those guarantees or assurances, he is saying, must come from three points, from within. He needs to have the mandate, especially from Arafat, to do the job. Secondly, he's looking at the United States for support. And, third, he wants support from Israel in order to get the job done.
And the job done is incredible. It really is, in the first instance, establishing a security framework so that the peace, the road map can move on.
O'BRIEN: He had another request, as well, and it involves Arafat's role. And I want to play for you just a short chunk of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AHMED QOREI, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE SPEAKER: I want to see what kind of change on the ground the Israelis will get, 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, the elected president, because I cannot go without his support.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: When he talks about changing the way that Arafat is being dealt with, obviously, as you well know, there have been many efforts to sideline and marginalize Yasser Arafat's role.
Does that mean that those calls for maybe even ousting Arafat from the area where he is, do you think that potentially that is going to change?
DJEREJIAN: I don't think the idea of exiling Arafat or ousting him is a good idea. He would, indeed, as I think Secretary Powell and Condy Rice said, make him into a martyr. You know, we've been there before, historically, where Arafat was expelled from the region, and he came back. He came back in a big way.
I think where he is now is the appropriate framework, with a prime minister taking charge of the executive direction of the Palestinian Authority. But he has to be mandated. He has to be mandated by Arafat and he has to be given support by the quartet, the United States and by Israel, to the extent possible, to gain his own legitimacy from within, to be able to negotiate effectively with Israel, with the strong support of the United States and the quartet.
O'BRIEN: Ambassador Edward Djerejian joins us this morning.
He, of course, with the Baker Institute at Rice University.
Thank you, sir, for your time.
Appreciate it.
DJEREJIAN: Thank you very much.
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 - 08:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In the Middle East, concerns about what could be another roadblock to the road map for peace. Yasser Arafat has tapped the speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Ahmed Qureia, to succeed Mahmoud Abbas as prime minister. Abbas resigned on Saturday, saying he hadn't gotten enough backing to reign in the terrorist groups that are attacking Israelis.
Is this a step backward in the peace process?
Joining us now from Washington this morning, Ambassador Edward Djerejian. He is a former assistant secretary of state and he is now the director of the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.
Good morning to you, sir.
Thanks for joining us.
AMB. EDWARD DJEREJIAN, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Beyond being the leader of the, the speaker of the legislature, tell us a little bit about Ahmed Qureia.
Who is he?
DJEREJIAN: Well, he's one of the leading Palestinian officials. He's been a key personality in the Arab-Israeli negotiations, especially the Oslo process starting in 1993. He is a confidante of Yasser Arafat. Indeed, what we're seeing here is the three leading personalities in the Palestinian movement, really, is Arafat, Abu Mazen and Qureia. And this is really dipping into the remaining level, in my eyes, of a person with enough stature to make things happen.
But he has an incredibly difficult challenge before him.
O'BRIEN: No question about that. He was nominated by Arafat.
Does that signal that he has a better relationship with Yasser Arafat than Mahmoud Abbas had with Arafat?
DJEREJIAN: He may have a slightly better relationship, but let's look at this as objectively as we can. Abu Mazen, Arafat, Qureia, they've all been in the trenches together for years. The issue is the empowerment of the Palestinian prime minister. He simply must be given power by Arafat and allowed to be able to perform the tasks ahead of him.
And one of the key issues is security. And that's the critical issue that Abu Mazen, I think, was really hindered, the fact that he did not really have control over the major security apparatus of the Palestinian Authority and could not really control or at least restrict severely the actions of Hamas, Palestinians, Islamic Jihad and other organizations.
O'BRIEN: Is there any indication then that that power of security, which is obviously so critical, will be handed off to Mr. Qureia?
DJEREJIAN: Well, he's made a very interesting statement. He has stated, as you've seen and reported, that he wants to have guarantees. And those guarantees or assurances, he is saying, must come from three points, from within. He needs to have the mandate, especially from Arafat, to do the job. Secondly, he's looking at the United States for support. And, third, he wants support from Israel in order to get the job done.
And the job done is incredible. It really is, in the first instance, establishing a security framework so that the peace, the road map can move on.
O'BRIEN: He had another request, as well, and it involves Arafat's role. And I want to play for you just a short chunk of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AHMED QOREI, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE SPEAKER: I want to see what kind of change on the ground the Israelis will get, 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, the elected president, because I cannot go without his support.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: When he talks about changing the way that Arafat is being dealt with, obviously, as you well know, there have been many efforts to sideline and marginalize Yasser Arafat's role.
Does that mean that those calls for maybe even ousting Arafat from the area where he is, do you think that potentially that is going to change?
DJEREJIAN: I don't think the idea of exiling Arafat or ousting him is a good idea. He would, indeed, as I think Secretary Powell and Condy Rice said, make him into a martyr. You know, we've been there before, historically, where Arafat was expelled from the region, and he came back. He came back in a big way.
I think where he is now is the appropriate framework, with a prime minister taking charge of the executive direction of the Palestinian Authority. But he has to be mandated. He has to be mandated by Arafat and he has to be given support by the quartet, the United States and by Israel, to the extent possible, to gain his own legitimacy from within, to be able to negotiate effectively with Israel, with the strong support of the United States and the quartet.
O'BRIEN: Ambassador Edward Djerejian joins us this morning.
He, of course, with the Baker Institute at Rice University.
Thank you, sir, for your time.
Appreciate it.
DJEREJIAN: Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
