Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Sunday

Syria Calls For U.N. Resolution Limiting Sharon's Power

Aired October 05, 2003 - 15:03   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.


ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Syria calls the strike a serious escalation. Israel says it was a necessary measure. Let's get more perspective now from both sides.
With us is Israel's ambassador to the United States, Daniel Ayalon and acting Syrian ambassador to the United States, Ahmed Moustapha. Both join us from Washington.

Let's begin now with Ambassador Ayalon. Mr. Ambassador, Israel has said that it had evidence that these were Palestinian training camps, terrorist training camps. The Syrians say, in fact, that this was a Palestinian refugee camp. What evidence do you have to prove that it was the former?

DANIEL AYALON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Well, Andrea, I think the evidence speaks for itself. And you had it in fact in your earlier show, the photos of the training camp with the trainers, with all the weapons and munitions. And in fact, it was a training camp of Ahmad Jibril (ph) which was also used by Hamas and Jihad.

In fact, Andrea, Syria was a central link in this chain of terrorism. And we saw it, whether it was with Hamas and Jihad, it houses and supports 11 terror organizations whose offices are in Damascus.

The Jihad, Islamic Jihad, whose head is Ramadan Shalakh is freely operating in Damascus. In fact, he's just saying that they will continue the terrorism. So we have warned the Syrians repeatedly for quite some time, not just us, the Americans did, and when there was no avail, when we saw that the operations kept coming and many of the most horrific terror attacks were initiated from Syria, when the message was not heeded by words it was time for action.

KOPPEL: It's my understanding that the video that we were just showing there was released by the Israeli defense forces and that it came from Iranian television. How recent is this video, and how did you authenticate it?

AYALON: Well, there are many intelligence wait to authenticate it. But it's not just the matter of the video and the photos. We also have this terrorists who we have in our custody, and they all profess they got their orders from Damascus, their orders from Syria. And there is ample evidence for that, which also compelled, Andrea, the American secretary of state to go to Syria and also ask them to stop their support for terrorism.

KOPPEL: What is the Israeli government's strategy here? This is the first time in 30 years that you have launched an attack on Syrian soil. What is the end game, Mr. Ambassador?

AYALON: Well, the end game is to stop the terrorism. The end game is to bring the Syrians to stop the support for terror. And it is quite clear now, after 9/11 that there is no difference between the terrorists and those who support and harbor and give them shelter.

When President Bush after 9/11 made no distinction between it, he was very right. The same case is here with the Syrians. We have told them repeatedly to stop supporting terror, to expel the terrorists or to arrest them and to dismantle all the training camps. In the absence of doing that we have to take actions and they have to understand that they cannot keep supporting terror without bearing the consequences.

KOPPEL: So you're not ruling out the possibility of yet another attack on Syrian soil?

AYALON: I think the message is clear. We have tried repeatedly to prevail upon them to stop support for terrorism, to expel the terrorist organizations from Damascus, to dismantle the terror training camps. They didn't do it.

And let me tell you, Andrea, and I think it is important to emphasize, the operation Israeli Air Force had last night was very well calibrated. It was a Palestinian terror camp. It wasn't a Syrian camp. Unfortunately, it is in Syrian soil. And what was taken were munition labs and some stockpiles and not more. But I think that the Syrians should take it in the most serious way and just stop the support of terror and expel the terrorists that reside in Damascus right now.

KOPPEL: Well, let's hear now from the Syrian side. Ahmad Moustapha is the acting Syrian ambassador to the United States. He also joins us from Washington. Mr. Mustapha, what is your reaction, your government's reaction to the attack near Damascus, and what is it that you hope to achieve at the United Nations this evening?

AHMED MOUSTAPHA, ACTING SYRIAN AMB. TO U.S.: Yes. Well, we have strongly condemned this new Israeli atrocity. It's not very strange. Ariel Sharon has been killing Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza for years now. And he's doing now this in Syria.

This is -- these are civilian Palestinians. We have categorically said this. We do not have any Jihad terrorists or training or anything, camps as they claim. This is absolutely true, and we have repeated this many times. And the Israeli themselves know that this is untrue.

The case is Ariel Sharon has been indicted by courts of his own country for committing atrocities against the Palestinians at least twice. But this does not mean that he has been committing this only for two times. He has been committing atrocities against the Palestinian people for throughout his military career.

What I want to say is when Yitzhak Rabin wanted to end the first intifada, you know what he did? He did the Oslo Agreement and he almost signed a peace agreement with Syria. Now, what Sharon is doing, he thinks that by more violence and more violence he can pressurize the Palestinians to surrender.

What will happen is he's spiraling down the whole situation into more violence and bloodshed. Israel really needs to hear a voice of wisdom from within Israel. The ex-knesset spokesman has issued an article two weeks ago in which he said that he's ashamed how Israel is losing the moral grounds.

I would say -- I would say this escalation towards more and more violence will not serve the whole region. The only thing we must do is to ask the United States administration to restrain Ariel Sharon and to go back to some wise attitudes and possibly to restart the Middle East peace process.

KOPPEL: Dr. Moustapha...

MOUSAPHA: That is only approach.

KOPPEL: Are you looking for the United Nations this evening to pass a security council resolution restraining Israel from taking further action in Syria?

MOUSAPHA: We look for such a resolution, and we wanted to categorically condemn Israeli action. It's amazing, they choose the day of atonement, their day of atonement to kill more and more people. This is how they start their day of atonement. And then they are frustrated that they couldn't participate in the U.N. council because this is the day of atonement.

KOPPEL: Dr. Moustapha...

MOUSAPHA: At least, they shouldn't have started with killing people.

KOPPEL: I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir. I just want to ask one very quick question. How is Syria going to respond? Will you retaliate with military force?

MOUTAPHA: We have made a strategic option for peace. This is what we want. We are going to the United Nations because we believe that the United Nations security council is the only internationally legitimate venue to solve crisis. This is what we believe in, and this is how we will address the issue.

KOPPEL: Ahmed Moustapha, acting Syrian ambassador to Washington. Thank you for joining us this evening. Daniel Ayalon, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, I thank you, sir, also for joining us this evening.

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 October 5, 2003 - 15:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Syria calls the strike a serious escalation. Israel says it was a necessary measure. Let's get more perspective now from both sides.
With us is Israel's ambassador to the United States, Daniel Ayalon and acting Syrian ambassador to the United States, Ahmed Moustapha. Both join us from Washington.

Let's begin now with Ambassador Ayalon. Mr. Ambassador, Israel has said that it had evidence that these were Palestinian training camps, terrorist training camps. The Syrians say, in fact, that this was a Palestinian refugee camp. What evidence do you have to prove that it was the former?

DANIEL AYALON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Well, Andrea, I think the evidence speaks for itself. And you had it in fact in your earlier show, the photos of the training camp with the trainers, with all the weapons and munitions. And in fact, it was a training camp of Ahmad Jibril (ph) which was also used by Hamas and Jihad.

In fact, Andrea, Syria was a central link in this chain of terrorism. And we saw it, whether it was with Hamas and Jihad, it houses and supports 11 terror organizations whose offices are in Damascus.

The Jihad, Islamic Jihad, whose head is Ramadan Shalakh is freely operating in Damascus. In fact, he's just saying that they will continue the terrorism. So we have warned the Syrians repeatedly for quite some time, not just us, the Americans did, and when there was no avail, when we saw that the operations kept coming and many of the most horrific terror attacks were initiated from Syria, when the message was not heeded by words it was time for action.

KOPPEL: It's my understanding that the video that we were just showing there was released by the Israeli defense forces and that it came from Iranian television. How recent is this video, and how did you authenticate it?

AYALON: Well, there are many intelligence wait to authenticate it. But it's not just the matter of the video and the photos. We also have this terrorists who we have in our custody, and they all profess they got their orders from Damascus, their orders from Syria. And there is ample evidence for that, which also compelled, Andrea, the American secretary of state to go to Syria and also ask them to stop their support for terrorism.

KOPPEL: What is the Israeli government's strategy here? This is the first time in 30 years that you have launched an attack on Syrian soil. What is the end game, Mr. Ambassador?

AYALON: Well, the end game is to stop the terrorism. The end game is to bring the Syrians to stop the support for terror. And it is quite clear now, after 9/11 that there is no difference between the terrorists and those who support and harbor and give them shelter.

When President Bush after 9/11 made no distinction between it, he was very right. The same case is here with the Syrians. We have told them repeatedly to stop supporting terror, to expel the terrorists or to arrest them and to dismantle all the training camps. In the absence of doing that we have to take actions and they have to understand that they cannot keep supporting terror without bearing the consequences.

KOPPEL: So you're not ruling out the possibility of yet another attack on Syrian soil?

AYALON: I think the message is clear. We have tried repeatedly to prevail upon them to stop support for terrorism, to expel the terrorist organizations from Damascus, to dismantle the terror training camps. They didn't do it.

And let me tell you, Andrea, and I think it is important to emphasize, the operation Israeli Air Force had last night was very well calibrated. It was a Palestinian terror camp. It wasn't a Syrian camp. Unfortunately, it is in Syrian soil. And what was taken were munition labs and some stockpiles and not more. But I think that the Syrians should take it in the most serious way and just stop the support of terror and expel the terrorists that reside in Damascus right now.

KOPPEL: Well, let's hear now from the Syrian side. Ahmad Moustapha is the acting Syrian ambassador to the United States. He also joins us from Washington. Mr. Mustapha, what is your reaction, your government's reaction to the attack near Damascus, and what is it that you hope to achieve at the United Nations this evening?

AHMED MOUSTAPHA, ACTING SYRIAN AMB. TO U.S.: Yes. Well, we have strongly condemned this new Israeli atrocity. It's not very strange. Ariel Sharon has been killing Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza for years now. And he's doing now this in Syria.

This is -- these are civilian Palestinians. We have categorically said this. We do not have any Jihad terrorists or training or anything, camps as they claim. This is absolutely true, and we have repeated this many times. And the Israeli themselves know that this is untrue.

The case is Ariel Sharon has been indicted by courts of his own country for committing atrocities against the Palestinians at least twice. But this does not mean that he has been committing this only for two times. He has been committing atrocities against the Palestinian people for throughout his military career.

What I want to say is when Yitzhak Rabin wanted to end the first intifada, you know what he did? He did the Oslo Agreement and he almost signed a peace agreement with Syria. Now, what Sharon is doing, he thinks that by more violence and more violence he can pressurize the Palestinians to surrender.

What will happen is he's spiraling down the whole situation into more violence and bloodshed. Israel really needs to hear a voice of wisdom from within Israel. The ex-knesset spokesman has issued an article two weeks ago in which he said that he's ashamed how Israel is losing the moral grounds.

I would say -- I would say this escalation towards more and more violence will not serve the whole region. The only thing we must do is to ask the United States administration to restrain Ariel Sharon and to go back to some wise attitudes and possibly to restart the Middle East peace process.

KOPPEL: Dr. Moustapha...

MOUSAPHA: That is only approach.

KOPPEL: Are you looking for the United Nations this evening to pass a security council resolution restraining Israel from taking further action in Syria?

MOUSAPHA: We look for such a resolution, and we wanted to categorically condemn Israeli action. It's amazing, they choose the day of atonement, their day of atonement to kill more and more people. This is how they start their day of atonement. And then they are frustrated that they couldn't participate in the U.N. council because this is the day of atonement.

KOPPEL: Dr. Moustapha...

MOUSAPHA: At least, they shouldn't have started with killing people.

KOPPEL: I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir. I just want to ask one very quick question. How is Syria going to respond? Will you retaliate with military force?

MOUTAPHA: We have made a strategic option for peace. This is what we want. We are going to the United Nations because we believe that the United Nations security council is the only internationally legitimate venue to solve crisis. This is what we believe in, and this is how we will address the issue.

KOPPEL: Ahmed Moustapha, acting Syrian ambassador to Washington. Thank you for joining us this evening. Daniel Ayalon, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, I thank you, sir, also for joining us this evening.

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