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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Robert Pelletreau

Aired March 30, 2002 - 12:18   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Israel says its siege of Yasser Arafat's compound is a result of his own deeds or misdeeds. The Palestinian leader is holed up on the second floor of his headquarters. He's surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks.

If further threatened or killed, what might be the future of Middle East peace efforts?

Joining us from Washington to talk about that is Ambassador Robert Pelletreau. He's a former assistant secretary of state for near Eastern affairs, and also the former ambassador to Nisia (ph), Egypt, and Bahrain.

Thanks for joining us this morning.

ROBERT PELLETREAU, FMR. ASST. SEC. OF STATE FOR NEAR EASTERN AFFAIRS: A pleasure.

WHITFIELD: Or this afternoon, rather.

Well, the Israeli government is disregarding so far the U.N. resolution to pull out. Arab sympathizers are saying if in any way Arafat is removed, this would be the mother of all mistakes. Do you agree with that?

PELLETREAU: Yes, I do. Arafat is the only Palestinian who represents the Palestinian identity, the Palestinian hope for a national state of its own. And there is no identifiable successor to Yasser Arafat at this point.

WHITFIELD: But there are a couple of people, particularly, that Yasser Arafat has sort of appointed, or at least informed, that if he were to step down, they would be the ones to step in. And apparently they are of a much more moderate thinking.

PELLETREAU: That's not necessarily true. Arafat's associates, who have been with him on the long road, would likely step in in some sort of a collective leadership, but none of them has the authority or the prestige that Arafat has and has gained over years of struggle.

WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about some of those people, or identify them as best we can. General Mahmoud Abas (ph) is the -- another -- an architect of the Oslo agreement. He apparently has been in place to -- been put on notice to be put in place for Arafat as chairman if Arafat, he says, were to step down. What do we know about him?

PELLETREAU: He's one of the principal negotiators on the Palestinian side. He's a member of the PLO executive committee. He's been a longtime member of Fatah, but not one of the most senior members of Fatah. He's been a negotiator from time to time, but Arafat has manipulated him, along with some others.

He certainly is somebody who believes in peace, but I do not believe he has the carity (ph), he has the moral authority that Yasser Arafat does.

WHITFIELD: Jhibrilja Rajoub (ph), a top security official in the West Bank.

PELLETREAU: He is the official that Arafat has designated to be in charge of the security forces on the West Bank. He is also seen a number of his own forces eliminated or diminished by Israeli attacks, and he also is one of the subordinate authorities right now.

For example, he's not really known or had any responsibility with respect to Gaza, and that, of course, is just as important as the West Bank.

WHITFIELD: So it's your view that it would be awfully dangerous, dangerous to the peace process, if for any reason Arafat were removed. What, you know, should the U.S. -- how much more involved does the U.S. need to be in order to secure that Arafat is not harmed or is not killed while he -- while his compound is under siege?

PELLETREAU: I don't believe that the Israeli government intends to kill or remove Yasser Arafat, so I don't think that's the key question. But the United States has been extremely passive up to this point, and that has been noticed all over the world. The United States needs first to speak out more strongly in order to end the current phase of violence.

And it needs to act more strongly in order to bring about a really effective effort to end the violence and to bring about a cease-fire. That hasn't happened yet.

WHITFIELD: But Arafat is in no doubt in the face of danger, given that Israel is showing its military might, Israeli officials are saying that while they are not taking aim at anyone, they are being fired upon from the compound, and then they end up returning fire. So in that melee, it's a possibility that someone, a very important leader in the peace process, could get hurt or killed.

PELLETREAU: That is true, there's a law of unintended consequences that could come in, and if that were to happen, it would cause an outcry not only in the Palestinian areas but, I believe, around the Arab world, and you'd have a new generation of suicide bombers, a new generation of potential terrorists stepping in. That would not be the way to bring about an end to this cycle of violence and a restoration of a better situation.

WHITFIELD: Yes, in about five seconds or less, have you lost hope in the peace process?

PELLETREAU: I have not, but it requires a much stronger American role.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you very much, former ambassador Robert Pelletreau, for joining us from Washington this afternoon.

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