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CNN Live Saturday

Interview with Ra'anan Gissin

Aired April 06, 2002 - 22:34   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: And as I said developing news this hour. We are going to speak now with the adviser to Ariel Sharon to get the very latest on the situation in the Middle East, a developing situation.

And Ra'anan Gissin is on the telephone with us. And we've heard the response from Ariel Sharon this afternoon, saying that Israel will begin to expedite its maneuvers in the Palestinian areas. Can you tell us if there's a timetable for Israeli withdrawal?

RA'ANAN GISSIN, ARIEL SHARON SPOKESMAN: Well, as we said, we like (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And I don't think it would serve any useful purpose right now in public to outline the date and datelines. You know, every time you put a deadline in the Middle East, there are more dead people. And therefore, we will expedite that.

But I'd just to make a comment, you know. There's no difference, really, between, Operation Mountain Lion and Defensive Shield. Mountain Lion's the operation is conducting in Afghanistan. Defensive Shield is our operation in the territories. These both are intended to uproot terrorist activity. Both are intended to uproot that kind of brand of terrorism which is threatening us all.

CALLAWAY: Colin Powell will be heading your way, coming up tomorrow. Can you tell me will he be allowed to meet with Yasser Arafat?

GISSIN: Well first of, all you know, the question is whether Colin -- the Secretary of State wants to meet Mr. Arafat. And I think the best thing is to ask him. As I said, we have put Chairman Arafat in complete isolation so he will not do any harm, neither to his people, nor to the operation that we're doing now, which is very important to uproot terrorism, actually doing what Chairman Arafat refused to do, stubbornly refused to do, and that is to arrest the terrorists, to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, and to dismantle the coalition of terror that he has so diligently constructed in the past 18 months, to launch wars against our innocent civilians.

CALLAWAY: We've been showing this evening some of the anti- Israeli protests that have been taking place around the world. Any reaction from you and your government to those protests?

GISSIN: Well, look, what do you expect the Israeli people to do? One small Jewish state fighting for its life. We're fighting on our home. What? We should sit back and play dead? We need to defend ourselves. And that's the prime responsibility of any sovereign government, of any democratic nation.

And Israel's one of the few of those democratic nations in the world, which is standing beside the United States in its fight to defend its values, to defend its way of life. And our way of life has been threatened to the point that we've been still burying people from the Passover massacre up to yesterday. And we want to stop burying our people. We want to live.

And therefore, we're taking these kind of actions against terrorist threat that is threatening both the Palestinian people, as well as ourselves. We believe that completion of this operation, which we will do with great dispatch, and we will speed it up, is going to create a new situation, which will give peace a chance, which will allow the implementation of a cease-fire, and make Zinni's and Powell's mission a success.

If we are stopped in mid court, then we're back to ground zero. We'll have to start all over again. The terrorists will see it as a prize. And we'll meet again to bury our dead with those suicide bombings that have taken so many of the lives of our citizens.

CALLAWAY: Can you tell us what conversation Ariel Sharon had with President Bush? Can you tell us what took place during that conversation?

GISSIN: Well, you know, the conversation took about 20 minutes. And I think that was reported. The president called prime minister. And you know, there is a longstanding friendship between the two countries special relations and strategic interests and joint values, and also, a very special relation between the two leaders.

But as it is, you know, between two leaders, and I'll be very frank, you know, they don't always agree on all issues. And there are bound to be some differences as we go along. But I think the strong relationship, and the very special case that we have to do of our joint effort to counter terrorism, to try and win the war against terrorism, I think the two leaders will weather out the differences. And I think will come to an agreement with the United States even on this issue, so that we can put feet together on the road to stability in the Middle East and peace for both our people.

CALLAWAY: Ra'anan Gissin, adviser to Ariel Sharon. Thank you for being with us for your update and good luck to you, sir.

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