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U.N. Envoy Discusses Obstacles to Peace in Israel

Aired July 05, 2001 - 07:30   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Once again, I'd like to bring back U.N. Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen. Mr. Ambassador, I'm sorry. I apologize for the breaking news we had in the United States, and thank you very much for staying with us.

I'd like us to take a look...

TERJE ROED-LARSEN, U.N. MIDDLE EAST ENVOY: It's always good to be with you.

LIN: Thank you very much. I'd like us to take a look at the last seven days. Since there seemed to be a diplomatic resolution in terms of how the peace process can be moved forward in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and since that time the demand for seven days of calm -- just in the last 48 hours, we had an Israeli helicopter attack, we had a Palestinian shooting. How difficult is it to achieve just a mere seven days of quiet in order for both sides to get to building confidence between the two?

ROED-LARSEN: I think for all practical purposes, the experiment of the seven days has failed, unfortunately. This is proven by the fact that President Arafat last night stated that we have now passed through the seven days period and that we now are proceeding into the so-called cooling-off period with confidence-building measures. On the other hand, the Israeli position is that the seven days period has not even started. With two sides fundamentally different perceptions of reality, it is impossible to proceed on the basis of the seven days plan. In my opinion, we should now try to proceed directly to the cooling-off period with the necessary economic and political underpinnings.

LIN: So what specifically can happen between the two sides as the shooting continues in a cooling-off period?

ROED-LARSEN: The Palestinian authority and the government of Israel has a design, an architecture for how to build a bridge away from violence and instability and back to the negotiating table. That is the so-called Mitchell recommendations, which are designing that bridge with a pillar of politics, a pillar of security, and a pillar of economics. What one has tried now is to rest that bridge only on a pillar of security, and that pillar has crumbled.

I think it's now time to implement the Mitchell plan, to construct that bridge strictly according to the Mitchell design, and then all three pillars have to be in place. There has to be an element of parallelism in moving forward -- the political elements and the economic and the security elements.

LIN: Help us with the language, because we are not professional diplomats. In very practical terms, what do the Israelis need to do, what do the Palestinians need to do? How can you have cooperation when you can't seem to get either side to stop shooting at each other?

ROED-LARSEN: Of course, what we all want is that they stop shooting at each other. However, to exemplify how difficult it is, about 80 percent of the Palestinian population do not want the cease- fire. They want the uprising, the so-called Intifada, to continue. Under such circumstances, it's extremely difficult to carry through security measures. This is why I'm saying that we need economic reform, in order to improve living conditions, and we need progress on the political front.

LIN: What specifically does that mean? Does that mean that the Palestinian farmer should be able to sell his tomatoes without having an Israeli sign off on a permit, something as simple as that? What specifically has to happen beyond the diplomatic language on the ground?

ROED-LARSEN: Let me mention two examples. Israel is holding back well over $100 million U.S. dollars, which should be transferred to the Palestinian Authority in order to make them able to have a sound educational system, a sound health system, etcetera. There is real suffering on the ground.

Secondly, as you exemplified, there is nearly a complete closure of the Palestinian areas, which have to be opened up in order to have the private sector return to normal business. Unemployment is soaring over 40 percent, and this is creating anger in the Palestinian streets, which makes it very difficult to carry through any sort of security measures. The Palestinian authority should do whatever they can under these difficult circumstances, in order to push every security measure into motion. But it is very difficult. The question of will is not the most important thing; the most important is the ability. I don't think the ability is there unless there is social progress.

(CROSSTALK)

LIN: Mr. Ambassador, I only have a few seconds left. You have a very special perspective. You were part of secret negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians shortly before the Oslo peace accord was signed, which laid the groundwork for peace talks and evolution of peace talks afterwards. Is there anything happening behind the scenes similar to that? Are there secret negotiations? Are there contacts between Israelis and Palestinians that give people hope that this can be resolved, they can move forward?

ROED-LARSEN: If I knew, of course, I couldn't tell you. That's my first comment. My second comment is that I don't think those kind of contacts will help in the situation we have now, because the differences between the parties are so deep that the only thing which can function here now is a third party which comes forward with proposals. There is a need for a referee on the ground who can decide what are the relevant images of reality. When the Israelis are saying the seven days have not started, and the Palestinians are saying the seven days have ended, then it's impossible to move forward. That's why we need a third party who can take the parties by the hand and move them forward.

LIN: Ambassador Terje Roed-Larsen, thank you very much. We always like to give the United Nations the opportunity to break news on CNN. Thank you very much for joining us this morning.

ROED-LARSEN: Thank you very much indeed.

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