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CNN Live At Daybreak

America's New War: Leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad Say They Will Not Take Part in Arafat's Cease-Fire

Aired September 19, 2001 - 08:38   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: There are some new developments in the Mideast to talk about this morning. Militant Islamic groups in the Middle East say they will not go along with the cease-fire that Yasser Arafat called for yesterday. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had ordered his forces in the West Bank and Gaza to observe a cease-fire. In response, the Israeli defense ministry says it is canceling all offensive operations against the Palestinians, but leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad say they will not take part in the cease-fire.

To better understand what this all mean, we turn to Dennis Ross, who joins us from our Washington bureau this morning. He is of course the special U.S. envoy that is to the Middle East in the -- excuse me -- in the Clinton administration.

Welcome. Good to have you with us, sir?

DENNIS ROSS, FMR. U.S. ENVOY TO MIDEAST: Good to be here.

ZAHN: So what do you make of what you're hearing from these militant Islamic groups today?

ROSS: Well, certainly not the first time there have been cease- fires in which they said they would not carry out a cease-fire. They would not stop their operations. But I have to tell you that historically, when Yasser Arafat has passed the word to them, you stop or we come down on you like a ton of bricks, they do stop, and this is a point, for Arafat in particular, where it's very dangerous for him to be seen as being aligned for them, to be lumped in with Osama bin Laden in the sense that he supports the extreme tools of terror, like suicide bombing. So I expect that what we've seen is something he'll at least try to carry out. If not, I think there is pretty grave consequences for him.

ZAHN: What kinds of consequences, Dennis?

ROSS: Well, for one thing, he ends up discrediting his cause. If the cause of the Palestinians becomes embodied by Hamas Islamic Jihad. If suicide bombing represents what the Palestinians are about, then internationally, there will be very few who support that cause. And I think Yasser Arafat always has been very sensitive to the idea that there should be international legitimacy for the pursuit of Palestinian interest. I think that's one of the reasons we've seen him take the step. Now of course merely staying doesn't mean it gets done. He is going to have to do everything he can. He's going to also have to create a very different kind of climate. We have to see that the Palestinian Authority no longer broadcasts sermons that lionize suicide bombers. We have to see that banners on Palestinian schools don't glorify those who have carried out suicide bombing.

He now has to change the kind of climate Palestinians are operating, and I think we've seen the first step yesterday. Now we have to see if he actually follows it through.

ZAHN: Will the Islamic groups allow for the changes you are talking about? You are talking about some major changes in thinking?

ROSS: You know, they have always been a minority of the Palestinians. In the last 11 months, they may have seized more of the high ground, but the reality is, they have been a minority. Throughout the Oslo process, polling among the Palestinians consistently showed support for pursuing peace between 70 and 80 percent. There is a very different mood today. But I also think that the attacks here last week have created revulsion around the world, and that's also affected the Palestinians. They do not want to be seen as being on the wrong side of this conflict.

ZAHN: We should mention that some of our producers have talked to administrative officials who welcome the fact that Yasser Arafat made his comments in Arabic so they were widely understood by his Palestinian population, but they seem to have a somewhat muted reaction to some of the steps taken both by the Israeli government and Yasser Arafat yesterday. That is, as you just said, for good reason.

ROSS: Well, look, I was a part of brokering an agreement in October to bring this to a stop, both in Paris, and then at Sharm El- Sheikh. On January 7th, there was agreement that was brokered to bring it to a stop. George Tenet presided over a work plane that would have embodied a series of commitments to bring it to a stop. Obviously, the problem in the Middle East is not make commitment; the problem is implementing those commitments. We have to see will the commitments announced now. Will they in fact be implemented. I think what we have to see is what happens on the ground over the next several days. If they do, then we will begin to see a different reality take place, and then the events of last week here will have created a kind of dramatic effect that has each side pulled back.

ZAHN: All right, one last question for you about the Israeli perspective on all this, the "Financial Times" reporting this morning that the Israelis agree to this only under intense pressure from the United States, and some of its allies, would Israel made the move it made yesterday without that kind of pressure?

ROSS: You know, I think that there's a little bit of a misreading of the Israelis in that sense. The Israelis have wanted to see the violence brought to an end. If they had had a very clear military answer to it, they would have employed it. The fact of the matter is, they had very direct talks with Arafat what Shimon Peres announced as of Sunday night when they sent the son of the prime minister as well as the director general of the foreign ministry to go see Arafat. They made an effort on their own. It's very clear they don't trust Arafat. They want to see deeds and not just words. I think they also are aware of the mood internationally, and don't want to become a focal point what's going on. They want the world to focus on terror. Terror needs to be confronted and discredited. This is not just military response; it's also a psychological response.

The causes that are pursued around the world cannot use terror as an instrument. Those causes will be discredited if they are.

ZAHN: All right, Dennis Ross, as always, thank you very much for your perspective this morning.

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