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Conflict in the Middle East: Egypt's Perspective on Conflict in Middle East and on Terrorism

Aired October 23, 2001 - 08:39   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: Now let's return to the Middle East crisis. A few minutes ago on this show, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told us that Israel intends to keep its troops in several West Bank town until the Palestinians turn over those responsible for the killing of an Israeli government minister last week. The U.S. has told Israel to get out of the Palestinian territory, and these latest tensions could jeopardize U.S. efforts to keep the support of moderate Muslim nations, such as Egypt.

With Egypt's perspective now, we welcome Nabil Fahmy. He is Egypt's ambassador to the U.S., and he joins us from our Washington bureau this morning.

Welcome.

NABIL FAHMY, EGYPT'S AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Morning, Paula.

ZAHN: First of all, your reaction to some of what Foreign Minister Shimon Peres had to say, in particular, the fact that Israeli forces will not retreat from the six West Bank towns until some of the Israeli demands are met.

FAHMY: Well, I didn't see the whole program, but I did see that part. It's I would have to say regrettable. I think it's important for both sides, in spite of the tensions, in spit of the problems, to fully respect the obligations they took upon themselves, pursuant to the agreements reached between them, and reoccupation of areas a or areas where Israeli forces have withdrawn is something which is not useful. That is not to say that both sides don't have things to do. I think both sides do have things to do, but we should not exacerbate the problem by reoccupying territory.

ZAHN: Well, what is your level of confidence in Yasser Arafat right now? Will he do the things that the United States government is asking him to do?

FAHMY: He has already arrested a large number of people who are accused of having participating in the assassination. He is going to prosecute them, and he has publicly stated that he opposes what happened, he condemns it. Let's test it and see.

ZAHN: Even your own president said in "Newsweek" magazine this week of Mr. Arafat -- quote -- "Arafat can't make a decision alone or the people around him would leave him. Mind you, Arafat has some terrible people around him, like Barguti."

Do you agree with President Mubarak?

FAHMY: I understand what the president was conveying to you. The fact is that we support peace in principle; it's not about personalities. He was also making the point that President Arafat has to work with the people around him and has to lead them. We call upon President Arafat to lead his people, to bring them in line in the peace process. We apply the same standard to everybody, but still believe that can do that.

ZAHN: This happens at a time, of course, where Israeli right- wingers took to the streets yesterday to demand that Ariel Sharon get rid of Yasser Arafat in this diplomatic process. What do you make of that?

FAHMY: You don't choose your adversaries; you don't choose leaders for other sides. We have to worked this issue. Arguing about radical solutions, calling for getting rid of a leader here or a cabinet minister here is, frankly, absurd, and it will not help the peace process.

This is really becoming an immoral situation. People are dying on both sides, and we are debating about who should lead and who should not lead. It is time to get back to the basics, get back to the negotiating table, work for peace.

ZAHN: Your country of course has had to deal with Islamic fundamentalism and a lot of attention last week was paid to the FBI's most wanted list of 22 men on that list, seven were Egyptian. There is more than any other country on the list. Why is that?

FAHMY: Well, we are a big country, and we have, of course, in our communities criminal elements as everybody else does. You have terrorists here in America. Timothy McVeigh was a terrorist. In Europe, you had the Red Brigade, the Red Army in Japan. Batter Meinhoff (ph) Germany. I don't deny that some of them are Egyptians, of course, but it is the same country that produced for the world a secretary general of the United Nations, four international courts of justice jurists, and three Nobel Prize winners in 20 years. So it is a big country, we have good people and bad, and I can tell you very confidently, the widespread majority are good, solid people, and those are the list are all on our own wanted lists. They are not people that we condone or we've accented. They all have court verdicts against them.

So we are working this issue, and we have for the last 10 years. And frankly, if people had been working with us, we may not have witnessed some of these problems.

ZAHN: Well, let me ask you this, everyone is saying that of course Egypt is crucial to this coalition working towards terrorism. Do you have any concerns about the length of this campaign that might unfold? Of course Pakistan has expressed concern about that. Where is Egypt on that? FAHMY: From our own experience, it is going to be a sustained effort. It will be multidimensional. Military will be one aspect of it, not the whole story. This will go on for some time now, and we will need public support, both in the U.S. and internationally. To do that, you have to deal with many, many issues, and you have to be careful in terms of how you use the military, because when you witness a large number of civilian deaths, if that occurs, God forbid, people will question that. We are working from civilized societies, and it is always more difficult for civilized societies to accept loss of life than terrorists.

So Egypt is going to be there front and center, no ifs, no buts, but we will be there with wise council and full support.

ZAHN: What won't Egypt do then?

FAHMY: We will not take rash decisions. And we will not agree with people who want to fudge the issues, mix subjects. We want to keep things on focus, going after terrorists. That is what everybody agrees upon. That is what the story is all about.

ZAHN: Ambassador Fahmy, thank you very much for your perspective this morning.

FAHMY: Thank you for having me.

ZAHN: We appreciate it.

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