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CNN Live At Daybreak

Zinni Expected to Return to Middle East Today

Aired January 03, 2002 - 06:32   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: Well, U.S. peace envoy General Anthony Zinni is expected back in the Middle East today. He left the region last month after an Israeli cabinet member's assassination. CNN's Jerrold Kessel has details now from Jerusalem. Good morning Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. No snow here, but there have been some clouds and rain and snow is anticipated on the weekend.

But before that both the Palestinians and the Israelis anticipating very much this resumption of the Zinni mission. But perhaps even more important that what the two parties are anticipating, what may come out of this, is perhaps the mindset that the United States goes into this resumption of Anthony Zinni's mission and what President Bush wants to get out of it.

And let me just show you a cartoon -- a political cartoon in one of the Israeli newspapers here. It shows President Bush -- Daddy Bush, if you will, with son Anthony and Mr. Bush showing with a bag, which has pointedly Tel Aviv on it, saying you say tummy ache, well no excuses, tummy ache isn't an excuse, you go. In other words, Mr. Bush sending Mr. Zinni back here, the reserve general. But I guess there is a good deal of trepidation in the United States camp about the way the mission will work out because when General Zinni was here before, several weeks ago, he was met with a barrage of attacks and counter attacks.

Israel had engaged in one of the assassinations of targeting killings, they're called, of a leading Palestinian militant and there were a series of deadly suicide bombings during the three weeks in which he was here, which led to a good deal of bloodshed on both sides. And when he departed, General Zinni went to a rather disgruntled and pinning much of the blame on Yasser Arafat for not doing enough to curb the Palestinian militants.

Now that he's -- since he's gone, in the interim we've had a very important speech from Yasser Arafat to the Palestinian people over Palestinian television on December 16th and since then, there has been a marked falloff in the level of violence. The Israeli military leaders concurring that there has been a falloff in incidents by more than 50 percent in these two and a half weeks. And then today the Israelis perhaps in response to that in advance of the Zinni mission, relieving some of their pressure on the Palestinians. They've pulled out of a number of Palestinian towns where they had their forces on the fringes of those towns. They've also -- we've seen some of the positions that they've vacated. They've also relieved some of the pressure at checkpoints -- those very onerous checkpoints around the West Bank and -- but apart from doing that, they have kept tanks and armor in one particular point, very close to Yasser Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

To all intensive purposes, Yasser Arafat remains something of a prisoner in that West Bank town. Ariel Sharon, Israel's Prime Minister, saying he won't let Mr. Arafat travel from Ramallah until there is the arrest of the men whom the Israelis say were responsible for the assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister some three months ago. Ariel Sharon says that pressure must be maintained on Yasser Arafat to do even more, and the big question as General Zinni arrives in a few hours from now, where will the United States pressure be applied this time -- more on Yasser Arafat or also on Ariel Sharon -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Jerrold Kessel with a very complete report from Jerusalem. Thank you.

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