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Interview with George Mitchell

Aired April 30, 2003 - 15:07   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.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: With us now from New York, former United States Middle East negotiator and former Senate Democratic leader George Mitchell.
Senator Mitchell, I think many of our viewers may be looking and listening today and going, here we go again. Another peace plan or blueprint out there on the table.

Why is this one going to be any different from the ones that have come before?

GEORGE MITCHELL, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: It's an effort, obviously, built upon the past, both the good and the bad. I think there is an opportunity in part because 2 1/2 years of bitter conflict have left more than 2,000 Palestinians and about 700 Israelis dead. Both sides have seen that they are unable to achieve their objective through the use of violence. The Israelis objective is security. They have a state.

What they want is security for their citizens. Palestinians want a state. They want economically viable geographically contiguous independent state. And I think what they have learned is that neither can achieve its objective by denying to the other its objective. I don't think the Palestinians will ever get a state in the Israelis don't have security, and I don't think the Israelis will ever get security until the Palestinians know they're going to get a state. I think the lessons of the past both good and bad, help make this an opportunity.

WOODRUFF: Will Mr. Abbas, the new Palestinian prime minister, he says he deplores the violence, and yet another suicide bombing. There's no reason to believe those will stop. What is it going to take for the I guess at this point I want to ask you, what's it going to take for the Israelis to accept the idea that the Palestinian leadership is now working as hard as it can to slow down and stop the violence?

MITCHELL: Well, first, of course, it's somewhat unfair to indict the Palestinian prime minister for an attack that occurs almost simultaneously with his swearing in. He hasn't even been in office and so he hasn't had time to organize the security effort, the crackdown that will be required that's plainly going to take some time, particularly after the decimation of the Palestinian security forces, both the physical infrastructure and the personnel over the conflict of the past 2 1/2 years.

What's very clear is it's a 100 percent effort. That's what our report recommended. And we got that recommendation from the government of Israel. They told us we know he, at that time Arafat, doesn't have complete control. What we need is the full exercise of the authority that he does have. And that's what Abu Mazen must do now, make a full effort to confront and contain and eliminate these terrorist activities. And, I think, everyone will recognize if and when the effort is under way or not.

WOODRUFF: This blueprint basically says that a Palestinian state could be in place as early as 2005, well, in three years.

Is that even close to realistic?

MITCHELL: I think it is. In fact, Judy, it calls for a provisional state before then. One of the negative lessons of the Oslo process was that if you stretch it out too long there's too much opportunity to go wrong. Oslo was braced on the premise that you start with small, easy things to accomplish, and you gradually build up trust and then you tackle the tough issues. The opposite occurred, of course. And I think that the office of this plan, the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, have learned from that lesson and are trying to reduce the time frame.

Secondly, there's a clear understanding now that the Palestinians must crack down on terrorism, but they cannot do it in isolation. No cessation of violence can be sustained if it's not part of a broader framework to offer to Palestinians the peaceful alternative of reaching their goal of an independent state. Abu Mazen will be fatally compromised if he is perceived by the Palestinian people to be nothing more than an enforcer of security for the Israelis. So I think this plan recognizes you've got to do it. You've got to do it all and you've got to do it within a relatively short time frame.

WOODRUFF: We're going to have to leave it there, former Senator George Mitchell, joining us today from New York. Thank you very much. Good to see you.

MITCHELL: Thank you, Judy.

WOODRUFF: We appreciate your talking with us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Aired April 30, 2003 - 15:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: With us now from New York, former United States Middle East negotiator and former Senate Democratic leader George Mitchell.
Senator Mitchell, I think many of our viewers may be looking and listening today and going, here we go again. Another peace plan or blueprint out there on the table.

Why is this one going to be any different from the ones that have come before?

GEORGE MITCHELL, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: It's an effort, obviously, built upon the past, both the good and the bad. I think there is an opportunity in part because 2 1/2 years of bitter conflict have left more than 2,000 Palestinians and about 700 Israelis dead. Both sides have seen that they are unable to achieve their objective through the use of violence. The Israelis objective is security. They have a state.

What they want is security for their citizens. Palestinians want a state. They want economically viable geographically contiguous independent state. And I think what they have learned is that neither can achieve its objective by denying to the other its objective. I don't think the Palestinians will ever get a state in the Israelis don't have security, and I don't think the Israelis will ever get security until the Palestinians know they're going to get a state. I think the lessons of the past both good and bad, help make this an opportunity.

WOODRUFF: Will Mr. Abbas, the new Palestinian prime minister, he says he deplores the violence, and yet another suicide bombing. There's no reason to believe those will stop. What is it going to take for the I guess at this point I want to ask you, what's it going to take for the Israelis to accept the idea that the Palestinian leadership is now working as hard as it can to slow down and stop the violence?

MITCHELL: Well, first, of course, it's somewhat unfair to indict the Palestinian prime minister for an attack that occurs almost simultaneously with his swearing in. He hasn't even been in office and so he hasn't had time to organize the security effort, the crackdown that will be required that's plainly going to take some time, particularly after the decimation of the Palestinian security forces, both the physical infrastructure and the personnel over the conflict of the past 2 1/2 years.

What's very clear is it's a 100 percent effort. That's what our report recommended. And we got that recommendation from the government of Israel. They told us we know he, at that time Arafat, doesn't have complete control. What we need is the full exercise of the authority that he does have. And that's what Abu Mazen must do now, make a full effort to confront and contain and eliminate these terrorist activities. And, I think, everyone will recognize if and when the effort is under way or not.

WOODRUFF: This blueprint basically says that a Palestinian state could be in place as early as 2005, well, in three years.

Is that even close to realistic?

MITCHELL: I think it is. In fact, Judy, it calls for a provisional state before then. One of the negative lessons of the Oslo process was that if you stretch it out too long there's too much opportunity to go wrong. Oslo was braced on the premise that you start with small, easy things to accomplish, and you gradually build up trust and then you tackle the tough issues. The opposite occurred, of course. And I think that the office of this plan, the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, have learned from that lesson and are trying to reduce the time frame.

Secondly, there's a clear understanding now that the Palestinians must crack down on terrorism, but they cannot do it in isolation. No cessation of violence can be sustained if it's not part of a broader framework to offer to Palestinians the peaceful alternative of reaching their goal of an independent state. Abu Mazen will be fatally compromised if he is perceived by the Palestinian people to be nothing more than an enforcer of security for the Israelis. So I think this plan recognizes you've got to do it. You've got to do it all and you've got to do it within a relatively short time frame.

WOODRUFF: We're going to have to leave it there, former Senator George Mitchell, joining us today from New York. Thank you very much. Good to see you.

MITCHELL: Thank you, Judy.

WOODRUFF: We appreciate your talking with us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com