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American Morning

Middle East Peace: CIA Chief Tenet to Leave Israel

Aired June 12, 2001 - 11:34   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Sources say CIA chief George Tenet has told the Israelis and Palestinians that he will leave the region today, and that puts more pressure on the Palestinians to decide if they will accept Tenet's cease-fire proposal. Israel today already agreed to the U.S. plan for ending months of violence in the Middle East.

CNN's Jerrold Kessel now has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Much toing and froing of U.S. diplomatic vehicles, but it's the Palestinians who seem to be on the spot, after a three-way, late-night meeting presided over by CIA chief George Tenet. After, by some accounts, a testy meeting, with the Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs sticking to their contrasting security demands. Mr. Tenet said he wanted a yes or no to his amended cease-fire blueprint.

Israel soon announced it was accepting, though with some declared reservations. Palestinian leaders who have also been meeting with top U.S. diplomats, are struggling in contacts with both the United States and Israel for a formula that accommodates their reservations but does not amount to a rejection.

SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: You cannot sustain any cease-fire if the settlement continues. You cannot sustain the security cooperation of the Israelis if the Israelis continue their noncompliance with agreements signed.

KESSEL: The Palestinians are insisting on the immediate lifting of the onerous Israeli blockades around their towns and areas as an integral part of the stop-shooting aspect of the cease-fire. And they want the prospect of political progress to be directly linked to implement of the cease-fire.

Israel's prime minister spoke at the funeral of a five-month-old Israeli baby who died of injuries when his settler family's car was stoned last week on the West Bank.

But Mr. Sharon is resisting the pressures of the angry settlers, that he unleash Israel's full military might against the Palestinians: "If we go on asking every day how long do we have to endure this, we will lose. If we know who to you stand firm, clench our teeth, and go on even when we are choked by tears, we will win.

The Palestinians seem to be looking for a broader international umbrella than that of the Americans alone.

ERAKAT: We want international guarantees and American guarantees that this time, for once, Israel will implement the agreement that it signed.

KESSEL: Israel wants any international effort to focus very directly on Yasser Arafat.

DAN MERIDOR, CHAIRMAN, KNESSET SECURITY COMMITTEE: The pressure should go on that he really stops and halts all violence. He can do that. And then, I agree, the pressure may be on Israel and on them to come to compromise on the issues around the table.

KESSEL: U.N. Secretary General Kofi Anan is due soon to join the galaxy of international diplomats who have been involved in these attempts to lock the two sides into their declared commitment to work towards a cease-fire.

KESSEL (on camera): An international effort that perhaps can't come soon enough. Former President Bill Clinton was wont to explain his persistent and urgent efforts to secure agreements with a pertinent phrase. Left alone, Mr. Clinton said, the Middle East is a slippery slope with no traction.

Jerrold Kessel, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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