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American Morning

Target: Terrorism - Palestinian Statehood an Issues for U.S.

Aired October 02, 2001 - 10:02   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: Moving on to what is going on in the Middle East.

CNN has confirmed that Secretary of State Colin Powell, just before the September 11th terrorist attacks, had been ready to deliver a speech in which the U.S. would call for the creation of a Palestinian state as part of an overall Middle East settlement.

We turn now to the former U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, Dennis Ross. Good to see you, sir.

DENNIS ROSS, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY TO MIDEAST: Good to see you.

ZAHN: Nice to have you back with us. What is your reaction to this initiative?

ROSS: Well, I certainly have been in favor of a more active American role. I do think there's a value in the U.S. having an initiative in which we make more of an effort to stop the deterioration and see if you can not only get stabilization, but move towards a political process.

Whether or not we should actually be calling for the creation of a Palestinian state, that actually would be a new development for us. I'm a firm believer in suggesting that statehood should be part of the agenda that the two sides should negotiate, I don't know that we should be anticipating the outcome of that agenda and how it is negotiated.

ZAHN: So, what does the release of this information suggest to you? That it was important to get this out there as the U.S. tries to continue to build its coalition against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban?

ROSS: I definitely think that there's an effort to make it clear to our friends in the Middle East in particular, that the U.S. while it's focused on fighting terror is not going to forget about the importance of also dealing with peace; and that the administration, which for many in the Middle East has been seen as not being active enough, had in fact been prepared to be active. I think our being active is a good thing.

ZAHN: Dennis, I have to confess, the first part of your comment got clipped. Are you surprised by this news? That the Bush administration is talking about the creation of a Palestinian state?

ROSS: I'm not surprised that they're talking about an initiative. I know that they had been thinking about initiative, and I think there's value to an American initiative, particularly given the deterioration.

I think the idea that the Bush administration would be formally adopting a position, giving statehood to the Palestinians, the level of a principle of our policy, that would be a new development, and I would find it surprising.

ZAHN: All right, I don't know whether you were able to listen to Prime Minister Tony Blair's speech. Were you able to monitor that at all?

ROSS: I was, I thought it was a very powerful speech.

ZAHN: Because he said some interesting things that I wanted you to analyze for us this morning. He said that Israel's existence must be recognized by all. And then he went on to say that Palestinians must be able to prosper in their own land.

ROSS: Yes, I think that's -- it's an interesting formulation. It's not that different from the formulation that President Clinton used when he was in Gaza, where he talked about the Palestinians determining their own future on their own land.

Again, these are artful ways of talking about the Palestinians having a future where statehood might well be the outcome. It's not the same as saying we are embracing self determination as a principle, or we are committing ourselves to an outcome where there's a Palestinian state.

I think there is an expectation on all sides that Palestinian statehood will emerge, but that state has to be negotiated. What are its attributes? How will its sovereignty be defined? What will its borders be?

To commit to a Palestinian state without dealing with any of those elements is in face not to deal with the hard issues at stake, number one. Number two, again, our position has been that the two sides should negotiate this. I think that's the best place to be. I would be very much in favor of our saying that once political negotiations resume, there should be an agenda.

My own position would be, statehood should be a part of that agenda, security arrangements should be a part of that agenda. Disengagement between the two sides should be a part of that agenda. That allows you to have a focal point for negotiations, and to resume them having something that in fact you can talk about.

But I think to begin to talk about principles that go beyond where we have been in the past, I'm not sure that would be the best way to proceed.

ZAHN: Against this backdrop, of course, we saw a cease fire go into effect between the Palestinians and Israelis. We have seen it broken several times.

Give us your assessment of what you think really is at play there.

ROSS: I think September 11th did create a new reality. There is no question that Chairman Arafat does not want to be lumped in with Osama bin Laden. He does not want to be on the wrong side of the international community. He understands this is a time to be with the international community. I think that created a new element, in terms of the Palestinians.

Having said that...

ZAHN: But wait, Dennis, before you go any further; that may be the case, but isn't it quite clear that he's also not in control of the Islamic Jihad right now, or Hamas?

ROSS: I believe that every time in the past when he had made it clear that if either Hamas or Islamic Jihad were to engage in suicide bombings, that he would come down on them like a ton of bricks. Every time in the past when he has done that, he has been successful.

Can he control every single act that takes place there? No. But can he send a message that the Palestinians Authority will not provide safe haven for those who would plan, organize, carry out suicide bombings? Absolutely he can do that.

ZAHN: And I want to get a final word from you on any reaction you might have to what "The New York Times" was reporting this morning, that Yasser Arafat was supposed to have met with President Bush at the U.N. at some point before this September 11th attack. And that handshake would not perhaps have carried the same kind of weight as it would at the White House.

What does all that mean?

ROSS: Well, I think the administration probably was developing an initiative before September 11th. I think it probably had several parts to it, and part of that might well have been that the president would have seen Chairman Arafat on the margins of the UNGA. There is a certain logic to that.

Again, I think the key is if you have a strategy, if you have initiative, what is it you are trying to do? What is its objective? Is the objective to stabilize the current situation and launch a political process with an agenda that is still relatively limited, because you can't achieve a complete agreement; or is the agenda simply to establish certain principles and have certain meetings?

I think the administration was still in the posture of formulating where it was going to be. I'm not particularly surprised of seeing Arafat on the outskirts of UNGA was considered.

ZAHN: All right. Dennis Ross, good of you to join us. We always appreciate your perspective.

ROSS: Thank you.

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