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American Morning

PLO Leader Yasser Arafat Yesterday Called for an End to Suicide Bombings

Aired December 17, 2001 - 07:18   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: We will now turn our attention to the Middle East. Reaction to a major speech by Yasser Arafat from both sides in the Middle East this morning. A lot of folks skeptical.

PLO leader Yasser Arafat yesterday called for an end to suicide bombings. While the U.S. regards Arafat's words as constructive, Israeli officials say they are taking a wait and see posture. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said of Arafat's remarks, "It is not the speech that is important, but what he does on the ground."

CNN's Chris Burns joins us now from Jerusalem -- good morning, Chris. What's the latest from there?

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, the latest is that the Israelis aren't waiting here. They're not even waiting for Mr. Arafat to take action. They're still taking action themselves, another incursion into the West Bank today, into Hebron, a town where the Israeli forces confronted and tried to arrest a member of the militant Hamas group. That person tried to flee and according to Israeli forces as well as the Palestinians, he was shot dead as he tried to flee.

Another incident just coming out right now is an incident in Nablus, near Nablus, where the Palestinian Red Crescent on the West Bank say that two Palestinians were shot by Israeli forces as they were driving near a checkpoint, an Israeli checkpoint. One of them was shot dead and the other was seriously wounded.

This, of course, comes in the wake of this speech by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who is telling his people that they must stop any militant attacks, those militant attacks defeat his effort to establish a Palestinian state and also play into the hands of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is waging attacks, air strikes, ground assaults against Palestinian, suspected Palestinian militant positions as well as buildings of the Palestinian Authority itself.

Now, what came just hours after that speech was the firing of one mortar into a Jewish settlement, causing no injuries, but obviously giving a very strong statement by at least some Palestinians that they don't agree with what Mr. Arafat says. Also, the reaction from the Israelis, as you said, is that they are waiting to see what happens, that they actually see whether Arafat puts his words to action. Now, an incident this, today, earlier today in East Jerusalem also does not bode well for any building of confidence among both sides. The chief Palestinian leader in East Jerusalem was detained for some, for a period and questioned by Israeli authorities who say that he defied a ban on his, on holding any kind of a reception today for the Eid-ul-Fitr, that is the Muslim holiday today. The Israelis say that that is, was an expression of some kind of nationalist sentiment, it was an attempt at the expression, expressing nationalist sentiment and that is what the Israelis were against.

So obviously sort of not a very good atmosphere, but a wait and see to see whether Arafat does carry out the crackdown that he promises -- Paula.

ZAHN: So, Chris, what is the reaction there to the U.S. envoy, Anthony Zinni, being dispatched home to the U.S.?

BURNS: Well, in fact, Mr. Arafat said today as he was meeting with European envoys, he was saying well, we need a stronger role by the Americans and by the Europeans in trying to jump start this peace process. A lot of disappointment by both sides and a blaming the other side, obviously, for General Anthony Zinni's failure to bring about a cease-fire during his three week mission here broken off over the weekend.

He went back to Washington for more consultations. The American government says that they will be sending him back to the region or intend to continue this process. However, no immediate plans or strong plans stated as yet -- Paula.

ZAHN: OK, thanks so much, Chris.

As Chris just reported, of course, that U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni returned home to America over the weekend. It is a sign of just how frustrated the Bush administration has been in efforts to get peace talks going once again.

CNN's Major Garrett is standing by at the White House early on this Monday morning with some perspective on what happens next. So, Major, I thought it was very interesting to hear some of what the secretary of state had to say yesterday. He didn't seem to be willing to declare Arafat irrelevant, like many Israelis have.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you mentioned a key word a moment ago, Paula, frustration. Now, it's nothing new for a U.S. president or a U.S. administration to be frustrated with the situation in the Middle East. But the frustration level here at the Bush White House is acute. And one of the reasons is because it was late in getting into the whole envoy game in the first place.

You know, when the Bush administration first took office it was conspicuous in telling reporters and the world that the president was not going to assign a special envoy to the Middle East, as the Clinton administration had. The position here at the Bush White House was the Israelis and the Palestinians were going to have to work out their differences themselves and when they were ready to cut a deal, a cease-fire leading to political negotiations, then the United States would step in as an honest broker.

Well, then September 11 happened and the war in Afghanistan happened and under considerable counseling, some might even call it pressure, from the Arab nations, the Bush administration decided to appoint a special envoy, retire Marine General Anthony Zinni. And what happened in the two and a half weeks since he has been in the region? More than 80 deaths caused by violence by both sides precipitated mostly by terrorist attacks from Palestinian militants.

So the Bush administration very frustrated that its effort to negotiate a cease-fire between the Israelis and the Palestinians has been met with more and more violence. That's why Mr. Zinni is being called back. Yesterday, Secretary of State Colin Powell tried to downplay his return to the United States and put the best face on what is clearly an unhappy political and diplomatic situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I brought General Zinni back to consult with him on the situation. He's been out there for three weeks. It was always our intention to bring him back for consultations some time around the Christmas period. And in light of developments of recent days, it seemed appropriate to bring him back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT: Now, Paula, behind-the-scenes it is clear from Bush administration officials that if things were going better in the Middle East, if there, in fact, was a cease-fire, if there was apparently a bridge to serious negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, Mr. Zinni would not have been called back. That is not the case. And you can really read this calling back of Mr. Zinni as a no confidence vote from the U.S. government on where things are between the Israelis and the Palestinians now.

That may change with Mr. Arafat's speech. The White House yesterday called that speech containing constructive words. But, again, they're looking for concrete actions from Mr. Arafat to rout out the terrorist elements within the Palestinian movement -- Paula.

ZAHN: So, Major, we wanted to move on to the big question this morning, where Osama bin Laden is. I don't know whether you heard Walt Rodgers' report, but he is saying that opposition forces who have taken some prisoners have talked with those prisoners and those prisoners say they have had contact with Osama bin Laden in Tora Bora as recently as Saturday.

What is the administration saying today?

GARRETT: Well, the administration is basically saying what it has said for the last couple of days, which is the situation is very fluid. On Sunday, Colin Powell and the national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, went out of their way to say we don't know where bin Laden is.

Now, that is an important shift from what was coming from the White House and from the Pentagon late last week, which was a sense of confidence that the coalition forces were moving in on bin Laden and his top associates.

That confidence appears to be ebbing. And what the White House finds itself in now is a situation where, as one senior advisor told CNN, we have to manage expectations. What does that mean? Well, the White House knows that the release of that bin Laden tape, as inflammatory as it was, has dramatically increased the hunger in the United States for bin Laden's capture and the White House knows there is going to be pressure on them to achieve that and they're doing the best they can. But right now they don't know where he is. They're hopeful they'll find him as soon as they can -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Major, thanks so much.

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