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American Morning

Signs That Israelis and Palestinians Taking Some of First Steps Back From Brink

Aired March 15, 2002 - 07:09   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: Back to the Mideast now, where this morning there are signs that Israelis and Palestinians are taking some of the first steps back from the brink. Israeli tanks and armored vehicles began withdrawing yesterday from the West Bank town of Ramallah after days of occupying that Palestinian territory.

The military pullout coincided with a meeting between U.S. Mideast envoy General Anthony Zinni and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Now, Zinni will meet later today, just about four hours from now, with Yasser Arafat.

And joining us now to talk about the Mideast mission and prospects for peace, the author of one Middle East peace plan, the Mitchell Plan, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell.

Welcome back. Good to see you, as well again.

GEORGE MITCHELL, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Thanks, Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Senator, we just confirmed that Israeli troops, of course, are pulling out of Ramallah and some of the other Palestinian towns. And Israeli Defense Forces are saying they're doing that because their mission was accomplished.

But there is a front page story in the "New York Times" this morning that would suggest this is being done because of a blunt warning from Colin Powell. Is that what's at play here?

MITCHELL: I think it's likely that both are true, that they did not intend it to be a permanent presence in the middle of Ramallah and other towns and that there clearly was pressure from the United States.

ZAHN: What do you make of this sudden re-engagement of the Bush administration in the Middle East peace process?

MITCHELL: Well, it clearly is an effort to calm the situation there in conjunction with the U.S. effort toward Iraq. I mean it's timed, obviously, in connection with the vice president's visit. But it also, I think, reflects the policy of the administration to try, independent of Iraq or anything else, to bring about a cease-fire and negotiations in the Middle East.

So there are two independent reasons which coincide in time.

ZAHN: We know that the president has said that he sent General Zinni into the region because he thinks he will be successful and yet at the same time you have a senior Israeli security source saying in the "Philadelphia Inquirer," "There are very small chances that the arrival of General Zinni can do anything."

What is the best he can hope to accomplish?

MITCHELL: To bring about a cease-fire and to enable the parties to then get into a period which our commission called a cooling off period, during which there'll be reciprocal steps to rebuild confidence and then ultimate resuming negotiations.

Now, can he do it? No one knows. But you have to try. I don't think his previous efforts, which the press has described as failures, were failures. In the search for peace, you have to keep going. There's no such thing as failure. You have to have patience, perseverance. You can't be deterred by setbacks.

So I commend the president for sending General Zinni. I hope the general succeeds in his mission and he's got to keep at it, stay there and pursue it, notwithstanding the setbacks that may occur.

ZAHN: And as he chips away at this, what are the reciprocal steps that have to be taken on both sides?

MITCHELL: Our report laid out about a dozen and a half of them over a period of some weeks that will help to rebuild confidence. The obvious ones, that the Palestinian Authority must make a 100 percent effort to reign in terrorism, to prevent Palestinian gunmen from firing on Israeli civilians and Israeli populated areas, that there has to be a concerted joint effort to eliminate incitement and hatred.

We also called for a freeze on Israeli settlement construction activity, a whole range of activities affecting both sides that if they had some degree of confidence in the other, which they now don't have -- there's total mistrust -- that they could then resume negotiations and hope that something meaningful would come of them.

ZAHN: I know that Dr. Henry Kissinger was a guest on the air a couple of days ago and he said basically that's the way you have to look at this, establishing a cease-fire and if peace comes it's going to come many, many years later. Do you share that view?

MITCHELL: Well, it depends on how you define peace. If by that you mean a total stability and reconciliation, I think that will be many years later. But the fact of the matter is you can accomplish a lot in sharply reducing the violence and permitting the Palestinians to lead a more normal life, the Israeli lifting of the so-called siege and the resumption of normal commercial relations. All of that can occur in an atmosphere of less than perfect peace and less than genuine warmth and reconciliation between the two societies.

It is possible to step back from the brink and to move gradually toward a stable peace by eliminating the high level of violence and emotion that now is occurring.

ZAHN: Of course, as all this goes on, there are a lot of questions about exactly how stable Mr. Sharon's government is. We know that his defense minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who is the Labor Party leader, was very upset about some of the latest incursions. He found them much too aggressive. This battle spilled out publicly. Will Sharon's government survive this?

MITCHELL: I think it will, at least in the near term. It's very difficult to predict internal politics there because it's very volatile. It reflects the differences in both societies which add to the complexity of the situation.

In Israel you have a coalition government, as you just noted. Now, I think that in this respect, Sharon and Labor have a common interest in preventing an election, Labor because I don't think they have the strong and clearly identified leadership that could win against either Sharon or former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Sharon, because internally he doesn't want to have a competition for the nomination from his party with Netanyahu. So in this respect their interests coincide and I think they'll try to keep it together for as long as they can.

Now, events there are so dramatic and unpredictable that something could happen tomorrow to disrupt that plan. But my own view is they'll try to stay together for as long as they can because an election would not serve their interests at this time.

ZAHN: It's always good to have your perspective on the air.

MITCHELL: Thank you, Paula.

ZAHN: Senator Mitchell, thank you for dropping by in person for a change.

MITCHELL: Very nice to see you.

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