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American Morning
At Least Seven Killed When Suicide Bomber Blew Himself Up in Northern Israel
Aired March 20, 2002 - 07:11 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: On now to the Middle East, where Israelis and Palestinians have moved from the brink of war to the edge of peace, and now another possible setback.
New violence this morning, at least seven people were killed, when a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus near Nablus in northern Israel. Some 30 others were wounded. American Envoy Anthony Zinni is scheduled to meet today with Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs. The hope is a cease-fire could follow that meeting.
Former U.S. Senator George Mitchell is the author of one Middle East peace plan, the Mitchell Plan. He joins us this morning from Miami -- good morning.
GEORGE MITCHELL, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Good morning, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Well, do you see that this morning's bombing is perhaps a setback of all the efforts the Bush administration has recently tried to garner in order to get these two sides together? Obviously this is going to be a long haul as it has been.
MITCHELL: It's clearly a setback. The action is indefensible and must be totally condemned, but it points out the urgency of working toward a cease-fire and trying to end as quickly as possible this kind of violence.
WHITFIELD: Cheney says that in perhaps response to an awful lot of criticism from those who said he should have met with Yasser Arafat when he was in Israel. He says he is willing to return to the region within days to meet with Arafat to implement the Tenet plan, which seeks the Israeli troop pullout. Do you see this Tenet plan as an extension of your plan?
MITCHELL: Yes, it is in fact a first action to get to our plan. The CIA director, George Tenet, who worked it out, worked closely with our committee, and I think it's a sensible approach that if adopted by the parties can provide the first step in our recommendations, which is an immediate and unconditional ending of violence and a resumption of security cooperation.
WHITFIELD: How important do you see it as Cheney returning to that region to have direct talks with Arafat? MITCHELL: It's a significant action taken by the administration and demonstrates the importance, which they attach, to bringing about a reduction of violence there to enable the administration to deal with other problems in the region.
WHITFIELD: Prime minister -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has lifted restrictions so that Yasser Arafat can move about, at least lifted restrictions in Ramallah. He also says that he is allowing Arafat to attend the Arab summit later on this month, next week in fact. However, there are some rumblings that perhaps Prime Minister Sharon would not allow Arafat to return once he leaves the region. How smart or how dangerous would that move be?
MITCHELL: Well, it's impossible to know now, because it depends upon what happens at the summit meeting, but I think it's unlikely that any such freezing out would occur. It seems to me that the actions by the Israeli government reflect the reality that Arafat is the chosen leader of the Palestinian people, and like it or not, he is the one that we all have to deal with.
WHITFIELD: At the same time, do you see that that kind of potential threat might further exacerbate violence from Palestinian militants to maybe particularly anger to even hear that Sharon would make such a consideration?
MITCHELL: Well, in reality of course, many of the Palestinian groups engaging in violence are opposed to Arafat and are opposed to the entire peace process. So the humiliation of Arafat is not something that they are particularly concerned about. Now, there is, of course, a large segment of the Palestinian people and authority who do support Arafat and who would view it in that way.
WHITFIELD: All right. All right, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, thanks very much for joining us this morning from Miami -- and the author of the Mitchell Plan -- appreciate it.
MITCHELL: Thank you, Fredricka.
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