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American Morning

Middle East Peace Plan Under Fire

Aired June 09, 2003 - 08:34   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To the Middle East, Daryn, right now. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas will continue negotiating for a cease-fire with Palestinian militants. He denounced yesterday's attack by militant groups in Gaza. Five Israelis and five Palestinians killed in two separate attacks.
Stephen Cohen is in Jerusalem now, a national scholar of the Israeli Policy Forum.

Thank you for coming along with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.

I want to get right to this incident over the weekend, Islamic Jihad, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and also Hamas teaming up together to attack an Israeli outpost in Gaza. What does that signify right now on the Palestinian militant side about this peace deal that may or may not go down at midweek last week?

STEPHEN COHEN, ISRAELI POLICY FORUM: I do believe that this deal is still on track. I believe that Abu Mazen has responded to this appropriately by continuing to speak in a language with which he spoke at Aqaba. But I think that he understands that he has a tough job now to negotiate with, and to get these militant groups to stop. They work together as a way of putting pressure on him, as a way of getting him to withdraw from some of his statements at Aqaba, and they have failed.

And I think that the prime minister is going to find -- the Israeli prime minister is going to find that the Palestinian prime minister is staying with his commitments. And the question is whether enough will be done by Israel and by the United States to give him the strength to be able to carry out his commitments by showing the Palestinians that it's worthwhile pressuring their militant groups to stop the violence, because the results are going to be important for their future.

HEMMER: As you well know, many people believe the next war to be fought in the Middle East is Jew against Jew, Palestinian versus Palestinian, internal civil wars. Do you believe this is the beginning on the Palestinian side of this?

COHEN: I must tell you that I do not believe that we're as close to civil war on either side as some people would like us to believe. I believe that the Palestinians are going to back down, they're going to understand that Abu Mazen is serious, that he's going forward, that his relationship with President Bush is something that he really believes in. And I don't think that they're going to threaten civil war. I don't think they're going to want that. And I think that we saw last night in the Israeli side that the Likud Party really could not mount much of an opposition to what the prime minister has done. There was a small group of hecklers, but the basic truth of last night's meeting is that most of the Likud just didn't show up. They understand that what the prime minister is doing, he's going to do. They're not going to stop it. They're not even going to try to stop it.

HEMMER: One of the...

COHEN: So I believe that actually...

HEMMER: I'm sorry, go ahead.

COHEN: I believe that actually the prime minister on the Israeli side has the chance to go forward. I believe that the prime minister on the Palestinian side definitely wants to go forward. And I believe that we have a chance to make this happen if the president shows that what he did last week was not a one-time commitment, but something that is going to sustain throughout the summer and fall.

HEMMER: Yes, one of the main columns in trying to keep this Mideast road map still with a firm foundation is to have American monitors on the scene to publicly talk about what Israel is doing and what the Palestinians are doing. They were expected there over the weekend. Have they arrived? And what service will they now provide to make sure that the map out there stays intact?

COHEN: Well, the key thing is that they're going to have to be showing that the Israelis are doing what they have to do and the Palestinians are doing what they have to do. What we have too much of in this process is Israelis commenting on what the Palestinians are doing, and Palestinians commenting on what the Israelis are doing. Each of them has to focus on doing what they're supposed to do. This is a process in which no one has the right to go second. Everybody has to go first, do their part.

The monitors are the ones -- the American monitors are the ones who are supposed to say, Israelis, you are not doing what you have to do in terms of removing these outposts fast enough. Palestinians, you are not doing what you have to do fast enough in terms of establishing a new regime of no tolerance for terrorism.

HEMMER: Stephen Cohen live in Jerusalem, thank you for your time, and best of luck to you going forward. We'll talk again. Thank you, sir.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired June 9, 2003 - 08:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To the Middle East, Daryn, right now. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas will continue negotiating for a cease-fire with Palestinian militants. He denounced yesterday's attack by militant groups in Gaza. Five Israelis and five Palestinians killed in two separate attacks.
Stephen Cohen is in Jerusalem now, a national scholar of the Israeli Policy Forum.

Thank you for coming along with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.

I want to get right to this incident over the weekend, Islamic Jihad, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and also Hamas teaming up together to attack an Israeli outpost in Gaza. What does that signify right now on the Palestinian militant side about this peace deal that may or may not go down at midweek last week?

STEPHEN COHEN, ISRAELI POLICY FORUM: I do believe that this deal is still on track. I believe that Abu Mazen has responded to this appropriately by continuing to speak in a language with which he spoke at Aqaba. But I think that he understands that he has a tough job now to negotiate with, and to get these militant groups to stop. They work together as a way of putting pressure on him, as a way of getting him to withdraw from some of his statements at Aqaba, and they have failed.

And I think that the prime minister is going to find -- the Israeli prime minister is going to find that the Palestinian prime minister is staying with his commitments. And the question is whether enough will be done by Israel and by the United States to give him the strength to be able to carry out his commitments by showing the Palestinians that it's worthwhile pressuring their militant groups to stop the violence, because the results are going to be important for their future.

HEMMER: As you well know, many people believe the next war to be fought in the Middle East is Jew against Jew, Palestinian versus Palestinian, internal civil wars. Do you believe this is the beginning on the Palestinian side of this?

COHEN: I must tell you that I do not believe that we're as close to civil war on either side as some people would like us to believe. I believe that the Palestinians are going to back down, they're going to understand that Abu Mazen is serious, that he's going forward, that his relationship with President Bush is something that he really believes in. And I don't think that they're going to threaten civil war. I don't think they're going to want that. And I think that we saw last night in the Israeli side that the Likud Party really could not mount much of an opposition to what the prime minister has done. There was a small group of hecklers, but the basic truth of last night's meeting is that most of the Likud just didn't show up. They understand that what the prime minister is doing, he's going to do. They're not going to stop it. They're not even going to try to stop it.

HEMMER: One of the...

COHEN: So I believe that actually...

HEMMER: I'm sorry, go ahead.

COHEN: I believe that actually the prime minister on the Israeli side has the chance to go forward. I believe that the prime minister on the Palestinian side definitely wants to go forward. And I believe that we have a chance to make this happen if the president shows that what he did last week was not a one-time commitment, but something that is going to sustain throughout the summer and fall.

HEMMER: Yes, one of the main columns in trying to keep this Mideast road map still with a firm foundation is to have American monitors on the scene to publicly talk about what Israel is doing and what the Palestinians are doing. They were expected there over the weekend. Have they arrived? And what service will they now provide to make sure that the map out there stays intact?

COHEN: Well, the key thing is that they're going to have to be showing that the Israelis are doing what they have to do and the Palestinians are doing what they have to do. What we have too much of in this process is Israelis commenting on what the Palestinians are doing, and Palestinians commenting on what the Israelis are doing. Each of them has to focus on doing what they're supposed to do. This is a process in which no one has the right to go second. Everybody has to go first, do their part.

The monitors are the ones -- the American monitors are the ones who are supposed to say, Israelis, you are not doing what you have to do in terms of removing these outposts fast enough. Palestinians, you are not doing what you have to do fast enough in terms of establishing a new regime of no tolerance for terrorism.

HEMMER: Stephen Cohen live in Jerusalem, thank you for your time, and best of luck to you going forward. We'll talk again. Thank you, sir.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.