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American Morning
Could Latest Suicide Bombing be Death Blow to Peace Process?
Aired August 20, 2003 - 08:20 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 yet again, and could that latest suicide bombing in Israel be a death blow to the peace process? A number of analysts say at this point that is, indeed, the case.
A bomber set off explosives yesterday on a crowded bus in central Jerusalem. At least 20 are dead, several children. More than 130 others were injured. Two militant Palestinian groups have claimed responsibility.
Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, is back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Mr. Ambassador, good morning to you.
MARTIN INDYK, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: I know your position on this. You believe the U.S. has to get involved even more at this point. How do you do that when both sides are not willing to stop the killing?
INDYK: Well, this bombing is a spur to action for the United States and an opportunity, Bill, an opportunity in the sense that we've effectively been on vacation for the last few weeks when it comes to pushing the road map forward. And we now need to move very quickly to get Abu Mazen, the Palestinian prime minister, and Mohammed Dahlan, his security minister, to take the action that they have been resisting up till now. They have not been prepared to fulfill their commitment under the road map to dismantle the terror organizations, claiming that they have a better way of doing it, by negotiating this so-called cease-fire with them.
Well, the cease-fire obviously isn't holding. The terrorist organizations have been using this break to rebuild their capabilities.
Now, Abu Mazen has broken contact with them. He is going to have to move against them. His problem is he lacks capacity and we have to move in and try to help him build that capacity so...
HEMMER: How do you do that? If Abu Mazen, otherwise known as Mahmoud Abbas, as we refer to him sometimes in two different forms here on CNN, if he says that if he cracks down on the Palestinian militants, there's a civil war within his own Palestinian population, what sort of aid, what sort of assistance do you give if that, indeed, is the climate? INDYK: Well, there are two things. We've had the CIA in there working at a fairly desultory pace in terms of building his security capability. We need to move in much more effectively on that front. We also need to get him to take smaller steps that he can take that will show his seriousness and therefore enable us to get the Israelis to respond. By that I mean he can go out and arrest the people who are responsible for this particular bombing. He can stop the flow of arms coming in through Gaza from Egypt. He can shut down the rocket making factory in Gaza.
There are certain things, like bite sized chunks, that he can take off and do now. And at the same time we need to be active with the Israelis so that when he starts to do those things, that they will reciprocate by dismantling the outposts and taking down the checkpoints and moving out of the various cities, as he takes action to take responsibility.
HEMMER: I see, Mr. Ambassador. There are just about 30 seconds left here. We really want to get to this point, broaden our discussion a little bit here. There's a lot of talk that the U.N. has thought they can essentially operate in the Middle East with relative immunity. Is that over right now based on what we saw in Baghdad yesterday?
INDYK: I think that anybody that is trying to bring peace and stability and reform to the Middle East is going to be subjected to the same kind of targeting by those forces of evil, those, the backward forces, those extremist, intolerant fundamentalist forces who are seeking to destroy the hope of the people of the region and in particular trying to show, by burning the feet of the United States in Baghdad and in the West Bank, that the United States can't achieve anything for the people in the region.
We've got to stay the course and we've got to show our effectiveness in both areas.
HEMMER: Martin Indyk in D.C., good to see you again, as always.
Thanks.
INDYK: Thank you, Bill.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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Aired August 20, 2003 - 08:20 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 yet again, and could that latest suicide bombing in Israel be a death blow to the peace process? A number of analysts say at this point that is, indeed, the case.
A bomber set off explosives yesterday on a crowded bus in central Jerusalem. At least 20 are dead, several children. More than 130 others were injured. Two militant Palestinian groups have claimed responsibility.
Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, is back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Mr. Ambassador, good morning to you.
MARTIN INDYK, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: I know your position on this. You believe the U.S. has to get involved even more at this point. How do you do that when both sides are not willing to stop the killing?
INDYK: Well, this bombing is a spur to action for the United States and an opportunity, Bill, an opportunity in the sense that we've effectively been on vacation for the last few weeks when it comes to pushing the road map forward. And we now need to move very quickly to get Abu Mazen, the Palestinian prime minister, and Mohammed Dahlan, his security minister, to take the action that they have been resisting up till now. They have not been prepared to fulfill their commitment under the road map to dismantle the terror organizations, claiming that they have a better way of doing it, by negotiating this so-called cease-fire with them.
Well, the cease-fire obviously isn't holding. The terrorist organizations have been using this break to rebuild their capabilities.
Now, Abu Mazen has broken contact with them. He is going to have to move against them. His problem is he lacks capacity and we have to move in and try to help him build that capacity so...
HEMMER: How do you do that? If Abu Mazen, otherwise known as Mahmoud Abbas, as we refer to him sometimes in two different forms here on CNN, if he says that if he cracks down on the Palestinian militants, there's a civil war within his own Palestinian population, what sort of aid, what sort of assistance do you give if that, indeed, is the climate? INDYK: Well, there are two things. We've had the CIA in there working at a fairly desultory pace in terms of building his security capability. We need to move in much more effectively on that front. We also need to get him to take smaller steps that he can take that will show his seriousness and therefore enable us to get the Israelis to respond. By that I mean he can go out and arrest the people who are responsible for this particular bombing. He can stop the flow of arms coming in through Gaza from Egypt. He can shut down the rocket making factory in Gaza.
There are certain things, like bite sized chunks, that he can take off and do now. And at the same time we need to be active with the Israelis so that when he starts to do those things, that they will reciprocate by dismantling the outposts and taking down the checkpoints and moving out of the various cities, as he takes action to take responsibility.
HEMMER: I see, Mr. Ambassador. There are just about 30 seconds left here. We really want to get to this point, broaden our discussion a little bit here. There's a lot of talk that the U.N. has thought they can essentially operate in the Middle East with relative immunity. Is that over right now based on what we saw in Baghdad yesterday?
INDYK: I think that anybody that is trying to bring peace and stability and reform to the Middle East is going to be subjected to the same kind of targeting by those forces of evil, those, the backward forces, those extremist, intolerant fundamentalist forces who are seeking to destroy the hope of the people of the region and in particular trying to show, by burning the feet of the United States in Baghdad and in the West Bank, that the United States can't achieve anything for the people in the region.
We've got to stay the course and we've got to show our effectiveness in both areas.
HEMMER: Martin Indyk in D.C., good to see you again, as always.
Thanks.
INDYK: Thank you, Bill.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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