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American Morning
Attack on Leading Hamas Figure in Gaza
Aired August 21, 2003 - 08:16 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Our other top story that we are covering this morning are the attacks on a leading Hamas figure in Gaza this morning.
Gideon Meir is a senior Israeli foreign ministry official.
He joins us from Jerusalem.
Good morning.
Thanks for joining us.
GIDEON MEIR, SENIOR ISRAELI OFFICIAL: Good morning to you in New York.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.
The truce, seven weeks old, already very shaky. The suicide bombing really put it steps away from being completely shredded. Now Hamas says from their position the truce is over.
Is it over?
MEIR: There was never a truce. From day one we said that the Palestinian Authority must make up its mind, do they want peace with terrorist organizations or peace with Israel? It doesn't go hand in hand. And the decision was not made, unfortunately, by the Palestinian Authority.
There was never a truce. To kill 20 innocent Israelis, to blow up a bus in the center of a city like Jerusalem, is this part of a truce? What is this?
So, really, we were expecting the Palestinian Authority to take its act together and to fight these two major terror organizations in the Gaza Strip since the Palestinian Authority took responsibility in the Gaza Strip, since its commitment, according to the road map, to fight terrorism, to dismantle the infrastructure of terror, we expected them to do what they committed, what Prime Minister Abu Mazen committed himself to prime minister -- to, excuse me, to the president of the United States, what he committed himself according to the road map to implementing and to crack down on the terrorist organizations.
O'BRIEN: This comes from...
MEIR: And since he did nothing.
O'BRIEN: This...
MEIR: And since the terror continued, we have no choice but to do what we did today.
O'BRIEN: This comes from Hamas. They say, "The assassination of Abu Shanab means that the Zionist enemy" -- again, I'm quoting here -- "killed the truce." They are basically blaming Israel for the end of the truce, in essence, potentially blaming Israel for the disruption or dismantling completely of the peace process.
How do you respond to that?
MEIR: The peace process is part of a road map which was presented to both sides by the international community, especially by the European Union and by the United States of America. We adopted the road map. We started to implement many things which were outside the road map, like the release of prisoners, lifting roadblocks. We paid the price. We stopped also the prevention activity of the Israeli Defense Forces, all in order to show that we are coming in good faith, making gestures to the new Palestinian leadership.
Unfortunately, the Palestinian leadership didn't take any action according to their commitment.
I'll tell you one thing, even Tuesday night after the horrific terror attack here in Jerusalem, which happened around 9:15, if the Palestinian Authority would have been really serious about preventing terrorism, they would have sent their 20,000 troops in Gaza and cracked down on those terrorist organizations and maybe arrested 1,000 or 2,000 of them at 10 o'clock at night, maybe at 11:00 p.m. And they did nothing.
Until now we have only words and with words we cannot protect neither the peace process nor the people of Israel.
O'BRIEN: There are many who say that the Palestinian Authority cannot and will not act against terror groups until there is popular support for it, and they can't get support from the people until more is done by Israel, the checkpoints, more checkpoints, more settlements removed, more prisoners released.
Your response to that?
MEIR: Yes, but this, whatever you mentioned right now, are not according to the road map. We are going according to the road map. The road map, the first phase of the road map is calling an end to violence and an end to the infrastructure of terror. All what you mentioned is not in the road map at this stage. We will do it. We did it even though we were not committed to do it right now.
But the Palestinian Authority cannot ignore their commitments to the president of the United States and to the international community. They must start to use their 20,000 troops in the Gaza Strip. Otherwise, the peace process will get stuck. If they will not move, we will not be able to go from phase one to phase two. Israel, the Israeli government committed itself to go and to continue the peace process with the new Palestinian leadership. But it can do it only if we can ensure that the Israeli people can move freely on the streets of Israel and that we can see an end to this violence. What we are expecting from the Palestinian Authority is a hundred percent of effort to collect the illegal weapons, to arrest the terrorists and to dismantle the infrastructure of terror.
O'BRIEN: How is it going to be possible, though, to maintain peace and even assist the Palestinian Authority in trying to crack down on militants within Gaza, for example, when, after attacks and after bombings, retaliations occur? I mean aren't you essentially creating a vicious cycle that until it is ended, will continue ad infinitum?
MEIR: There is no cycle of violence. There is one side who is attacking with vicious terrorist attacks innocent Israelis who, for the past eight weeks, there was quiet because Israel prevented any preventive action against the Palestinians in order to show the Palestinian leadership, to show the Palestinian leadership that we are coming in good faith, that we are really extending our hands for peace.
But we were waiting and waiting and waiting, and we are still waiting for them to do something about it. They have the troops. They have the means. Mohammed Dahlan, the security minister of the Palestinian Authority, has on his payroll 20,000 troops. Let's start with action there. We want to see a hundred percent of effort and obviously also to show a stop of the incitement. The incitement is something which must be stopped by the Palestinian Authority.
O'BRIEN: Earlier this morning, we heard from a lead Palestinian negotiator that he thinks the U.S. should be doing significantly more.
Do you agree with that? And what do you think the U.S. should be doing?
MEIR: Yes, absolutely. I think the U.S., A, I think the U.S. administration is doing a lot and it is doing enough in order to bring and has the leverage to bring both parties together. B, I think that the U.S. administration must put today more pressure, even more pressure on the Palestinian Authority that they will stand up to their commitment to the president and to the road map, to start to do what is expected from them on the issue of fighting terrorism in the Gaza Strip and Bethlehem, those areas which they got responsibility.
O'BRIEN: In the wake of this targeted strike, do you think now the peace process maybe, if only in the short-term, is derailed?
MEIR: First, I don't think that the issue is a targeted killing. I think the issue is the 20 Israelis who were killed two nights ago. This is the issue. What we did today is a preventive action in order to send a strong message to the terrorist organizations. This is part of the global war against terrorism. The terror, the Palestinian Authority has still a chance to do what it is expected to do, to start to crack down on the terrorist organizations. If they will not do it, unfortunately we will have to do it.
O'BRIEN: Gideon...
MEIR: We prefer that they will take their act together and do what is expected of them so we will be able to continue with the peace process.
O'BRIEN: Gideon Meir is a senior Israeli foreign ministry official, joining us from Jerusalem this morning.
Thank you.
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 August 21, 2003 - 08:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Our other top story that we are covering this morning are the attacks on a leading Hamas figure in Gaza this morning.
Gideon Meir is a senior Israeli foreign ministry official.
He joins us from Jerusalem.
Good morning.
Thanks for joining us.
GIDEON MEIR, SENIOR ISRAELI OFFICIAL: Good morning to you in New York.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.
The truce, seven weeks old, already very shaky. The suicide bombing really put it steps away from being completely shredded. Now Hamas says from their position the truce is over.
Is it over?
MEIR: There was never a truce. From day one we said that the Palestinian Authority must make up its mind, do they want peace with terrorist organizations or peace with Israel? It doesn't go hand in hand. And the decision was not made, unfortunately, by the Palestinian Authority.
There was never a truce. To kill 20 innocent Israelis, to blow up a bus in the center of a city like Jerusalem, is this part of a truce? What is this?
So, really, we were expecting the Palestinian Authority to take its act together and to fight these two major terror organizations in the Gaza Strip since the Palestinian Authority took responsibility in the Gaza Strip, since its commitment, according to the road map, to fight terrorism, to dismantle the infrastructure of terror, we expected them to do what they committed, what Prime Minister Abu Mazen committed himself to prime minister -- to, excuse me, to the president of the United States, what he committed himself according to the road map to implementing and to crack down on the terrorist organizations.
O'BRIEN: This comes from...
MEIR: And since he did nothing.
O'BRIEN: This...
MEIR: And since the terror continued, we have no choice but to do what we did today.
O'BRIEN: This comes from Hamas. They say, "The assassination of Abu Shanab means that the Zionist enemy" -- again, I'm quoting here -- "killed the truce." They are basically blaming Israel for the end of the truce, in essence, potentially blaming Israel for the disruption or dismantling completely of the peace process.
How do you respond to that?
MEIR: The peace process is part of a road map which was presented to both sides by the international community, especially by the European Union and by the United States of America. We adopted the road map. We started to implement many things which were outside the road map, like the release of prisoners, lifting roadblocks. We paid the price. We stopped also the prevention activity of the Israeli Defense Forces, all in order to show that we are coming in good faith, making gestures to the new Palestinian leadership.
Unfortunately, the Palestinian leadership didn't take any action according to their commitment.
I'll tell you one thing, even Tuesday night after the horrific terror attack here in Jerusalem, which happened around 9:15, if the Palestinian Authority would have been really serious about preventing terrorism, they would have sent their 20,000 troops in Gaza and cracked down on those terrorist organizations and maybe arrested 1,000 or 2,000 of them at 10 o'clock at night, maybe at 11:00 p.m. And they did nothing.
Until now we have only words and with words we cannot protect neither the peace process nor the people of Israel.
O'BRIEN: There are many who say that the Palestinian Authority cannot and will not act against terror groups until there is popular support for it, and they can't get support from the people until more is done by Israel, the checkpoints, more checkpoints, more settlements removed, more prisoners released.
Your response to that?
MEIR: Yes, but this, whatever you mentioned right now, are not according to the road map. We are going according to the road map. The road map, the first phase of the road map is calling an end to violence and an end to the infrastructure of terror. All what you mentioned is not in the road map at this stage. We will do it. We did it even though we were not committed to do it right now.
But the Palestinian Authority cannot ignore their commitments to the president of the United States and to the international community. They must start to use their 20,000 troops in the Gaza Strip. Otherwise, the peace process will get stuck. If they will not move, we will not be able to go from phase one to phase two. Israel, the Israeli government committed itself to go and to continue the peace process with the new Palestinian leadership. But it can do it only if we can ensure that the Israeli people can move freely on the streets of Israel and that we can see an end to this violence. What we are expecting from the Palestinian Authority is a hundred percent of effort to collect the illegal weapons, to arrest the terrorists and to dismantle the infrastructure of terror.
O'BRIEN: How is it going to be possible, though, to maintain peace and even assist the Palestinian Authority in trying to crack down on militants within Gaza, for example, when, after attacks and after bombings, retaliations occur? I mean aren't you essentially creating a vicious cycle that until it is ended, will continue ad infinitum?
MEIR: There is no cycle of violence. There is one side who is attacking with vicious terrorist attacks innocent Israelis who, for the past eight weeks, there was quiet because Israel prevented any preventive action against the Palestinians in order to show the Palestinian leadership, to show the Palestinian leadership that we are coming in good faith, that we are really extending our hands for peace.
But we were waiting and waiting and waiting, and we are still waiting for them to do something about it. They have the troops. They have the means. Mohammed Dahlan, the security minister of the Palestinian Authority, has on his payroll 20,000 troops. Let's start with action there. We want to see a hundred percent of effort and obviously also to show a stop of the incitement. The incitement is something which must be stopped by the Palestinian Authority.
O'BRIEN: Earlier this morning, we heard from a lead Palestinian negotiator that he thinks the U.S. should be doing significantly more.
Do you agree with that? And what do you think the U.S. should be doing?
MEIR: Yes, absolutely. I think the U.S., A, I think the U.S. administration is doing a lot and it is doing enough in order to bring and has the leverage to bring both parties together. B, I think that the U.S. administration must put today more pressure, even more pressure on the Palestinian Authority that they will stand up to their commitment to the president and to the road map, to start to do what is expected from them on the issue of fighting terrorism in the Gaza Strip and Bethlehem, those areas which they got responsibility.
O'BRIEN: In the wake of this targeted strike, do you think now the peace process maybe, if only in the short-term, is derailed?
MEIR: First, I don't think that the issue is a targeted killing. I think the issue is the 20 Israelis who were killed two nights ago. This is the issue. What we did today is a preventive action in order to send a strong message to the terrorist organizations. This is part of the global war against terrorism. The terror, the Palestinian Authority has still a chance to do what it is expected to do, to start to crack down on the terrorist organizations. If they will not do it, unfortunately we will have to do it.
O'BRIEN: Gideon...
MEIR: We prefer that they will take their act together and do what is expected of them so we will be able to continue with the peace process.
O'BRIEN: Gideon Meir is a senior Israeli foreign ministry official, joining us from Jerusalem this morning.
Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
