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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Saeb Erakat
Aired June 01, 2003 - 07:35 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to move on to now to the Middle East. Earlier we spoke with an Israeli official, Natan Sharansky. We now are joined by Saeb Erakat live in Ramallah. He, a Palestinian legislator.
Mr. Erakat, thank you very much for joining us this morning. What do you need to see out of this meeting? What do the Palestinians want to hear from this meeting with President Bush this week?
SAEB ERAKAT, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATOR: Well, I think there is a good chance that this vicious cycle may be finally broken. And we want to see President Bush come to Acaba with Jordan with the mechanisms for implementation, the timeline, and the monitors. And we need President Bush to tell both sides, Palestinians and Israelis it's time to break this vicious cycle. It's time that I see, and we're going to have (unintelligible) to vouch for the site that's doing -- that's not doing.
Palestinians, you have 15 clear-cut obligations. Israelis, you have 12 clear-cut obligations emanating from the first (unintelligible.) There is no renegotiations, no conditioning. It's going to be implemented in parallel. And we're going to watch you doing this. And we're going to vouch for the site that's doing -- that's not doing it.
COOPER: And as you...
ERAKAT: And President Bush comes with this act of leadership.
COOPER: As you well know, these negotiations...
ERAKAT: That's right.
COOPER: ...as you well know as former Palestinian chief negotiator, these negotiations are painstaking. It is a question of confidence building measures, step by step, one side simultaneous movements by both sides.
First let's talk Palestinians. What are the first steps the Palestinians must take in your opinion?
ERAKAT: The offset of the road map, there are two communiques that supposed to be issued by the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority must reiterate its recognition of the Israeli's steps, must call to end all violence against Israelis anywhere, and stop incitement against Israel. The same thing at the same hour, the Israeli government must issue a statement recognizing an independent Palestinian state, declaring an end to violence against all Palestinians anywhere, and stopping incitement.
Then after that, the road map has been negotiated -- have been negotiated before. You don't need to renegotiate anything. Now the hate, the anger, the mistrust, the lack of confidence between Palestinians and Israelis is really great. This is why we need a fair party. We don't need President Bush to renegotiate for us or to make the concessions for us or the Israelis. We need his help. We need him facilitate, to tell both sides, look you have accepted the road map. These are your obligations. These are Israel's obligations. Do it. Your people need to see implementation on the ground. They need to see deeds. The only way to revive opening the minds of Palestinians and Israelis is not through more wars, but through deeds, action on the ground. And I think President Bush can do it. And if he does come with the mechanism implementation and the monitors, I believe Israelis and Palestinians stand a great chance to break this vicious cycle of the last 30 months.
COOPER: There is word now, Mahmoud Abbas earlier this week saying he believes he can reach some sort of an agreement with the -- some of the militant groups in the Palestinian areas. Islamic Jihad, as well as Hamas.
Is -- I mean, is that a negotiation? Is that a -- is that some sort of a deal? Or is that an elimination of those groups? Because there are many on the Israeli side who say nothing short of elimination of those groups will really satisfy the security needs of Israel?
ERAKAT: Well, I think Abu Mazen has an overloaded wagon. He doesn't want to have to risk complexities. Now through the help of the Egyptians, President Mubarak and others in Egypt, we have a document presented by Egypt calling for a one year truce, cease-fire. Stop all kind of violence against Israelis anywhere. Abu Mazen is pursuing this line with all Palestinian opposition groups. I really hope that they will adhere and accept this idea of a cease-fire, total cease-fire for one year.
And then the obligation on the Palestinians, of course, nobody should tolerate terror authorities. While we tolerate political pluralism, authority pluralism should not be tolerated, but we should not add to the overloaded wagon of complexities of Abu Mazen. We need to help him. And I believe he's pursuing a good line in dialogue with all these parties. And I hope that they will accept the Egyptian paper of a cease-fire for a year.
COOPER: All right, Saeb Erakat, from Ramallah, Palestinian legislator. Appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much.
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 1, 2003 - 07:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to move on to now to the Middle East. Earlier we spoke with an Israeli official, Natan Sharansky. We now are joined by Saeb Erakat live in Ramallah. He, a Palestinian legislator.
Mr. Erakat, thank you very much for joining us this morning. What do you need to see out of this meeting? What do the Palestinians want to hear from this meeting with President Bush this week?
SAEB ERAKAT, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATOR: Well, I think there is a good chance that this vicious cycle may be finally broken. And we want to see President Bush come to Acaba with Jordan with the mechanisms for implementation, the timeline, and the monitors. And we need President Bush to tell both sides, Palestinians and Israelis it's time to break this vicious cycle. It's time that I see, and we're going to have (unintelligible) to vouch for the site that's doing -- that's not doing.
Palestinians, you have 15 clear-cut obligations. Israelis, you have 12 clear-cut obligations emanating from the first (unintelligible.) There is no renegotiations, no conditioning. It's going to be implemented in parallel. And we're going to watch you doing this. And we're going to vouch for the site that's doing -- that's not doing it.
COOPER: And as you...
ERAKAT: And President Bush comes with this act of leadership.
COOPER: As you well know, these negotiations...
ERAKAT: That's right.
COOPER: ...as you well know as former Palestinian chief negotiator, these negotiations are painstaking. It is a question of confidence building measures, step by step, one side simultaneous movements by both sides.
First let's talk Palestinians. What are the first steps the Palestinians must take in your opinion?
ERAKAT: The offset of the road map, there are two communiques that supposed to be issued by the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority must reiterate its recognition of the Israeli's steps, must call to end all violence against Israelis anywhere, and stop incitement against Israel. The same thing at the same hour, the Israeli government must issue a statement recognizing an independent Palestinian state, declaring an end to violence against all Palestinians anywhere, and stopping incitement.
Then after that, the road map has been negotiated -- have been negotiated before. You don't need to renegotiate anything. Now the hate, the anger, the mistrust, the lack of confidence between Palestinians and Israelis is really great. This is why we need a fair party. We don't need President Bush to renegotiate for us or to make the concessions for us or the Israelis. We need his help. We need him facilitate, to tell both sides, look you have accepted the road map. These are your obligations. These are Israel's obligations. Do it. Your people need to see implementation on the ground. They need to see deeds. The only way to revive opening the minds of Palestinians and Israelis is not through more wars, but through deeds, action on the ground. And I think President Bush can do it. And if he does come with the mechanism implementation and the monitors, I believe Israelis and Palestinians stand a great chance to break this vicious cycle of the last 30 months.
COOPER: There is word now, Mahmoud Abbas earlier this week saying he believes he can reach some sort of an agreement with the -- some of the militant groups in the Palestinian areas. Islamic Jihad, as well as Hamas.
Is -- I mean, is that a negotiation? Is that a -- is that some sort of a deal? Or is that an elimination of those groups? Because there are many on the Israeli side who say nothing short of elimination of those groups will really satisfy the security needs of Israel?
ERAKAT: Well, I think Abu Mazen has an overloaded wagon. He doesn't want to have to risk complexities. Now through the help of the Egyptians, President Mubarak and others in Egypt, we have a document presented by Egypt calling for a one year truce, cease-fire. Stop all kind of violence against Israelis anywhere. Abu Mazen is pursuing this line with all Palestinian opposition groups. I really hope that they will adhere and accept this idea of a cease-fire, total cease-fire for one year.
And then the obligation on the Palestinians, of course, nobody should tolerate terror authorities. While we tolerate political pluralism, authority pluralism should not be tolerated, but we should not add to the overloaded wagon of complexities of Abu Mazen. We need to help him. And I believe he's pursuing a good line in dialogue with all these parties. And I hope that they will accept the Egyptian paper of a cease-fire for a year.
COOPER: All right, Saeb Erakat, from Ramallah, Palestinian legislator. Appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
