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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Marc Ginsberg

Aired October 20, 2001 - 09:24   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to another unstable region in the Middle East. Joining us from Washington is Ambassador Marc Ginsberg, former presidential Middle East adviser. Ambassador Ginsberg is senior vice president for Africa Worldwide. Good morning, sir. A public relations company in Washington.

Good to see you, ambassador.

AMB. MARC GINSBERG, FORMER MIDDLE EAST ADVISER: Good to see you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's start talking about -- start with Wednesday's assassination of Israel's tourism minister, and how this is affecting the dynamics in the peace effort right now.

GINSBERG: Well, it has had a measurable and detrimental impact on the efforts to retain a cease-fire in the region. The assassination has caused the Israeli government to pull back from negotiations with the Palestinians. I'm afraid that unless we have direct American and international pressure on the parties, we may wind up in a situation over the next 48 hours where both parties are now engaged -- would be engaged in military hostilities on a scale that we haven't seen before.

So the situation is extremely critical, delicate, and deteriorating by the moment.

PHILLIPS: Tell us about this tourism minister. How controversial was this leader?

GINSBERG: He was very controversial because he was one of the right-wing leaders in a right-wing coalition. He had called for the expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank. He has been a vitriolic opponent of the PLO and President Arafat. He has been a vocal critic of the peace process. So he was indeed a -- very much an enemy of the peace process.

PHILLIPS: So do you think now that it's possible to see direct attacks from Israel on West Bank towns and even possibly direct assassinations on Palestinian leaders?

GINSBERG: I'm afraid that the spiral of violence that has already occurred as a result of Israeli efforts to eradicate those people responsible for terrorism has now given certain license to those on the other side to begin targeting Israeli politicians.

This type of terrorism is what could cause the situation to escalate beyond control, and in terms of what we need to do, Kyra, we're going to have to convince the Israeli government, on the one hand, to not take any further action by moving tanks into the territories, and secondly, it's incumbent on President Arafat to arrest those responsible. That's his obligation under the Oslo Accords. And if he does arrest them and keep them in prison and charge them with the offense, this may cause the situation to not spiral out of control.

PHILLIPS: So tell us about this 48-hour ultimatum that Ariel Sharon has given to the Palestinians right now.

GINSBERG: Well, this is probably one of the most critical junctures in the coalition government of Ariel Sharon. He already was under attack by Netanyahu and by other members of his coalition and his own government for being too soft on the Palestinians. And I think that the shock of the assassination, and included -- and by the way, let me add that the person who was assassinated had announced his intention to resign from the coalition government in protest over Sharon's policies of not being tough enough on the Palestinians, is an indication of the potential deterioration of his own political standing within his own coalition.

So Sharon faces a crucial juncture not only in the longevity of his government but also in his ability to retain credibility with the Israeli public insofar as what he promised the Israeli public, security, to negotiate with the Palestinians but not under fire.

So all of these tests are coming, and there have great ramifications on the coalition members in the Middle East as well.

PHILLIPS: Sir, one more question before we let you go. With what is happening in Afghanistan and in the surrounding parts of the region, U.S. leaders and the military obviously have their hands full. How will this affect the Middle East situation now? Will you -- will we see less U.S. involvement because of the activity that's going on?

GINSBERG: I don't think so. I think indeed the president before the September 11 tragedy was already planning to launch, I believe, a significant Middle East initiative in the wake of the Mitchell report and to try to piggyback on the efforts of the Mitchell commission to try to restore some semblance of peace and tranquility to the region in order for the United States to launch an initiative.

It's incumbent on our long-term security in the region that we do what is necessary to bring about a settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The Israelis know that they have no alternative but to negotiate an agreement with the Palestinians. The Palestinians recognize that without an agreement, they will not achieve statehood.

So despite the violence, I'm convinced that the United States will have a far more active role, even though we are preoccupied right now with matters to the east in Pakistan and South Asia.

PHILLIPS: Ambassador Marc Ginsberg, former Middle East adviser to the president, thank you so much, sir.

GINSBERG: Thank you.

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