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CNN Live Sunday

Arab League Severs Ties With Israel

Aired May 20, 2001 - 17:00   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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: We begin in the Middle East, where there has been no letup in the violence between Israeli troops and Palestinians. Earlier today, a top Palestinian security official was injured when a tank shelled his home. The incident follows two days of Israeli air raids on Palestinian territories, retaliation for Friday's deadly suicide bombing attack on an Israeli shopping mall.

As CNN's Ben Wedeman reports, anger over Israel's latest military offensive has galvanized the Jewish state's Arab neighbors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since the eruption of the Palestinian uprising nearly eight months ago, pro-Western Arab leaders have walked a fine line between popular demands for action and their own desire to pursue a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

But with Israel's air raids on the West Bank and the Arab League's subsequent call for an end to all political contacts with Israel, the anger on the streets seems to be spreading to the halls of power.

AMIR MOUSA, ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY GENERAL: Peace process is not moving. It is a show around the world of people smiling, people sitting around the table, people coming and going, proximity talks, other meetings, you name it, for the last 10 years. The end result is what you have seen.

Peace process that started with an intifada and ended with another intifada is not a peace process. That is a sign, sure sign of failure.

WEDEMAN: Among those who endorsed the Arab's League call: Egypt, the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel. The treaty remains in effect, with reservations.

AHMED MAHER, EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The peace treaty is there. We respect it. We abide it. Nowhere is there any mention in the peace treaty that we are obliged to meet with the foreign minister of Israel or other high officials of Israel, while they are bombing and killing and maiming Palestinian civilians.

WEDEMAN: Israel says its bombings of Palestinian targets have been in retaliation to what it calls terrorist attacks. As the fighting intensifies, Washington's Arab friend puzzle at what became of the country that, under the Clinton administration, kept peace talks alive.

MOUSA: Well, in the peace process, it is going down the drain, and everybody asks: "Where is the U.S.?"

WEDEMAN: The United States is now widely perceived as having washed its hands of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

MAHER: It is very difficult for the people to see the United States not saying anything, or not doing anything to stop the present policy of the Israelis.

WEDEMAN (on camera): By halting all political contacts with Israel Arab leaders are hoping Washington will become more actively involved in the Middle East, a tall order some say for a Bush administration seemingly preoccupied with its own domestic agenda.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Vice President Dick Cheney says the White House is closely following the situation in the Middle East. Speaking earlier today, Cheney urged both sides to end the violence. The vice president also alluded to an upcoming report by a U.S. fact-finding commission as a good starting point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We hope that the Mitchell report, which will be released this next week, will provide some basis to begin to provide for reduction in violence and get some kind of confidence-building measures started. Now, whether or not at this point makes sense to try to get the two of them together, I think that's probably a separate question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: That commission is headed by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell.

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