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CNN LIVE SATURDAY
Mahmoud Abbas Resigned As Palestinian Prime Minister Today
Aired September 6, 2003 - 12:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A potentially serious set back today, for the U.S.-backed road map for peace in the Middle East. Mahmoud Abbas resigned as Palestinian prime minister and Yasser Arafat accepted it. CNN's Matthew Chance has the latest from Arafat's headquarters at Ramallah in the West Bank, and joined there along with the Palestinian negotiator for some reaction on the resignation, today -- Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, thank you. Dramatic for political developments, here, in the West Bank town of Ramallah where, of course, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister, submitted his resignation to Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian president, and we understand now, that resignation has been accepted.
Well, for some analysis of the decision, turning now to the Saeb Erakat the chief Palestinian negotiator, joining us here on this very windy roof. Thank you, Mr. Erakat. First of all, can you confirm, to us, that this resignation has been truly accepted by Yasser Arafat and that Mahmoud Abbas is no longer the Palestinian prime minister?
SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: Matthew, I just finished a meeting with President Arafat and with the council members. President Arafat began by reading the written letter of resignation of Abu Mazen, sent to him. And then, he spoke about the 42 years of relations between him and Abu Mazen, the president. He spoke of the aesthetic (PH) relation very, very warmly and by the way, Abu Mazen, spoke this morning very warmly of Arafat and then, President Arafat said that this cabinet is now a caretaker. He did not mention, accept the resignation. Somebody -- because they stood up and said, "Does that mean you accept the resignation?" But, I have to tell you, Matthew, that in order for a resignation to be accepted, it has to be a letter in writing by President Arafat conveyed to Abu Mazen. This has not happened, so I think it's pretty much (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to jump that conclusions and accordance without (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this is a caretaker government, fully empowered, especially as far as the road map and the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) obligations and I think the likely option, now, is that President Arafat realizes the situation. He may accept Abu Mazen's resignation and ask him to form the new cabinet.
CHANCE: Well, if it's a caretaker government, that's what Yasser Arafat is calling it, it's jus word games, he's accepted the resignation. This is a man, remember, Mahmoud Abbas, that President Bush has said is a man he could do peace deals with, he's a man he trusts, a man he gives great credibility to. Isn't this a sort of blow, a slap in the face for the U.S.-backed road map peace plan?
ERAKAT: I don't think so. Mathew, Mazen has submitted his resignation and to hear of Mazen, this morning, explaining the reasons of what led him to submit his resignation; the man has an overloaded wagon, a lot of complexities. I'm not denying that there are -- there is a Palestinian-Israeli crisis, but all I want to say at this stage is this crisis must be maintained as a Palestinian crisis, we don't want it to be an Israeli crisis, we don't want it to be a regional crisis, we don't want it to be an international crisis. All we ask President Bush to do at this critical hour is to exert every possible effort in order to ensure that the road map will remain on the table, that the Palestinians are being engaged.
What we mean by critical government, they have an interlocketor (PH), they have a partner. And now, as far as President Arafat's options, I think the options, here he either will accept, secondly he will reject or discuss as has begun tonight, thirdly, and then fourthly, he may accept the resignation and ask Abu Mazen to form, which in my opinion, the likely scenario, and fifthly, he may accept Abu Mazen's resignation and ask a new person. But, he knows that he needs to have an empowered (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that cabinet and committed to be (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
CHANCE: Well, you might know that, that President Arafat, though, is one of the main reasons this crisis has come about. His refusal to hand over the kind of power and authority to Mahmoud Abbas that the prime minister has been calling for to implement the terms of the road map. Is President Arafat willing to do that now, do you think?
ERAKAT: Well, to be honest with you, and I heard Abu Mazen's speech this morning in the council along with my colleagues, you know, I think he mentioned some difficulties with the President Arafat, but there isn't that resignation where a lot to do with the behavior of the Israelis and others.
Now, as far as the labor pains that we're going through, us Palestinians, as far as that information, towards the new era of power sharing, I think this will happen. This will happen, sooner or later, this will happen. This is an internal Palestinian matter, it should be viewed in terms of the natural democracy Palestinians grow into. And the main important thing for President Bush now, is to maintain the road map on the table.
CHANCE: All right. Saeb Erakat, chief Palestinian negotiator, thank you very much for being with us.
Well, there you have it, Fredricka. Mr. Erakat -- Erakat, there, saying that there is a possibility that even though this resignation appears to have been accepted at this stage, Mahmoud Abbas is now the caretaker prime minister. No one is ruling out a last- minute deal that could, indeed, bring Mahmoud Abbas back into office as a reinstated prime minister in the days and the weeks ahead -- Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Matthew Chance from Ramallah, thank you very much.
Now, for the other side, we're joined by senior Israeli foreign ministry official in Jerusalem, Gideon Meir.
Mr. Gideon, thanks very much for joining us.
Well, you've heard Erakat say that it's his belief that the road map to peace is not over, just because of this written resignation. What are your thoughts?
SR. GIDEON MEIR, SR. ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL: Well, from our point of view, the road map is still what -- the only document which is on the desk right now in order to bring the two parties together, in order to talk about the peace process, but unfortunately, I think the fact that the prime minister, Abu Mazen, resigned today is a major setback. I think -- I agree with Saeb Erakat that this is the only thing I with him, that this is totally internal Palestinian problem. As long as Arafat is the leader of the Palestinians peace will not...
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: Well, how will the peace plan be administered? How will the peace plan be administered when the Israeli government has already made it very clear, it wouldn't have direct negotiations or talks with Yasser Arafat and without Mahmoud Abbas, then who do you have in which to help carry on with this plan?
MEIR: Again, since Yasser Arafat is the major force against this road map, since Yasser Arafat in a past three years is interested only in having a campaign of terror against the people of Israel, he believes that only terror will bring Israel on its knees and will make any kind of political concessions, which is absolutely wrong. As long as this is the man who is leading the Palestinian people, unfortunately, the Palestinian tragedy will continue.
WHITFIELD: Well, interestingly enough...
MEIR: We had the hope that the new Palestinian leadership...
WHITFIELD: Interestingly enough, Mahmoud Abbas cited himself, cited one of the reasons as to why he decided to resign is because the fundamental, I'm quoting him now, "the fundamental problem is Israel's unwillingness to implement its road map compliments."
MEIR: Let's take his words and let's take the road map. Phase one of the road map is calling for the Palestinian authority to fight against the infrastructure of terror. The burden of the first part of the road map is on the shoulders of the Palestinian leadership. Not on Israel. We have to read the road map and what is written in the road map, this is what we expect to implement. Nevertheless, Israel was the one that was willing to take upon itself measures in order to make it easier for Mahmoud Abbas, for the Palestinian leadership, and for the Palestinian people to support him. We made gestures, which are not in the road map. We released prisoners, we lifted roadblocks, but at the same time, we were exposed to terrible and horrific terror attacks against our citizens. Nevertheless, we continued, we supported the road map and still support the road map. We are a peace -- we are supporting a peaceful solution with the Palestinian people. But, the burden is not on us. We cannot be blamed for this resignation. This resignation should be put only, only on the shoulders of Yasser Arafat who day in and day out undermined Mahmoud Abbas because he didn't want him to be the prime minister because he doesn't support the solution...
WHITFIELD: Looking ahead now, if I could interrupt you for a moment, who do you see stepping in to take a Mahmoud Abbas position to help get the road map back in place to which you say, it is already -- it does have some possibilities of working?
MEIR: I think it will be a mistake from our point of view -- from Israel's point of view to tell Palestinians who the leader should be. The only thing we know is that Yasser Arafat cannot be the leader.
WHITFIELD: OK.
MEIR: Yasser Arafat or whoever is going to speak on his behalf cannot be our partner. This is out of question.
WHITFIELD: All right, Gideon Meir, thanks very much. Senior Israeli foreign ministry official. Thanks for joining us from Jerusalem.
MEIR: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well, explore this a little bit further. Is the road map to peace in tatters?
For 20 years, Aaron David Miller worked at the State Department where he helped make Middle East policy. Miller now heads Seeds of Peace, a group that works with teenagers from war zones around the world and he joins us from Washington.
Good to see you.
AARON DAVID MILLER, FMR MIDEAST NEGOTIATOR: Good morning.
WHITFIELD: Well, do you see the road map to peace off the map, so to speak?
MILLER: Well, I mean, you have to separate the two issues out. The road map is neither alive nor is it dead. It is a piece of paper, and it's a piece of paper that is not self implementing. If the road map is going to be implemented, then the Palestinians need to do what they need to do, according to the timetable, and the Israelis need to do what they need to do and the Americans need to do a lot more to bring the two sides together.
WHITFIELD: Like what? What in particular, now that you have a resignation of one of the parties that the U.S. And the Israelis thought that perhaps this would help get everything under way?
MILLER: Well, I think the issue of a Palestinian partner is critical. I think Mahmoud Abbas' resignation is a sad commentary on the state of affairs on the Palestinian side. You essentially have a decent, moderate man who's sandwiched between Hamas on one side and Yasser Arafat on the other side. To make matters worse, the Palestinian public hasn't been terribly supportive, because they don't see this prime minister as delivering. So as a consequence, you have paralysis. My point, Fredricka is, that if the road map is going to be implemented, the Palestinians need to make it very clear that they're prepared to reassert their monopoly -- reassert their monopoly over the forces and sources of violence within their society. And, the Israelis need to do what is allowed and contained in the road map, issues relating to withdrawal and settlement activity. But, to do this -- to do this and to solve the chicken and the egg problem, that is to say, who goes first and how are these things implemented, the Americans simply have to play a much more intensive role.
WHITFIELD: And, how might that be initiated?
MILLER: Well, I think it's going to be initiated through serious diplomacy. The appointment of a high level, politically empowered, envoy to essentially negotiate the implementation of the road map. The administration is off to a very good start. The road map is a very significant document. The president staked a lot on the June 24th, 2002 speech. The first president to talk about two states -- the state of Palestine and the state of Israel, living in peace and security. The first president to talk about a settlements freeze. But, we have to change the level and the character of our involvement. That doesn't free the parties from the possibilities that they have to take. And, first and foremost, the responsibilities lie with them. But, the United States for 30 years has played a role in helping to bridge gaps between Arabs and Israelis. We have a fundamental crisis in diplomacy, hopefully not the end of conventional diplomacy. And, along with working closely with the two sides, and both of them doing what they need to do, the United States has to step up, as well.
WHITFIELD: All right. Aaron David Miller, thanks very much for joining us from Washington.
MILLER: My pleasure.
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