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Sunday Morning News

Fmr. U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Syria Discusses Camp David Summit

Aired July 16, 2000 - 9:13 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The United States has been very careful throughout the Camp David summit not to oversell the prospects for a peace agreement. Nevertheless, the expectations for some kind of deal do hang in the air, especially with the September deadline just two months away.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Syria, Edward Djerejian joins us from Houston with his comments on the negotiations thus far. He's the director of the James Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.

Good morning, Mr. Ambassador.

EDWARD DJEREJIAN, DIRECTOR, BAKER INSTITUTE, RICE UNIVERSITY: Good morning, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about -- get right into it. Do you think anything can be agreed upon by Wednesday? Is that realistic?

DJEREJIAN: I think it's realistic to try to achieve a framework agreement, an agreement on basic principles of the key final status issues. I think it's less probable that the parties will be able to negotiate all the details of a comprehensive settlement on such issues as the right of return of Palestinian refugees, Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, border securities.

But certainly it's within grasp to have a framework agreement which will at least lay out the parameters for ongoing negotiations, and thereby avoid a crisis this September, this fall, if there are no negotiations, no agreement, and Mr. Arafat declares unilaterally a Palestinian state, then the Israelis will take some unilateral measures, and we may certainly have a conflict situation in the Middle East.

PHILLIPS: You describe this summit as a summit of crisis management. What do you mean by that?

DJEREJIAN: Well, just that, that the Palestinians have made clear that the interim process of Oslo must now culminate in final status negotiations and a final comprehensive settlement. If that is not achieved by all these past deadlines that have been missed, that Chairman Arafat will declare an independent Palestinian state on September 13. If he does that, the Israelis have made clear that they'll take some unilateral moves of their own, for example, probably annexing territory along the Green Line.

If that happens, I think you'll have action, reaction on the part of the Israelis and the Palestinians, and the increase in tensions, and most likely a conflict situation in the Middle East.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the politics of this summit for a minute, OK? You have Barak, who's definitely going way beyond the Knesset. You have Clinton, who wants to make peace before he leaves office. And then Arafat is under pressure to get some land. What do you think has to give? Obviously something has to give, because it could create a lot of violence in the region, don't you agree?

DJEREJIAN: I agree, and that's why I think all three leaders are under real political pressures from within and from without to achieve an agreement. The political calendars are working on President Clinton. Obviously he's now nearing the end of his mandate. He wants to have this as part of his legacy.

In terms of Ehud Barak, he came to office in Israel with a strong electoral backing to make peace, to make peace with Syria, to make peace with the Palestinians. So this is his real platform. And for Arafat, of course, the Palestinian constituencies are getting increasingly frustrated with these interim stages and no real agreement where they do get land back, they do obtain sovereignty over their lives.

So each one is under tremendous political pressure. But again, at the same time, President Clinton can say, Well, I tried, if the summit doesn't work. Barak can go back and say, I didn't sell out Israel's vital interests, and then try to work out maybe a national unity government or consolidate his base. Arafat can go back and say, I did not sell out the Palestinian cause.

But then, 24 hours after that, people are going to look back and say, Well, this was another missed opportunity. So they're under tremendous pressure to achieve a settlement.

PHILLIPS: And Clinton really seems to have quite tremendous rapport with all the leaders. Do you agree with that, and do you think that's going to have some advantage here?

DJEREJIAN: Well, the role of the American president is critical in these negotiations, and the personal rapport is very important. But beyond that, the president has to show strong political will, the ability to take the political heat from domestic and Arab and Israeli constituencies, to really broker an agreement, to mediate an agreement, to put American ideas on the table, even American proposals, if necessary.

And that's the history of the Arab-Israeli peace process. We saw it done with Nixon and Kissinger in the '70s, we saw it done with Jimmy Carter at Camp David in '79, and we saw it done with President Bush and Secretary Baker at the Madrid peace conference in '91.

So there's an historic pattern of the absolute necessity of deep and active involvement by the American president to broker a deal. PHILLIPS: Former Ambassador Edward Djerejian, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

DJEREJIAN: My pleasure.

PHILLIPS: OK.

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