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AMERICAN MORNING

White House Warning Israel Not to Take Steps That Would Sideline Road Map

Aired December 19, 2003 - 07:35   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The White House is warning Israel not to take steps that would sideline the road map peace plan. In a major policy shift yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced he would go it alone if the Palestinians do not begin to move forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): If, within a few months, the Palestinians do not make their own contribution in implementing the road map, then within a number of months, Israel will take its own steps in order to sever its links.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Sharon said Israel is prepared to establish a security border and disengage from the Palestinians.

George Mitchell, former U.S. senator and Middle East peace negotiator, joins us this morning to talk about Sharon's threat and what it could mean for the road map to peace.

Nice to see you, Senator.

GEORGE MITCHELL, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for being in this morning.

Overall, give me a sense of what you made of this lengthy declaration and major policy shift by Ariel Sharon.

MITCHELL: Well, I think it's an effort to do two things, to create an incentive for Palestinians to act. He said it would be several months before anything occurred and I think he's trying to create an incentive for them to do something. And, secondly, it was necessary for his internal political situation. Support is declining among the public at large and disagreements have emerged within his own supporters over what to do.

I doubt very much that the government of Israel ultimately will take actions that are strongly opposed by the United States government. The question is how strong is the American opposition? Is it a mere formal statement not to be pursued or does it represent a really strong view by the administration?

That should emerge in the next few days. O'BRIEN: Before we talk more about that, let's talk about this perception issue.

Are you saying to a great degree, then, Ariel Sharon has to come out and be seen as doing something moving toward peace, and that was a pretty big reason for this speech?

MITCHELL: I think it's not just perception, I think it's the reality. I think, yes, the public there is increasingly concerned about the direction in which this whole area is going. Both sides are pursuing policies that have not achieved their objectives; for the Israelis, security; for the Palestinians, a state. And so I think necessarily in a democratic society, leaders must respond to public concern. And I think it also reflects a decision by the government of Israel that they have to take some steps to create an incentive for Palestinians to begin to act on their part of the road map.

O'BRIEN: Here's part of the disengagement plan, as it's called. Troops would be on a security border, physical barricades, removing some of the settlements.

Is there anything positive that came out of what he spoke about that could potentially work?

MITCHELL: I think the open acknowledgement of the necessity of removing settlements -- these are largely isolated settlements of relatively small numbers of settlers, primarily in Gaza and in remote areas of the West Bank -- is a positive step. Everyone there acknowledges privately that that will have to occur as part of any comprehensive settlement. But until now, the government has largely taken a position that we'll give that up in the final negotiations. To take an action of that kind now unilaterally would be a major change. The question is when, how will it occur?

The other major question, of course, is where will this new so- called security line be?

O'BRIEN: He says it won't be the final border of Israel.

MITCHELL: I think the concern among Palestinians, of course, is that it will be, that once you place a fact on the ground, it's going to be very difficult to change. And the other one is where will it be? How much land will be included within that security line. From the Palestinians' side, of course, how much will be excluded. These are all very -- they're not now known and much depends on whether they actually do occur.

O'BRIEN: Do you think the U.S. administration will support this diversion off the road map to peace?

MITCHELL: No, it does not, because essentially what Sharon has said is...

O'BRIEN: I guess I should say will cut it down aggressively? Because, as you say, they have an opportunity over the next couple of days to come out in how they really feel about what Sharon has said. MITCHELL: The problem, from the administration's standpoint, is the president has presented a plan, the road map. What Sharon said yesterday is when the road map fails, this is what I'm going to do.

So if you're the author of the road map, you don't like to hear that kind of talk. What you want to hear is talk that says we're going to commit to the road map and here's the steps we're going to take to implement the road map.

O'BRIEN: A big problem.

Senator George Mitchell, nice to have you.

MITCHELL: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: As always, thanks so much.

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