DATE=3/13/02

TYPE=INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

TITLE=BASKIN-MIDDLE EAST

NUMBER=3-84

BYLINE=VICTOR BEATTIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

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HOST: The U-N Security Council has adopted a U-S sponsored resolution, affirming a vision of a Palestinian state living side-by side with Israel - within secure and recognized borders. The resolution demands an immediate end to all acts of violence in the region and urges Israeli and Palestinian leaders to take steps towards resuming peace talks. It also stresses the need to respect international humanitarian law. Gershon Baskin is a director of the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information in Jerusalem. He told NewsNow's Victor Beattie the U-N resolution is of major significance:

MR. BASKIN: I think it is an historic document. It is the first time that the United Nations Security Council has actually used the term "Palestinian State." I think it follows the original Clinton proposals, which put into place the political platform on which any future Israeli-Palestinian peace will be based. And now this political platform has been granted the status of international law through a Security Council resolution. So I think it is a very important decision.

MR. BEATTIE: Was it surprising that the U.S. backed, or drafted, this resolution?

MR. BASKIN: No, I do not think it is surprising. Because the Americans were afraid of other Arab and other international initiatives in the Security Council which were aimed at condemning Israel for the situation right now and for calling for international observers or troops. And I do not think the Americans want that to happen right now.

MR. BEATTIE: Do you think this will have any bearing on the increased intensity in the fighting in the region?

MR. BASKIN: Not immediately, no. I think it is much more important to look at the upcoming visit of General Zinni and whatever he has in his briefcase to put down on the table. I know that for the first time the Americans are going to be talking with the Israelis about American observers on the ground, and this is on the Palestinian agenda. And if the Americans are serious about putting a third party presence on the ground, it will help to de-escalate the situation.

MR. BEATTIE: How do you know that American observers may be a possible new development?

MR. BASKIN: Well, it has been talked about in the media. There have been some leaks out of the State Department and the White House that Zinni is coming with possible proposals for different kinds of American observers to be on the ground here.

MR. BEATTIE: Yesterday U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan denounced the violence on both sides. Were you surprised at the strong language he used not just for Israel but for the Palestinians as well?

MR. BASKIN: No. I think it is required. I think that the international community needs to condemn the violence, needs to speak out loud about what both sides are doing wrong. Both sides are engaged in terrorism. Israel is engaged in state terrorism and the Palestinians are engaged in supporting and encouraging terrorist organizations and individuals to hitting Israel. Both sides are engaged in a strategy of violence and revenge. And it is not helpful when the international community seems to be silent. So strong language by people like the U.N. Secretary-General is called for.

MR. BEATTIE: On this U.N. resolution that was passed last night, if something like this were to become a reality, is it possible for Palestinians and Israelis to live in peace side by side if the Palestinians refused, for instance, to renounce their hope for the destruction of the Jewish state?

MR. BASKIN: I think that there can be no agreements between the two sides unless Israel recognizes a Palestinian state in virtually all the boundaries of the June 4, 1967 borders and unless the Palestinians remove their demand for the right of return of refugees to Israel proper. That is the basis for an agreement here. And then we have a very long process, perhaps of generations, of building reconciliation between the peoples. The violence of the past year and a half will leave an engraved memory in the minds, in the consciousness, of both peoples that will take a very long time to overcome.

HOST: Gershon Baskin, director of the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information in Jerusalem. He spoke with NewsNow's Victor Beattie.

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