Military

DATE=04-11002

TYPE=INTERVIEW

NUMBER=3-131

TITLE=DEJEREJIAN-MIDDLE EAST

BYLINE-ERIN BRUMMET

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

INTRO: There is growing concern about two weeks of daily skirmishes at the Lebanese / Israeli border. In apparent response to the Israeli West Bank offensive, Hezbollah guerrillas have been staging rocket attacks into northern Israel in what they call sympathy for the Palestinian cause. Or are they intent on opening a new war front ? U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan says no one wants that to happen -- but the political agenda of groups like Syrian-backed Hezbollah is un-predictable. Edward Dejerejian is a former U-S Ambassador to both Syria and Israel. He is now Director of the Baker Public Policy Institute at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He calls the situation at the Lebanese border very worrisome.

AMBASSADOR DEJEREJIAN: Given the current and very dangerous situation on the Israeli-Palestinian front, with the military operations and the incidents that are occurring against Israeli targets and the bloodshed on both sides, any incidents on another front of Israel's borders is quite worrisome. And, therefore, one has to take a look at that situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border with some urgent concern and with the view that it not escalate into opening up another front, which would only complicate an extremely bad and dangerous situation.

MS. BRUMMETT: Do you think that that could very well be the intent of Hezbollah, to open up that second front?

AMBASSADOR DEJEREJIAN: Well, I can't get into the heads of the Hezbollah leaders, but certainly, at a minimum, what they're doing is producing incidents on the Lebanese-Israeli border in order to, politically at least, show their solidarity with the Palestinians. But that could be a very dangerous game, because things can get out of hand, the situation can escalate, and we can have Israeli military actions in retaliation for Hezbollah-produced acts on the border which can take a dangerous turn.

MS. BRUMMETT: How do the Hezbollah attacks complicate Secretary Powell's mission?

AMBASSADOR DEJEREJIAN: Well, they don't make it easier. I mean, the more that there is a confrontational situation on the ground between Israel and its Arab neighbors, the more difficult it is for the United States to play the productive role that the Secretary of State and the President are trying to play to bring about a cease-fire between the Israelis and the Palestinians. It's obviously incongruous to have military confrontations or incidents on another border while the United States is trying to put out the flames of this extremely difficult and dangerous situation between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

MS. BRUMMETT: You mentioned the situation at the Lebanese border being very worrisome. What does this mean for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Lebanon? Its numbers have dwindled and more reductions are expected.

AMBASSADOR DEJEREJIAN: Exactly. The monitoring mechanism has been reduced there. And that, again, is not very helpful in terms of controlling or helping to control that border. But the U.N. will have to look at the situation very closely and assess what the pros and cons are of its operational stance there.

But, again, it really is a question of the parties~-- in this respect, Hezbollah -- as to what its political agenda is in doing this. Certainly, Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have their own political goals and their own political agenda. And if you look at those agendas, it is to perpetuate violence and resistance and, in certain cases, acts of terrorism, against Israeli targets. And their agenda is quite different -- quite different -- than the agenda of some of the Arab states around Israel.

(End of interview.)

Edward Dejerejian is former U-S Ambassador to Syria and toIsrael. He was speaking with News Now's Erin Brummett. (SIGNED)

NEB/PT