Military

DATE=5/3/02

TYPE=INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

TITLE=GERSHON BASKIN

NUMBER=3-171

BYLINE=STEVE NORMAN

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

/// EDITORS: THIS INTERVIEW IS AVAILABLE IN DALET UNDER SOD/ENGLISH NEWS NOW INTERVIEWS IN THE FOLDER FOR TODAY OR YESTERDAY ///

VOA INTERVIEW WITH GERSHON BASKIN-MIDEAST PEACE CONFERENCE-BY VOA'S STEVE NORMAN - MAY 3, 2002

INTRO: An international peace conference is being planned for early summer, probably in Europe, to try to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell announced the move Thursday with the support of U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan, leaders of the European Union and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Mr. Powell said the conference participants will deal with humanitarian issues, as well as security and economic reforms, while looking for political answers to create a Palestinian state.

VOA's Steve Norman spoke with Gershon Baskin of the "Israel-Palestinian Center for Research and Information" in Jerusalem about the conference and whether it's the kind of meeting the Israelis and Palestinians are expecting:

MR. BASKIN: I think every kind of meeting between Israelis and Palestinians is necessary right now. The Americans have picked up the suggestion that was actually put forth by Prime Minister Sharon, of a regional peace conference. Now, I think the political agenda of Sharon is different than the American agenda. Sharon is talking about some kind of long-term interim agreement, and I think that the Americans are buying into the Saudi plan for an end-of-conflict agreement, in which Israel would enter into peace treaties with the surrounding Arab states, as well, based on the Saudi plan of Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders.

MR. NORMAN: And if the meetings aren't held until the summer what do you think the scene will be like?

MR. BASKIN: I think it all depends on whether or not the Americans seem serious about advancing a real political process here. The only way to end the violence from the Palestinian side, in the Palestinian struggle against the occupation, is through them to believe that a political process is beginning, that the end game is known from the outset. If we're talking about the creation of a real Palestinian state, with independence and sovereignty, in a reasonable part of the Occupied Territories and the removal of most of the Israeli settlements, then we can expect the Palestinian Authority to reorganize itself to take control of the Territories and to bring about a reduction of violence.

If that doesn't happen, then the political struggle, which is voiced in the form of violence, will just continue.

MR. NORMAN: We often hear observers say, no matter what, eventually there will be an Israeli state alongside a Palestinian state, and they will live in peace.

MR. BASKIN: That's right.

MR. NORMAN: From your perspective, any sort of timeline for that?

MR. BASKIN: I think it all depends at this moment on the position that the American Government takes. The Israelis and the Palestinians are incapable of extracting themselves from the current situation that they've entered into. Each side feels that it can't climb down from the ladder. The Israelis believe that any Israeli compromise would be perceived by the Palestinians as a reward for violence and terrorism. The Palestinians have nowhere to back down to. So that it's only if it's understood that there is going to be an imposed solution here, with international forces on the ground and guarantees for implementation of the agreement that is based more or less along the lines of the Saudi proposal, that there is a chance for any solution here.

OUTR: Gershon Baskin of the "Israel-Palestinian Center for Research and Information," speaking from his office in Jerusalem with VOA's Steve Norman.

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