[Paula Zahn, Cnn Anchor:] We turn now to the alarming escalation of violence in the Middle East. Just today, five Israelis and three Palestinians have died. In Jerusalem, eight Palestinian school children were injured when a bomb exploded. And Just minutes ago came word that Israeli warplanes attacked two West Bank cities. And at an Israeli emergency cabinet meeting, Israel reportedly decided to send tanks back into West Bank town of Ramallah. Joining us now to discuss some of Israel's options, Israel's consul general in New York, ambassador Alon Pinkus. Good to see you. Welcome.
[Alon Pinkus, Israel's Consul General:] Good morning, Paula.
[Zahn:] First off, there are reports that the latest Israeli missile attacks came within yards of striking a building where Yasser Arafat was holding a meeting. Is Israel trying to assassinate Yasser Arafat?
[Pinkus:] Oh no, absolutely not. I think it's more of a coincidence than something deliberate. We're not in the business of assassinating people, let alone leaders. We wish the Palestinian people would depose of him politically, but we're absolutely not...
[Zahn:] But where's the coincidence? I mean, did you not have intelligence that he was holding a meeting at the time? What would be the point?
[Pinkus:] I don't know exact the details. I can only speculate and guess based on things I knew from the past. If we knew he was there, it was meant to frighten and harass. If we did not know he was there, it was just a coincidence.
[Zahn:] At the same time, you're hearing people like Benjamin Netanyahu basically say it's time for Yasser Arafat to go. Ariel Sharon basically said that many, many months ago. Have you all but given up on Yasser Arafat?
[Pinkus:] We've given up on him as a political partner for serious negotiations ever since Camp David in July of 2000. We've given up on him. The Clinton administration then gave up on him. The Bush administration has given up on him. Everyone's given up on him as a credible negotiator. However, no one's given up on him in the sense that he is still the elected leader of the Palestinian people. And in that respect, we need to somehow find a way to reach an ad hoc accommodation, an interim agreement, if you will. No one behind him, no one under him, no one on his side, seems to be credible enough to muster the legitimacy and the authority to effectively replace him.
[Zahn:] All right, you say you're looking from interim agreement. You have the president of Egypt yesterday telling CNN essentially that why don't you come to Egypt and we'll sit down and have some peace talks. Let's listen to what the president said, and you can react to it.
[Pres. Hosni Mubarak, Egypt:] We have to work, whether we like it or not, to bring the two parts to the table and negotiate. This will be the only window of hope for the people at least to start calming down.
[Zahn:] How seriously will the Israelis consider the prospect of going to Egypt and sitting down and having peace talks now? Is this a non-starter? Is this a PR move?
[Pinkus:] It's not a PR move, and it's not a non-starter. Everything that Hosni Mubarak, the president of Egypt says, we take seriously, because he's a serious man, he's a man of peace; he has a record proving that. However, the idea of getting together in Sharm Al-Sheikh for a weekend has to be based on an agreed upon agenda. The agenda exists, Paula. It's called the Mitchell Plan, the Tenet plan, the Camp David agreements. The agenda is there. There's someone on the other side not willing to cooperate in this game. He's playing baseball in the football game. We all know what the rules are. We all know what needs be done. The blueprint is on the table and this man just refuses to play along.
[Zahn:] What about the Saudi Arabian blueprint? Some describe it as a vision. Others describe it as a plan. Is it plausible?
[Pinkus:] It's an idea. It's an idea that needs be explored. I will not go ahead and dismiss it. Others have. I personally will not dismiss it. However, seeing is believing. Public diplomacy is of the essence in the Middle East, and I await to see that speech being delivered in Arabic with the force that the Saudis can put behind it, not read about it in Tom Friedman's column.
[Zahn:] And I guess you'll have to wait for this Arab summit in Beirut to see how seriously it's considered by the Arab world.
[Pinkus:] On the 27th of March, yes.
[Zahn:] In closing, we just reported at the top of your introduction that eight Palestinian children were wounded today when a bomb explode in a schoolyard in east Jerusalem. There are indications that that bomb may have been set off by Israelis.
[Pinkus:] Right.
[Zahn:] Are you concerned that Israeli civilians now might get involved in what seems to be a never-ending cycle of violence?
[Pinkus:] Yes, we're concerned. Yes, I'm very concerned. We will investigate this. If proven to be correct, this concern that it may be Israelis who did it, who perpetrated this, they will be investigated. The thing will be investigated, they will be apprehended, and they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We're a democracy. We will not tolerate this kind of behavior. We've never tolerated this kind.
[Zahn:] When do you see an end to any of this madness?
[Pinkus:] As soon as two things happen the pressure applied by the world on Arafat yields some fruit, or an Arafat is being replaced by a more credible, pragmatic leadership. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, but I wish I had a definitive answer for you. I don't. The fact over the matter is that here we are as if Camp David never took place, as if the Oslo Agreements were never signed, as if the Madrid Conference never convened. We are back in the 1960s, 1970s kind of intercommunal conflict. This is absolutely unacceptable for us as a Democratic society, and I think that the Palestinians should seriously look in the mirror and ask themselves what kind of promises, what kind of delivery did the Palestinian leadership provide them with? Nothing, if they ask themselves truthfully.
[Zahn:] We have to leave it there. Alon Pinkus, thank you very much for dropping by here.