Interviews With Ghassan Khatib, Rana'an Gissin
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: More now on our top international story. Two Palestinian militant groups agree to a cease-fire, a three-month cease-fire. The groups being Hamas and Islamic Jihad. This taking place as National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is in the region, the third U.S. official to do so in just a month. Let's get, now, some reaction from those involved in this three- month cease-fire. Ghassan Khatib is on the telephone with us. He's a Palestinian cabinet member. And Mr. Khatib, why don't you now explain to us, what are the conditions of this cease-fire?</s>GHASSAN KHATIB, PALESTINIAN CABINET MEMBER: Well, the cease-fire has one simple condition, which is the necessity of reciprocation from the other side. Because as you know any cease-fire by concept has two factions to it, the Palestinian factions are offering cease-fire and the success and continuity of this will depend on whether Israel is going to reciprocate by declaring an end to the Israeli violence that has been committed against Palestinians, especially civilians. I think the proponent of this cease-fire declaration is that it is going to enable the Palestinian authority to honor and fulfill its obligations to specific articles of the road map, which is what the Palestinian authority has promised to do. And its significance also is that it is coinciding with a possible agreement between today and tomorrow between the Palestinian authority and Israel, in which Israel will evacuate five of the occupied territories, namely Gaza...</s>WHITFIELD: Mr. Khatib, if I could please interrupt, is it also significant, however, that the Al Aqsa martyrs brigade at first threatened to delay the entire cease-fire agreement, and that, perhaps, they're asking for a little bit more time in which to agree to it? Isn't that a monkey wrench being thrown into the cease-fire? How can a cease-fire work if all three major militant groups are not on board?</s>KHATIB: I think everybody is going to be on board, because there has been an agreement between these different factions. Then they have this agreement about the timing and about some of the political context of the statement declaring the truce or the cease-fire. So finally, they decided each party or faction to declare the cease-fire separately. So we assume that we are going to hear other declarations from the rest of the Palestinian factions. But I think in order to encourage this tendency among the different Palestinian factions, we need probably to hear something from the other side that is encouraging. The noise that is coming from the other side right now is actually discouraging, because the Israelis are -- I mean, there's nothing, no significant developments that are going to be constructive. So it is important that the American administration which is involved heavily now in the efforts should direct some pressure and efforts to convince Israel to reciprocate.</s>WHITFIELD: Ghassan Khatib, thanks very much for joining us on the telephone, Palestinian cabinet member. Now for the other side, we want to get Ariel Sharon's senior spokesman Rana'an Gissin from Jerusalem for us now. Mr. Gissin, what's your response? If you've got two militant groups that have agreed to this cease-fire there is still yet another very serious militant group that is not on board, how encouraged are you that this could work?</s>RANA'AN GISSIN, SHARON SENIOR ADVISER: Well, let's not confuse the issues. We're talking about two terrorist organizations, the like of which the United States deal with them on the battlefield. And currently the United States is engaged in just such operations to dismantle terrorist groups who are attacking U.S. soldiers. But we're not dealing with terrorist groups. There is only one binding authority, the legal authority of the Palestinian government, headed by Abu Mazen, and they have to comply with the terms of the road map and the agreements and understanding of the Aqaba summit. Which means it's not enough to have an internal truce or cease-fire between the various groups, they have to dismantle the terrorist network, disarm them and stop incitement. So we're...</s>WHITFIELD: So you're not seeing this as a start, a step, at least, in the right direction?</s>GISSIN: Well, listen, we're committed to peace. And we want long, and I would say, durable peace, not a temporary truce with a terrorist organization, which will use the time only to regroup and reorganize and then launch additional attacks against Israel in three months' time. That's not what we're going for. We want durable peace. And for durable peace, that requires the Palestinian authority to take the necessary steps as prescribed by the United States, and reiterated by Condoleezza Rice, who is visiting the area.</s>WHITFIELD: And for durable peace, is not Israel also being required to stop all quote unquote, "acts of aggression," and release all political prisoners, and lift travel restrictions on Yasser Arafat?</s>GISSIN: No, there are no conditions attached to stopping terrorism. And there's no moral equivalence between the two. What we are doing are acts of self-defense against unmitigated aggression and terrorist activity. What the Palestinian terrorist group like Jihad, Hamas, and the Al Aqsa brigade are offering is peace of the grave. And we have a right to defend our citizens and to prevent them from doing it. One reason that they did sign, hurriedly, this truce among themselves is because they couldn't withstand the continuing attacks. But we are dealing only with the Palestinian authority. They are the ones that will be held responsible and not the terrorist groups, about 500 or a thousand of them who are now holding as hostages 3.5 million Palestinians, preventing them from moving on the road to peace, preventing them from returning back to normal lives. I think it's about time that the Palestinian people deserve a different leadership than those of the terrorist organizations.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, from Jerusalem, Rana'an Gissin, Ariel Sharon's spokesperson. Thanks very much for joining us. Reactions on both sides now to an agreement by two Palestinian militant groups to agree to a cease-fire for three months. Still not on board the Al Aqsa martyrs brigade, which claims that they just might later on this evening work out its differences.