Arafat and Mubarak Will Not Attend Arab Summit
CONNIE CHUNG, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, and welcome to NEWSNIGHT. I'm Connie Chung, sitting in for Aaron Brown. It's good to see you again. Don't tell me I can't see you. I can see you. So in my continuing effort to get you to really know Aaron Brown better, I snooped around his office a little more. By the way, his office is bigger than mine. Hey, I'm not complaining, it's just an observation, OK? He's got lots of beautiful photographs of his wife and daughter just lining a -- two wide windowsills, and he's got a coat tree in his office that has a tie and a shirt and then a navy blazer on it and then a pinstripe jacket. It's obviously part of a suit. And it's just layer upon layer of more clothes. I have the feeling that he's kind of like my husband, sort of a sock-thrower. He throws the socks across the room and hopes they land on a chair or something. Well, enough about that. I have to tell you just one more thing. You're not going to believe it. My husband and I got our son a fish tank a few months ago. Every morning my son and I go to the tank and we say hello to the fish. And this morning, what do we find? One of them jumped out of the tank and landed on the floor. It was gone. I mean, wish! I swear to you, this is a true story. Have you ever heard of such a thing? You can e-mail me. Time for the whip, beginning in the Middle East. First off is Beirut, Lebanon, site of tomorrow's Arab summit. Christiane Amanpour is there. Christiane, will you give us a headline?</s>CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Connie, not only is Yasser Arafat apparently not coming to this summit, a summit that is devoted mostly to the Palestinian issue, but also one of the main leaders in this region, President Hosni Mubarak, is also saying that he's not coming. Nonetheless, the organizers here say that the 22 Arab nations, as one bloc, will vote for a final resolution that pledges them to remain in the 1967 lines of the Israeli-Palestinian lines, not an inch less, but not an inch more.</s>CHUNG: Christiane, we'll be back to you later. On to Jerusalem, and John Vause -- John.</s>JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Connie, as you just heard from Christiane, Yasser Arafat will not be at the summit. That's because the Israelis say he has not earned his ticket to Beirut. The Palestinians, though, say the Israeli demands were humiliating, immoral, and illegal, and it was Mr. Arafat's decision to stay at home -- Connie.</s>CHUNG: Curious reports about Osama bin Laden. The Pentagon responded today, and Jamie McIntyre is following that tonight. Jamie, tell us.</s>JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Connie, the Pentagon is not paying too much attention to the latest purported sightings of Osama bin Laden and his number two man in the area of Khowst, Afghanistan. These came by way of "The Christian Science Monitor" from a second-hand account. The Pentagon says if it took all of these kind of sightings seriously, it would be chasing shadows -- Connie.</s>CHUNG: Thank you, Jamie. And documents have been released, and many more held back, involving last year's controversial energy task force. Kelly Wallace poring over all of that for us tonight from the White House. Kelly, the headline.</s>KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Connie. Well, the administration thought the release of these documents would put an end to the controversy. It was sorely mistaken. Environmentalists say the information shows that big energy companies had undue influence, and now some of those environmentalists are headed back to court as early as tomorrow to force the Energy Department to release some of those documents it held back -- Connie.</s>CHUNG: Thank you, Kelly. Back with all of you in just a moment. Also coming up on NEWSNIGHT, a report from the country where the only thing that seems to be in abundance is suffering. Afghanistan is hit with a deadly earthquake in an area so hard to get to, we can't bring you pictures yet. And then Andersen employees protest what they call a corporate death penalty, the government's decision to charge the Enron auditor with obstructing justice. Andersen still standing, barely, but today the CEO bowed out. We'll be looking at that tonight. And contributor Keith Olberman on those little green strips, sort of like your tastebuds are taking a bungee jump. Breath-freshening as an extreme sport. We begin with the Middle East, and the summit of Arab nations about to get under way. Yasser Arafat was supposed to be the guest of honor, the summit devoted in a large part to a Saudi plan for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and normalizing relations with Israel. In a moment, we'll take up the question of what that really means. What are normal relations? But first, Arafat, the summit, and the conflict with Ariel Sharon that's keeping him at home. For that, we go back to Jerusalem and CNN's John Vause. John?</s>VAUSE: Connie, the Israeli prime minister outlined his case against Yasser Arafat on Israeli television overnight. He said quite simply conditions were not right to allow Mr. Arafat to travel to Beirut for that summit.</s>ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (voice of translator): Two things would make it easier for me and for the cabinet to take a decision concerning Chairman Arafat's departure for Beirut. One would be the declaration by Chairman Arafat, in his own language, to his people, concerning a ceasefire and a call for an end to violence. The other thing, which is no less important, would be the providing to Israel of a possibility of considering the possibility of his return here if, in his absence, there were acts of terrorism.</s>VAUSE: Now, the Palestinians reportedly found that last</s>SAEB EREKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: The past days of two weeks, the Israeli government handled this issue in the most despicable fashion, humiliating, an attempt to humiliate, the Palestinian leader and the Palestinian people.</s>VAUSE: Now, of course, all these negotiations continue against a backdrop of continuing violence here. Overnight, two observers from the temporary international presence in Hebron were shot and killed while driving north of Hebron on the West Bank. A third observer was wounded. He later told Israeli radio that a gunman dressed in a Palestinian police uniform, armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, opened fire. He says their car was clearly marked and that they were unarmed. Despite that, the gunman still opened fire. Now, the observers are based in Hebron. They monitor truce violations in that city, a city which is divided between Israeli- and Palestinian-controlled zones -- Connie.</s>CHUNG: Thank you, John. To Beirut now. Arab League summits have traditionally aimed for Arab unity, but often fall short. Now with two controversies on the table, the Saudi plan and the nonappearance of Yasser Arafat, there's bound to be real differences about what to do next. So there's a lot to talk about in Beirut and a lot for us to talk about with Christiane Amanpour -- Christiane.</s>AMANPOUR: Well, Connie, the Arab leaders here are trying to put the best face on it and insisting that despite the absences of two of the highest-ranking members of the Arab League, this summit will go forward, and it will endorse the plan. Now, first on the Arafat issue, obviously everybody here was hoping that he would come. But they told us yesterday, when it appeared that the Israelis were continuing to put the kind of restrictions that you heard from John Vause just now on the table, they said that while Arafat would obviously be most welcome and his presence here would be most constructive, they were now advising him not to come, because they said those conditions, quote, "were humiliating and untenable, and he should not come under those circumstances." Now, as for President Hosni Mubarak, we don't know exactly why he is not coming. Is it because of Arafat? Is it because of the potential disagreements over this final communique? We don't know. But what we do know is, having spoken to several foreign ministers, also to the prime minister of Lebanon, the host of this summit, they are telling us that all the Arab countries, the 22 members of the Arab League and the Palestinians and Egyptians, are represented here by a high-level delegation. They will all for the first time in history come together as a bloc and announce their, quote, "strategic vision and their strategic position." And that is, they say, to offer full normalization to Israel in return to Israel returning to the 1967 borders. Now, substantively, this may be important, not because it's a new initiative, but because it's the first time the Arab countries as a bloc will agree to not a penny less, if you like, than the 1967 borders, but they will not make any further claims beyond those 1967 borders. So that is significant. In terms of normalization, they say that they are trying to reach out to the Israelis, that this summit is aimed at sort of reaching out to Israeli public opinion. And they want the Israelis to know that they are ready for peace. That is their strategic position, if Israel agrees to the U.N. resolutions that call for a withdrawal, and that normalization should mean and will mean, they say, everything from diplomatic to trade to communications to media to all the kinds of relations one has when there is an end to a state of war and a beginning to the positive steps needed for future peace.</s>SHIMON PERES, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: Normal, it would mean normalization. I mean, commerce, open borders and open gates as far as economy is concerned, fighting together the dangers which are regional, like terror, narcotics, pollution, AIDS. Either they want to join in a world that has potentials, or remain in a world that has only dangers.</s>AMANPOUR: Israel exchanged ambassadors with Egypt and Jordan, their flags fly in each other's capitals, and there have been exchanges of commerce and tourism. But more than just a state of peace between two nations, normalization implies a binding together of peoples, and that has not yet happened, even in the two Arab countries at peace with Israel, where the Palestinian intifada has hardened an already skeptical public opinion.</s>HABIB KAMHAWAI, JORDANIAN ANALYST: After 17 or 18 months of devastation to land, people, and infrastructure, every single Arab and even every single Muslim looks at Israel as the enemy, looks at Israelis as the enemy, as the killers. And this is a very bad time to ask about normalization or even to try to measure it.</s>AMANPOUR: A measure of normalization may one day show up on maps like these. In Lebanon and other Arab countries, maps don't even show Israel existing on the land that was once called Palestine.</s>CHUNG: Thank you, Christiane Amanpour. Joining us now, Daniel Pipes. He's chairman of the Middle East Forum, a syndicated columnist, and author of many books on the region. He's in Philadelphia tonight. Thank you so much for being with us, Mr. Pipes. What do you think is the best-case scenario that could emerge from this Arab summit?</s>DANIEL PIPES, "NEW YORK POST": Oh, Connie, I'm not very optimistic. I think the best thing that could happen would be that the aggressiveness that one sees in the Arab world towards Israel would be reduced. As Christiane Amanpour just put it, Israel's not on the map. We just heard a spokesman say how every Arab and every Muslim sees Israel as its enemy. This sort of temperament needs to be reduced, and...</s>CHUNG: But Christiane was indicating that she believes that the Arab countries will present a united position.</s>PIPES: United position, perhaps, but the problem is, what we've seen now for 25 years, since the original Egyptian-Israeli diplomacy, is that leaders can come to an agreement between them, but it doesn't translate into something that's real for the countries.</s>CHUNG: Now, do you think that Arafat's decision not to come will affect the summit?</s>PIPES: Not much. As Christiane and you and others pointed out, he is part of a consensus that this is a time to make an offer to Israel, an offer that Israel pretty much for sure cannot accept. Look, you know, basically I think what's going on here is posturing on everyone's side. The Israelis are saying, OK, we will offer things to the Arabs that they don't really intend to do. The Arabs are offering things to is it doesn't -- they don't really intend to offer. We are trying to have this theater quiet because our real interest is Iraq. I see a lot of posing going on now...</s>CHUNG: Well, you're giving us a very...</s>PIPES: ...</s>CHUNG: ... very pessimistic view of this Arab summit.</s>PIPES: Well, do you have any reason to be optimistic? I mean, we have seen 10 years of degeneration in Arab-Israeli relations, and it's going to be hard to turn around on a dime here.</s>CHUNG: But what's wrong with the Saudi plan, then? I mean, the whole idea is that this could very well be a breakthrough.</s>PIPES: Connie, I can't see it. The Saudi plan calls for the Israelis to return to their 1967 boundaries. These are boundaries which one Israeli leader, Abba Eban, once called the Auschwitz boundaries. These are boundaries that Israel finds untenable. At its smallest point, narrowest point, it's nine kilometers wide, Israel would be under that plan. I see it really as posing. I mean, nobody really expects Israel to go back to boundaries which it left in 1967 and said it would never return to. Nobody expects Israel to give up its holiest places. They -- these are not tenable, these are not tenable...</s>CHUNG: Let me ask you...</s>PIPES: ...</s>CHUNG: ... this, then. This was something that Christiane mentioned. No one seems to know why Mubarak pulled out of attending this summit. Do you have any idea why?</s>PIPES: No better than she does. It could be that he didn't think it's a good idea for him to go when Arafat doesn't go. It could be that he has more pressing business. It's hard for me to speculate. But my bet with you would be that should we come back a year from today and discuss the Arab-Israeli conflict, I suspect we will not be discussing the Arab summit coming up. This is a small event, not something memorable.</s>CHUNG: Now, the United States is playing down the fact that Arafat is not going to the summit, and it's still putting on the table this possibility of Vice President Cheney meeting with Arafat. Do you think that's realistic?</s>PIPES: It's certainly realistic if we decide to have the vice president meet him. The question is, what will it lead to? Again, my view is a skeptical one. I think that what is needed now is addressing the basic issues of the Arab-Israeli conflict and what the Tenant plan and the Mitchell plan and the Abdullah plan address are not the basics. The basics have to do with the existence of Israel. That has been the issue since 1948. Israel, of course, wants to exist, and most of its neighbors most of the time say no to it. And that is still the question that is still on the table. And whether the vice president meets Mr. Arafat or not is not going to further than question along. What really is at issue now, and what I'm watching, rather than this diplomacy, which you can see I'm not all that impressed by, I'm watching the war that's taking place between Israel and the Palestinians. There is a war. Both sides have declared it.</s>CHUNG: I think there's no question about it, the violence has been awful.</s>PIPES: And the question then is, who's winning, who's losing, where is it going?</s>CHUNG: Do you have an answer...</s>CHUNG: ... to that?</s>PIPES: I would say a year and a half ago, when this war began, the Palestinians were winning it. I would say today, despite appearances, the Israelis are winning it. I mean, I may be wrong in my assessment. But I think this is what is really the critical thing now. If Israel is winning, then that could lead to a major turning point. If I'm wrong and the Israelis are losing, then that too could lead to a turning point. But the key question is, is Israel going to be accepted by its neighbors, or are its neighbors going to destroy it? That's the issue on the table at all times.</s>CHUNG: Daniel Pipes, thank you so much for being with us. Remind me not to talk to you about optimism and life</s>PIPES: Oh, I'm optimistic on other issues.</s>CHUNG: Are you? Thank goodness. Thank you again for being with us tonight. A lot more to come. Fresh documents on the role big oil played in the Bush energy plan. Keith Olberman on fresh breath. And some serious information -- fresh reports that Osama bin Laden is alive and well and living in eastern Afghanistan.