Up to the Minute (CBS) snippet - 2006-07-13 (Mideast crisis)

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:03] It looks a lot like war in the Middle

[0:05] East as Israeli and Palestinian armed

[0:07] forces battle in the streets of Gaza.

[0:09] Last night, an Israeli war plane dropped

[0:11] a 500 lb bomb on the Palestinian Foreign

[0:14] Ministry, destroying several floors and

[0:17] killing at least 13 people in nearby

[0:19] homes. The foreign minister, a leader of

[0:21] the group, Hamas, was not hurt. Hamas

[0:24] has claimed responsibility for last

[0:26] week's capture of an Israeli soldier.

[0:28] The attack came just hours after

[0:30] Hezbollah guerrillas from Lebanon

[0:32] crossed the border and captured two more

[0:34] Israeli soldiers and killed eight

[0:36] others. Robert Liieber is a professor at

[0:38] Georgetown University School of

[0:40] Government and International Affairs. He

[0:42] is also the author of The American Era,

[0:44] Power and Strategy for the 21st Century.

[0:47] He joins us from our Washington Bureau

[0:49] with some analysis. Good morning,

[0:50] professor.

[0:51] >> Good morning.

[0:52] >> Is this war?

[0:54] >> Well, it's pretty close to it. the um

[0:57] situation both on the Lebanese border

[1:00] where Hezbollah invaded from southern

[1:02] Lebanon into Israel to attack Israeli

[1:05] troops there and uh seize two hostages

[1:07] and of course the situation in Gaza both

[1:10] are in flame. The problem is that both

[1:13] Hamas among the Pal Palestinians and

[1:15] Hezbollah uh supported by Syria and Iran

[1:19] uh want trouble rather than any kind of

[1:22] peaceful or negotiated outcome. Israel

[1:24] has made it clear they're not going to

[1:26] back down until the release of that that

[1:28] kidnapped soldier. How likely is that at

[1:30] this point?

[1:31] >> Well, it remains to be seen. We're in

[1:33] the middle of very fluid ongoing events.

[1:36] Uh it would take a considerable degree

[1:38] of uh outside uh diplomatic and um

[1:43] involvement and pressure to get the um

[1:46] uh Hezbollah and Lebanon and Hamas uh in

[1:49] Gaza to uh cough up the um Israeli

[1:53] prisoners whom they've seized in both

[1:55] cases inside Israel. In terms of um the

[1:58] UN charter, uh Israel has acted in in uh

[2:02] self-defense. That is to say, there were

[2:04] intrusions onto its territory. Uh even

[2:07] though the UN in the year 2000, for

[2:09] example, recognized the existing

[2:11] Lebanese border as the international one

[2:14] after Israel with withdrew.

[2:16] >> How big of a statement did Israel make

[2:18] by attacking the foreign ministry

[2:19] building?

[2:21] >> Well, that it's holding Hamas

[2:22] responsible. Um there's a tendency

[2:25] sometimes to mirror image to say it's a

[2:27] cycle of violence and so forth, but it's

[2:29] not a cycle. It's precipitated by those

[2:32] um violent and aggressive actions by uh

[2:35] by Hamas which are partly because in

[2:38] effect they don't accept the existence

[2:40] of Israel and also because they want to

[2:42] use them against uh Abu Mazin the prime

[2:46] prime minister of uh the Palestinian

[2:49] Authority I should say the president of

[2:51] the Palestinian Authority uh in terms of

[2:53] strengthening their position internally

[2:55] and preventing any kind of diplomatic

[2:58] agreement between the Palestinian uh

[3:01] leadership under Abu Mazin and Israel.

[3:04] >> Professor, you mentioned it might take

[3:06] some outside influence to achieve a

[3:09] diplomatic outcome. Who are you

[3:10] referring to?

[3:12] >> Well, it would require help and pressure

[3:14] from uh other Arab states. The Saudis

[3:17] have some influence with uh Syria, the

[3:20] Egyptians in Gaza, the Jordanians. Uh

[3:24] but the the real problem is that uh

[3:27] Hamas is is very extreme and Hezbollah

[3:30] in southern Lebanon is in bed

[3:33] politically, militarily and

[3:35] ideologically with Syria and Iran. So uh

[3:38] finding a uh nonviolent way out of this

[3:41] is not going to be easy.

[3:43] >> Shifting gears a little bit now before

[3:45] the G8 summit begins this weekend.

[3:47] President Bush is meeting with the

[3:48] German chancellor. What are they hoping

[3:50] to accomplish?

[3:52] Well, um, US relations with Germany have

[3:54] improved enormously since the political

[3:58] bust up uh, between Schroeder for

[4:00] Germany and Bush in 2002 uh, early 2003

[4:05] over the issue of war with Iraq. uh

[4:08] Angela Merkel as the Christian

[4:10] Democratic Chancellor of Germany has had

[4:12] a much more open and uh Atlantis

[4:16] relationship with the US and with Bush

[4:18] and the meeting between the two leaders

[4:20] is a a symbol of greatly improved

[4:23] US-German relations.

[4:24] >> Professor, real quickly, we don't have a

[4:26] lot of time, but do you think the G8

[4:27] summit will give President Bush a chance

[4:29] to repair some of the tension that has

[4:31] been created in wake of the Iraq war

[4:33] with some of the other European

[4:35] countries? I I'm just back from two

[4:37] trips to Europe. I would say that US

[4:39] relations with the Western European

[4:40] countries are improved greatly in the

[4:42] last couple of years. Partly because of

[4:44] their economic problems and terrorist uh

[4:47] concerns there and partly because of the

[4:50] passage of time and their appreciation

[4:52] that uh they need to see the situation

[4:55] in Iraq stabilized to some extent. We're

[4:58] all in this together.

[4:59] >> Great. Thank you so much, Robert

[5:00] Leieber, a professor at Georgetown

[5:01] University.

[5:03] >> My pleasure.