Erakat: Mitchell report can provide a way out

Saeb Erakat

(CNN) -- Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erakat joined CNN's Lou Waters by phone after the release of the Mitchell committee's report on ending the violence in the Middle East.

He spoke about the report and about remarks by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who said the two sides should not waste any more time and should establish an immediate cease-fire.

SAEB ERAKAT : Well, first of all, let me say about the Mitchell report, we welcome the Mitchell report. We are willing to treat it as an integral part of a whole. We need to find mechanisms and we welcome the fact that the United States has welcomed this report, the European Union has welcomed this report, the United Nations had welcomed this report.

And I hope that what I heard Mr. Peres saying about the settlements, I think that it's a game of deceit there, to say that there have been no settlements or confiscation of land. If you take Gaza Strip, 360 kilometers, 20 percent of Gaza is reserved for the 3,000 settlers amid 1.2 million Palestinians, 45 percent of the shores of Gaza have been occupied by the settlers.

VIDEO Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, calls on Israel to accept the report 'as a whole' (May 21) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    ON THE NEWS Mike Hanna: Searching for solutions in the Mideast    GALLERY Scenes of violence and grief   RESOURCES Full text of the Mitchell Committee's report (from the Meridian International Center website) Requires Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™ Click here to download the reader.    ALSO Palestinian security chief's house hit by tank shells Arab League ministers urge suspending political contact with Israel U.S. wants to see 'specific language' of Arab League document

So what we need to do is to see a freeze of settlement activities. Now, as far as the violence is concerned, we welcome the recommendations of the Mitchell report, and we are willing to implement it and to find mechanisms with agreed timelines and with monitoring mechanisms because I don't think at the same time when -- today, today alone, two Palestinians were killed.

Now, in Jerusalem, there are extremists to the rising Palestinians and when our residential areas in Bethlehem today continue to be shelled, I don't think Mr. Peres has a right to say who's doing what because at the end of the day, Israel is still the last country on Earth that still holds the title occupying power, and what we need to do with sanity, with the wisdom, with the courage, is to restore confidence and stability, and get back to the negotiating table unconditionally in order to have the Israelis end their occupation.

WATERS : Beyond the rhetoric just used by Mr. Peres and now you in accepting the Mitchell report, is the reality of actually building this confidence that you refer to. Now, the Mitchell report suggests the Palestinians must exercise a 100 percent commitment to ending the violence, and that includes the arrests by Palestinians of Hamas militants in the Middle East; those folks who allegedly are involved in these suicide bombs which lead to intense retribution, including F-16 attacks last Friday. How do you build the confidence?

ERAKAT : We can't defy the use of F-16s against the civilian population that possesses no army, no navy and no air force. but nevertheless, I am not scoring points here. All I am trying to say is that we have a good chance with the Mitchell report. What we need to do now is to exert maximum efforts in order to find mechanisms of implementation.

We accept the Mitchell report, and we will carry out our obligations emanating from that report, hoping that the Israelis will accept the Mitchell report as an integral part of the whole, and not to select this part and ignore the other part. What the Israelis need to end is to end their siege, their closure, their violence against the Palestinians, and let's get back to the negotiating table unconditionally.

My god, I'm sounding like an Israeli 20 years ago, and what we need to find now is since Europe is on board, the United States is on board and the secretary-general of the United Nations is on board, Norway and Turkey, all these Mitchell report people, Jordan and Egypt, let us find mechanisms of implementation, check the balances, put the timeline and find monitoring mechanisms in order to see that each side: us, the Palestinians first, carry out all our obligations, and at the same time, the Israelis carry out their obligations.

We don't need rhetoric, we don't need the statements; what we need, we need to see deeds on the ground.

WATERS : Ambassador Erakat, I would like to get your reaction to the suggestion that neither party, neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis, are ready to end this violence, that they're not exhausted by it and there is slim chance that the Mitchell report nor the secretary of state's endorsement of it will have any affect in this march toward peace.

ERAKAT : I believe the Mitchell report can provide the basis for a way out. I believe that Secretary Powell and his recommendations in the Mitchell report can invite the parties in the Sharm el-Sheikh to find the implementation, can pursue with the Europeans and others, but at the end of the day, we need to find mechanisms of implementation with monitoring mechanisms and with a clear-cut timeline.