Where is the Peace?
By Irene Burgo

Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, USMC (Ret.) ‘65 C&F, returned to his alma mater on June 8 during Reunion Weekend.  Zinni returned to accept the St. Thomas of Villanova Alumni Medallion which was bestowed upon him during the Alumni Vigil Mass in the St. Thomas of Villanova Church. The medallion is granted to alumni for superior achievements which also reinforce the University mission. 

During his visit, the former C&F economics major spoke with Villanova magazine about his role as a peace negotiator for the United States government.  Zinni has been responsible for helping to broker a peaceful settlement to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people.  He currently serves as special advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell.  During the past year, he was appointed the U.S. Special Envoy for peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

                                                                     *      *      *

Peace and the Middle East. Can the words coexist in one sentence and ring credible? Despite the recent escalation of bombings by Palestinian terrorists upon Israeli citizens, the United States is committed to advancing peace in region. This past year, Villanova alumnus Anthony C. Zinni ‘65, USMC (Ret.) was appointed as U.S. Special Envoy for peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  In his role as chief negotiator for peace, Zinni has frequently traveled back and forth to the troubled area, conferring with various leaders.  Previously, he gained years of experience having served as commander in chief of USCENTCOM. In that position, he was responsible for 20 countries in the region.  Zinni was chosen for his current position because his past experience prepared him well. He speaks Arabic and has a firsthand knowledge of the area’s culture. During his military tour of duty, he forged valuable friendships with some of the area’s top leaders. The camaraderie and his understanding of the people, culture and their problems is invaluable in his mission for peace.

During his campus visit, the retired Marine general discussed some of the questions that have arisen during the complicated business of brokering a peaceful settlement between Israel and the Palestinian people. The conditions for peace between Israel and the Palestinian people do not yet exist, according to Zinni.   President Bush echoed the sentiment after a meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel two days later on June 10.  From his talks with Sharon and Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat, Zinni believes that peace ultimately can be achieved--once the right conditions are set in place, but not immediately. The former four-star Marine general holds several distinguished chairs at universities and has taught international relations.   In an interview with Villanova Magazine, Zinni shared his views on the conflict.

“I have been going back and forth trying to implement the peace plans worked by Senator George Mitchell and former CIA director George Tenet,” said Zinni. “We’be been working with the leadership around the area, the Arabs, the European Union, United Nations, Washington and others to get the plans started. It’s been difficult because the cycle of events. Peace won’t happen right away,” said Zinni.  “We’re quite a distance from it, but I believe  it can be accomplished.”

In his role as chief negotiator for peace, Zinni chairs “The Quad,” a group comprised of  members from the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the United States.  While the United Nations seems to have been significantly absent from the peace efforts, their lack of presence is understandable  because the Israelis are not keen on listening to the U.N. “They feel there has been a lot of history of what they consider to be one-sided, so it is very difficult for them [to deal with the U.N.].  “It really takes the United States to be [the active negotiator] because we probably have the best connection with the Israelis,” said Zinni.  “We have connections on both sides, and the U.N. tends to have more connections with the Palestinians than the Israelis.”

VU Mag: Who is responsible for the terrorist activity in Palestine?

AZ:  There are a couple elements doing this sort of thing.  One is the extremists–the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP.  These groups are very radical and not associated with the Palestinian Authority. They have extremist views on not negotiating with the Israelis, want to drive them out and are usually supported from outside.  Usually, their leadership is in other places like Damascus.  They get Iranian support, and they are very difficult to deal with.

The phenomenon that has become the greatest concern to us is that more and more in recent months we have seen elements of the Security Forces of the Palestinian Authority and some of Yasser Arafat’s own political organization and their security elements, conducting some of these operations, like the Fatah, xxx the Al Ox Brigades [sp???].  These are all associated with Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority.  So the concern is that terrorism has grown beyond just the extremist groups,” Zinni explained.

VU: Do you feel the Palestinian terrorists are state sponsored? 

AZ:  As leader of the Palestinian Authority and the people of Palestine, Arafat’s has been sometimes implicated as having an indirect role in the terrorist activity. The least you could say is that Arafat could do more to curtail it.   There is  evidence that he supports these units and that these units conduct these sorts of acts.  There is no clear evidence that he has directed them, but certainly he could do more to to stop them, to curtail these events and do more to cut support to some of these units which are actually parts of his organizations.  That has been the problem, and is what  President Bush has been concerned about–Arafat’s not taking any measures at all.  Arafat contends that since the chief security forces have been damaged, this is difficult to do.  The U.S. feels that they could do more and that he should also use his voice.  Arafat is still the symbol and elected leader of the Palestinian people.  He could take a more active role to curtail the violence.

VUMag:  It doesn’t seem possible for Arafat or the Israelis to counter or control the extremists who perpetrate the violence.  Unless the extremist elements are under control, peace does not seem possible.  Do you feel there will be an opportunity for peace when almost daily escalating violence is jeopardizing peace efforts?

AZ: I think peace needs to happen almost in stages. The Palestinian Authority needs to be revamped and reformed.  Their security forces need to be reformed.  We need to clean up the terrorist activity that occurs in their own units.  They need to be motivation and direction, which they haven’t had, to clean up the extremists.  And, only Arafat could do that.

The security forces have to be rebuilt because they were destroyed in the Israeli incursions.  It is important to understand that the Palestinian people are living in a sort of sense of hopelessness.  You really need the Palestinian people to support the stopping of terrorist activities.  Right now, there is a sense of despair among the people that there isn’t any hope for peace.  There are issues that both sides need to resolved with the settlement growth, with the occupation and the humiliation and everything negative that comes with that that.  Obviously, the most difficult one issue of greatest concern is the terrorist activity.  For peace to have a chance, there has to be some sort of horizon of hope for the people so that they deny access to the fodder for a long time.  I mean the cannon fodder, which is the young people who blow themselves up. The live in despair, with the idea that violence is the only way to fight for your homeland and your family, and the mettle has turned around.  For things to change, it’s really going to take convincing the Palestinian people to see and think differently.

VU Mag: The two sides involved–Israel and the Palestinian Authority--display an ideology that includes hostility and the need for retaliation.  With such a mindset, how can the two warring sides develop an attitude that will be receptive to peace negotiations, or allow them to listen to each other’s concerns?

AZ: For the two sides to adapt a more docile perspective toward each other, multiple pieces of a complicated puzzle need to be in place.  The occupation has to be handled differently. There needs to be a short-term settlement freeze.  When confidence has been rebuilt and the Palestinian Security Forces take proper measures, then there could be a gradual withdrawal, as outlined in the Tenet and Mitchell plans. The Palestinian media incitement–to encourage sometimes this martyrdom–has to be cease. 

If some agreement is implemented that both sides agree to and actually put their minds and hearts to, the Israeli and Palestinian people will experience a sense of hope–that something is happening. But I think you’re talking about a process that will take at least six months to a year. We need to get back to the progress made at Camp David or one of the other places. We need to be very close to settling the final issues like the right of return with the final status’ settlement, the status of Jerusalem.  But we’re quite a distance from it.  There have now become a whole set of issues in between.

VU Mag: If a settlement or progress is made, how will that help the increased need for security, the Homeland situation that we face now after 9-11?

AZ:   In terms of our relationship with the Islamic World, the Arab World, it is going to be much better if this were settled.   For the moderate leaders like Crown Prince Abdullah, President Mubharak,  King Abdullah and others, this is what concerns them most.  This is what stirs up their street and their people.  That’s why they’re pushing settlement.  If we could get back onto a path of progress between Israel and the Palestinian people, it would it would help them all deal with terrorism.  They could begin to resolve the differences that are cultural and political.

I have spent much in that part of the world.  I don’t believe there is anything inherent in Islam or the Arab world that makes it automatically counter to our culture.  I don’t subscribe to Samuel Huntington’s theory that there is an inherent clash of civilization here.  But I do think  there are serious issues that exacerbate the relationship, and this is the No. 1 issue that we need to focus on. This may be more critical than Sadaam or other issues that have to be dealt with.

VU Mag: If a settlement or even progress toward peace develops, will that ease terrorist threats or help the Homeland Security situation that we face now?

AZ:  In terms of our relationship with the Islamic World and the Arab world, it is going to be much better if this situation is settled,” said Zinni.  “The conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people is the biggest issue in that part of the world. For moderate leaders like Crown Prince Abdullah, President Mubharak, King Abdullah and others, this is what concerns them most.  This stirs up their street and their people.  That’s why they are pushing for settlement.  If this were settled, it certainly would pull away sympathy and support in a lot of quarters for some of the terrorist activities.  It would certainly resolved some of the differences we may have which are cultural and political.

 I don’t think there is anything inherent in the Arab world that makes it automatically counter to our culture. But there are serious issues that exacerbate the relationship and this is the No. 1, critical issue that we need to focus on.                 

VU Mag: How widespread is terrorism beyond the Middle East? Clicks of terrorist activity have surfaced in the Far East recently.

AZ:  Terrorist activity is a significant threat in 60 countries, not just the Far East.  There are cells in Europe, Latin America, in our own hemisphere in Canada and even within the United States.  Al Qaeda has become a very deep rooted and very intricate network.       

  The war on terrorism is not just a matter of law enforcement, going after finances, and conducting military action.  Those are the tactical level things that need to be done. If you really want to contain terrorism from growing and stop it from achieving its goals, you have to pull away the support. A lot of young people have taken up with extremism because they see no other way out of a plight, which is usually economic, political or social problems.    So, take the support away from people who are politically or socially disenfranchised, depressed or feel strongly toward terrorism, you are removing the means, because that support is the fodder that feeds terrorism.

It is certainly not our fault, but as the greatest superpower now, we need to help countries come out of poverty and help with their economic, political and social reform. This has to be done so we don’t have young people flocking to extremism out of a sense of despair.  That’s really the underlying problem that needs to be dealt with.

VU Mag: How can you deal with the average, largely uneducated citizens of countries like Pakistan and India who have a mind set on going to war even if it means nuclear war? People who would resort to any means to fight for their cause?

AZ: I would be careful drawing conclusions from anecdotal evidence portrayed by the media.  Osama bin Laden tried to create an Islamic uprising, a Jihad, when we first went to Afghanistan, but he failed.  Only a small percentage of people reacted to that and the camera caught demonstrations in the streets, but a larger portion, tens of thousands of people were not interested and went about their daily business. 

Osama bin Laden wanted to create an Islamic revolution and called for it when he struck the blow against America, but it hasn’t happened.  No one has risen up. Even if you look at the example of Abul Al Saaed [sp???] in the Philippines, it’s  few hundred people on one island. 

The greatest danger is not that they want to support terrorists or want to have an extremist movement or Islamic reactionary movement that sets them back two centuries.  If you understand Islam, the greatest tenets of the religion that mean the most are social justice and brotherhood. If they see injustice done to a brother, or an Arab or Muslim anywhere, that’s the thing that hurts the most.

With the Palestinian territories, if they feel an Arab or Muslim brother is being unjustly treated.  That has the greatest resonance among the population because it is so strong in the culture and in the religion.  The vast majority of Muslims want peace and the same things we do, but they get moved as a people over perceived injustice.  That is very strong. 

Each religion has one or two tenets that are the strongest.  If you don’t understand that about religion, you don’t understand where the people are coming from [perspective].  If you are a Christian, the strongest elements in your religion are love and forgiveness.  If you are a Jew, it is a sense of law and abiding by very strict rules to live your life.  In this sense, if Muslims see a brother being wronged, or suffering some social injustice, that becomes something that strikes at the heart that is difficult to counter.

Interestingly, the cultures of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples have many similarities.  And if they ever figured a way to work together, they would dominate the region, just by the kinds of [positive] qualities possessed by both people.  Ninety-eight percent of the Palestinian people are literate. They are not a backward culture. They enjoy one of the highest literacy levels in the world.  Their greatest export has always been people, highly educated, highly industrious, very effective people.  They  provide the Arab world with lawyers, university professors and the managers in business.  They are very similar and in may ways that is what causes part of the clash.  This is not the American West in the 1800s where civilization and development clashed in a culture that was centuries behind the industrialized nation.  It may appear that the Palestinians are backward culture because of the conditions they live in, but that is not the case in terms of the people.