Former Sen. Mitchell on Mideast, N. Ireland

Mitchell headed an independent committee that investigated months of Israeli - Palestinian fighting.

(CNN) -- Former U.S. Senator George Mitchell has spent the last few years working to bring warring factions to peaceful settlements. He most recently headed the international, independent panel known as the Mitchell Committee that was formed to investigate and propose a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Three years ago, he helped broker an accord regarding Northern Ireland.

He discussed both efforts with CNN's Stephen Frazier.

FRAZIER: Let's go first to the Middle East, where a man of peace must certainly be disheartened by these most recent events.

MITCHELL: It's a very difficult situation. Obviously the cease-fire that CIA Director Tenet negotiated very effectively is not complete, and has been broken on several occasions. I think it's very important that this effort be consolidated, and I commend Secretary of State Powell for his decision to go to the region to try to consolidate the cease-fire and move on to the next phase.

FRAZIER: As someone who's been right in the middle of that effort to consolidate, what steps would you recommend?

MITCHELL: Well, I think the steps that were laid out by CIA Director Tenet have to be pursued. First, there should be a complete cessation of violence, unconditional. Both sides have to make a maximum effort to try to prevent any kind of violence that is likely to stir up the other side. And secondly, the security cooperation between the security agents. These are the two sides which both agree worked well during the Oslo process.

I think those two things have to happen right now. Then they have to move in to the political phase of the process; that is, a resumption of the steps that are needed to rebuild the confidence that's been shattered over the past, well, several months.

FRAZIER: We're just getting some comments now from the senior U.S. envoy on the scene there, William Burns, and I wonder what you could tell us -- if you could tell us what you make of them here. Let's listen first, and then we'll chat a little bit.

MITCHELL: All right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BURNS, SPECIAL U.S. ENVOY: It's obvious that there can be no military solution to this problem, that it is only through a political process that security can be reestablished, and also return to a more normal life for Palestinians living under very difficult circumstances.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRAZIER: Spoken, do you think, to the journalists of the world, or to the parties involved there?

MITCHELL: I think to both. To get the parties to move, but also to create an international pressure from governments and nongovernment organizations around the world because this thing could easily spiral out of control in ways that cannot be foreseen or predicted.

So I think there's a very strong and powerful incentive for both sides to resume the negotiations and to end this really awful spiral of violence that's gone on for the past several months.

FRAZIER: When you authored the Mitchell Report it wasn't just sort of an academic exercise, you know the people involved there. From your assessment of their personalities and where they are right now -- the pressure is on them -- is that a realistic expectation, that things will quiet down soon?

MITCHELL: I think it has to, because the alternative in so unacceptable. Strikingly, on my last visit to the region both Prime Minister Sharon and Chairman Arafat said to me separately as we parted that life had become unbearable for the members of their society. And, indeed, it has for both sides.

FRAZIER: Well it's that old joke, you know, about the scorpion stabbing the frog. It's the Middle East, it's unbearable.

MITCHELL: Yes, it really is. Life is -- cannot be normal. There is tremendous fear and anxiety. Of course, a great deal of death and destruction. And I think that, in the end, both sides have got to conclude that this -- continuation of this conflict is unacceptable and they have to turn to a political process.

FRAZIER: Let's turn now to Northern Ireland where, thanks to your efforts, they have seen the end of the rainbow. For quite a while, things have been going very well there, and now the wheels are coming off. Why do you think that's happening now?

MITCHELL: Well, when the peace agreement was reached three years ago and I announced it, I said that, by itself, the agreement did not provide a guaranteed peace, it made it possible. What you're seeing in Northern Ireland and the Middle East -- what we've seen in the Balkans, that it's very difficult to get a peace agreement. It's even more difficult to implement it. And that's what's happening in Northern Ireland. Very tough time in getting it implemented.

FRAZIER: All right, as we heard in a report earlier, a lot of this has to do with this disarming by the IRA. I heard you speak at a magazine dinner a couple of years ago in which you said that to bring them to the table, you talked about going to the opera -- how you like to go to the opera because you know how everybody is going to sing the same old song all the time; you know how it's going to turn out. Is that what they're doing again -- going back to the same lyrics?

MITCHELL: They do, really. There's a tremendous amount of repetition based upon past history. It's important to know your history and to revere the event of the past, but not to be chained to the past. I think what's happening in Northern Ireland is a reversion to the past.

I think they do have to make progress on the three important remaining issues, and they are: the decommissioning of weapons, to which you have referred; a critical issue, and there must be decommissioning. In addition, a reform of the police services. And what they call demilitarization -- a reduction of the military presence. There has to be movement in all those areas.

FRAZIER: Let me quote you and make sure I', doing it properly, senator, earlier, too, you mentioned, though, to ask the IRA to give up its weapons is asking somebody to surrender before losing a war, and that it's unprecedented anywhere in the world.

MITCHELL: Well, that's the line that they take. And, of course, they were not defeated militarily. There was a military stalemate. But the fact of the matter is, there is now an alternative democratic process in which their political wing has participated very successfully. And there have been tremendous gains made through this process. The decommissioning of weapons is a crucial part of this entire process, and it must occur if there is to be, ultimately, a durable and stable peace and reconciliation.

FRAZIER: Senator, our last question, and it's about the coming days, when a lot of people in Northern Ireland look back to the past instead of to the future, as you just advocated, because it's the Marching Season, where they're really reliving a military victory of 300 years ago as a way to be provocative, I guess.

MITCHELL: Well, both sides have very strong feelings. It's an unusual situation. There are more than 3,000 marches each year in Northern Ireland, and they do generate very strong feelings on both sides. The peak is reached the first week in July. I'll be there during that week, and I expect to witness some of the marches.

Most of them go off pretty well and peacefully through local negotiation, and that's what I think has to occur. Contact at the local level between the two communities to reach a compromise on how the marches go and how they occur without violence. Now, there's likely to be some violence this year, unfortunately, but it has to be kept to a minimum.

FRAZIER: Well we didn't know you were going to be present for them; I hope that you're safe while you're there Senator Mitchell. And we're grateful that you've joined us here tonight.

MITCHELL: Thank you very much, Stephen. It's a pleasure to be with you.

FRAZIER: Thank you.