WASHINGTON, 28 November — Retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, the newly-appointed White House Mideast envoy, on Monday began talks in the region to try to establish a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians. It is hoped the talks will eventually lead to renewed peace negotiations between the two sides.
The general is expected to stay in the region to try and impose the implementation of the cease-fire agreement reached several months ago by the CIA director George Tenet, which preceded the Mitchell Plan, and was endorsed by both Palestinians and Israelis. Secretary of State Colin Powell announced the appointment of Gen. Zinni during his major foreign policy speech in Kentucky last week. The general was appointed as envoy along with William Burns, the assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Near East Affairs.
The fact that Powell elected not to send former Secretary of State James Baker to be the American negotiator, as many observers had initially hoped, has many asking who is Gen. Zinni? A respected soldier, he has the reputation as an unusual armed forces "intellectual" who has studied Arabic, but he remains largely an enigma to Americans, Palestinians and Israelis.
Those who know Zinni, 57, say the 300-pound ex-Marine is tough-minded but fair, a pragmatist and a good listener. He is said to be ambitious and independent minded with direct links to both Powell and the White House. For three years, Gen. Zinni served as the top US military commander in what the Pentagon calls CENTCOM, the vast region that stretches from the Horn of Africa to Central Asia. His time here is said to have exposed him to many of the intricacies and complications of Middle East politics, and observers note the general proved himself by establishing extensive and successful dealings with leaders in the region and Central Asia.
During that time, Gen. Zinni developed close relations with Muslim leaders who appreciated his success in coordination successful relief and peacekeeping missions across the region. He is said to have established good relations with Sultan Qaboos of Oman and others before drawing up the framework for the 1998 US-British offensive against Iraq.
His good relations with Arabs have raised eyebrows with some Israelis and American Jews. "The Israelis are all hoping that Gen. Zinni’s mission will be successful, and that we will be able to have the end of terrorism and a cease-fire. He brings to the table a wealth of experience and we don’t believe the relationship that he has developed in the Arab world, in his previous position, is necessarily a negative factor," said Mark Regev, spokesman at the Israeli Embassy.
"What he brings to this whole process, aside from real objectivity, is the fact that he’s a military person who understands the politics and diplomacy involved," said Charles Pena, senior defense policy analyst at the Washington-based CATO Institute. "Gen. Zinni is a pragmatic and cautious man, not given to the rhetoric of politics and that is what is going to be need to bring the sides together to agree on something in the Middle East."
