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CNN Live At Daybreak
Sharon Wants To Restrict Arafat's Visitors; Iraq Meets With U.N.
Aired March 05, 2002 - 06:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well escalating violence in the Middle East is prompting top Israeli officials to look for a solution today. CNN senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar is in Jerusalem now with the latest developments.
Hello Sheila.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Kyra. Prime Minister Sharon is meeting -- a meeting that began just a few moments ago with his Security Cabinet in Tel Aviv there discussing what to do about this cycle of violence, as you describe it, an escalating cycle of violence.
The prime minister has let it be known that what he wants to do, or one of the things he wants to do is to put Israeli tanks back into the Palestinian city of Ramallah, right outside the headquarters of Yasser Arafat. You may remember, Kyra, that Palestinian tanks were there for some time. Yasser Arafat was under virtual house arrest. It was pressure placed on Mr. Arafat.
Mr. Sharon wants to put more tanks there and this time not only keep Mr. Arafat in his headquarters, but he has let it be known try and restrict those people who are coming to see him. Of course, there has always been a stream of people back and forth -- international dignitaries, diplomats, people trying to find a solution or have a dialogue with Mr. Arafat or get something going between the Israelis and the Palestinians. And Mr. Sharon has let it be known that he wants to put more pressure, keep Mr. Arafat isolated and try, in the view of Mr. Sharon, to have him find a way out of this particular crisis.
Now in the last number of hours alone, we have seen just a number of incidents on both sides. In Afula, the central Israeli town, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus killing himself and one Israeli. At a school in east Jerusalem, an Arab school, a school for Palestinian boys, a bomb apparently placed there by a previously unknown Israeli group exploded causing very light injuries to eight school children.
Very early this morning in Tel Aviv, at a very popular restaurant, a Palestinian gunman walked into that restaurant, opened fire with an automatic weapon, and killed three Israelis, wounded 40 others. In all, about 50 people killed in the last two and a half days. Fifty Israelis and Palestinians killed alone in the last two and a half days.
Now overnight we have also seen more retaliation from the Israelis. A military action where they went into a village near Hebron, made two arrests, pulled out bombing by F-16 jets of Palestinian positions, rather, very close to the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. We're in a cycle, it would seem of an escalating cycle of violence where these actions are coming more and more closely together. It's no longer possible to say that one is direct retaliation for another -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Sheila MacVicar with the latest from Jerusalem. Thank you.
Talks between Iraq and the United Nations resume Thursday after a long delay, but Iraq's goal of having the U.N. embargo lifted still seems contingent on weapons inspection. CNN's Jane Arraf has the latest from Baghdad.
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JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This could be Baghdad's last chance to avert war against Iraq. Foreign Minister Naji Sabri on a mission from President Saddam Hussein. The first talks with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in more than a year, aimed at ending a dangerous impasse over weapons inspection.
NAJI SABRI, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
ARRAF (voice-over): Iraq's allies fear it will be more of a monologue. Diplomats say Iraq simply recited a list of grievances during a similar meeting a year ago. The talks went nowhere, but this time with the U.S. pressing for an immediate return of weapons inspectors, the stakes are much higher.
SABRI (through translator): We hope that this round will be a serious step towards achieving what the people of Iraq deserve legally and legitimately of legitimate demands.
ARRAF (voice-over): Iraq demands that the U.N. Security Council certifies Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction and sanctions be lifted. The U.S. demands that the Iraqi leader let U.N. weapons inspectors back in or risk the biggest attack since the Gulf War.
There's quite a lot of ground between those two positions and not much time to cover it. The Iraqi foreign minister is in New York only 36 hours before he heads to Cairo for an Arab League meeting. A lot of pressure for one day of talk, a lot riding on this plane trip.
Jane Arraf, CNN, Baghdad.
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