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U.S. Envoy Meets With Palestinian Leaders

Aired March 15, 2002 - 13:11   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: From the Middle East now, Anthony Zinni has arrived. In fact, at this time, he is meeting with the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, in the town of Ramallah. Ben Wedeman is covering that visit and joins us now with an update on the visit from there. Hey, Ben, good evening to you.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Bill. Yes, I'm at the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. And just a little while ago Mr. Zinni, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, finished a meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Afterwards, they made statements. Mr. Zinni said that after two days of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, those meetings have been extremely positive, in his words. He says that everyone on both sides, he said, is committed to getting out of what he described as this terrible situation. He said that U.S. president George W. Bush has laid out a vision and a plan to get Palestinians and Israelis out of the current impasse, out of the current violence.

Mr. Arafat, for his part, reiterated his commitment to the peace process begun back in 1991 in Madrid, when the first Middle East peace conference was held. He said that he's still committed to what he described as the peace of the brave, a peace he began with a man he described as his friend, former -- the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. So, certainly, positive signs and signals coming out of this meeting in Ramallah.

Mr. Zinni is going to go back to Jerusalem now and resume his talks with Israeli leaders, of course, now is the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath in Israel. Therefore, probably he is going to be doing some consulting with officials back in Washington. But certainly, words of optimism out of here.

Now, today, Ramallah -- the city of Ramallah is getting used to the fact that they can get back to a somewhat normal life. People spent the day going around the city, surveying the severe damage that took place in many parts of the town. But a big sigh of relief was heard today in this city. And certainly, it has been a quiet day, the quietest day in quite some time in this region. No reports of any major violence. Mr. Zinni has now begun a mission that many people were hoping would happen and possibly now we can expect that there could be progress in a peace process that has really been in crisis now for 18 months -- Bill.

HEMMER: And there's an obvious suggestion there, just his mere presence seems to have quieted things down, if not just for one day. Ben, thanks. Ben Wedeman reporting in Ramallah.

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