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CNN Live At Daybreak

At Arab Summit, Foreign Ministers Not Mincing Words in Support For Palestinian Uprising Against Israel

Aired March 26, 2002 - 05:02   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: At that Arab summit in Beirut foreign ministers are not mincing words in their support for the current Palestinian uprising against Israel. They've drafted a statement supporting the steadfastness and courage of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian uprising has claimed hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli lives.

CNN Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler has more on the summit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the Arabs themselves, a dire warning -- unless there's peace in the Middle East, the region faces total anarchy and confrontation. That bleak assessment from the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, to foreign ministers in Beirut, where the spotlight is focused on a Saudi peace initiative proposed last month and Arab backing of the Palestinian armed struggle.

AMR MOUSSA, ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY GENERAL: Full support for the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli Army of occupation in the occupied territories and also a cogent call by the Arab countries for a just and lasting peace.

SADLER: Regional leaders are expected to adopt the Saudi peace initiative, offering normal Arab relations with Israel in exchange for a withdrawal by Israel from lands occupied since 1967.

RAFIK HARIRI, LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER: I don't think that the Saudi initiative is addressed to Mr. Sharon. It is addressed to the whole world and it is addressed to the Israeli people. Sharon, he wants to accept it, it is up to him.

SADLER: In southern Lebanon's Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp, Palestinians burned Israeli and U.S. flags to protest any summit concessions to Israel, including acceptance by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat of any Israeli conditions to attend the summit.

NABIL SHAATH, PALESTINIAN CABINET MINISTER: He is the democratically elected president of the Palestinian people and he is coming here, despite the bloody confrontation against the occupation, to seek a permanent peaceful settlement based on the Saudi plan. SADLER: With or without an Israeli green light, though, Mr. Arafat is expected to address the summit, even if he has to appear on a teleconference system, a system already installed just in case.

Brent Sadler, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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