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CNN Live At Daybreak

Arab League Leaders Gathering in Beirut For a Very Important Summit

Aired March 27, 2002 - 05:07   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: Arab League leaders are gathering in Beirut this morning for a very important summit. They're focusing on a Saudi peace proposal for the Israelis and the Palestinians. Among some of the key people not there, though, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Our John Vause is in Jerusalem this morning with more on the impasse between Arafat and the Israeli government -- was this much of a surprise that Arafat did not go to the summit?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At the end of the day, no, Carol. I mean there was a lot of speculation that Arafat was being more powerful by not going, that he held more cards by not attending the summit in person. And while he may be stuck home alone in Ramallah, he will still address that conference.

We're expecting him to make an address any moment now. He'll be doing that via video, via satellite from his headquarters in Ramallah.

Now, overnight the Israeli prime minister made his case against not lifting that travel ban, which has been in place on Mr. Arafat since December. He said that Mr. Arafat needed to address his people in Arabic, he needed to state the case why there should be a cease- fire, to call for an end to the violence, an end to the uprising which has been going on now for almost 18 months.

He also put out a new condition there. He said that he wanted to reserve the right not to allow Mr. Arafat back into Palestinian controlled territories should there be any violence in his absence. And the new twist on this is that he wanted U.S. backing for that demand.

Now, that demand not to allow Mr. Arafat back in should there be any violence, that was one that the Palestinians reportedly found the most objectionable of all. But they said that, in fact, all of the demands that Mr. Sharon was placing on Yasser Arafat were humiliating, illegal and immoral.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: President Arafat's decision came after serious and in depth study of the situation, a review of the whole situation. The past days or two weeks the Israeli government handled this issue in the most despicable fashion, humiliating, an attempt to humiliate the Palestinian leader and the Palestinian people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Now, of course, all this going on against the backdrop of cease-fire talks with the U.S. envoy here, General Anthony Zinni. He has reportedly put those talks on hold because the gap between the Palestinians and the Israelis is "so large." He will continue to meet separately with both parties -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, John Vause.

We want to take this story now to Beirut and the summit itself. The Arab League leaders convened the summit just about 30 minutes ago in Lebanon's capital.

Our Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler is there. He joins us live on the phone -- hello, Brent. What's going on there right now?

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Well, the first session of this Arab heads of state summit is, as you say, just getting under way here and what's happened in the last 24 hours or so, some dramatic developments. And we know, of course, that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is not here. But then there's been a domino effect of other leaders not coming, including, of course, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak also absent. And then just a few hours ago confirmation that Jordan's King Abdullah, another key country in Mideast peacemaking, he is not attending this summit.

Also it's worth mentioning, because I believe they're connected, as many Arab commentators do here believe they're connected, the non- appearance of Qatar's head of state, the emir. Also enough here Qatar has low level economic ties with Israel, and, of course, Egypt and Jordan have peace treaties with Israel. So it's regarded as not unconnected with Arafat that those leaders aren't here.

However, they're still trying to make the best of it here, saying that the Saudi peace initiative, which is calling for normal relations from the Arab world with Israel in exchange for Israel withdrawing from land occupied since June the 4th, 1967. We heard from Jordan's prime minister a short time ago, who said that it was Israel, he said, [putting obstacles in the way of moving forward to achieve a real just and comprehensive peace. And that's the kind of thing we're likely to hear from other speakers from the Arab world as this conference unfolds.

Perhaps, though, one of the most dramatic moments could be when Yasser Arafat is expected to address summit leaders, not here in Beirut, of course, but from his Ramallah quarters in the West Bank. A live video link being arranged, we understand, to allow Mr. Arafat to make a dramatic statement to leaders here some time during, we expect, this first day of the summit -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, thank goodness for technology. Thank you.

Brent Sadler reporting live for us from Beirut this morning. We'll get back to you as the summit begins.

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