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CNN Live Today

Arab League Summit Hit a Snag Today

Aired March 27, 2002 - 12:10   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: As we reported, the much anticipated, much awaited Arab League summit hit a snag today. Host country Lebanon barred Yasser Arafat from addressing the summit by way of satellite, prompting a walkout by the Palestinians. Lost in all of this is the Saudi plan to help end the Arab conflict with Israel.

And Rula Amin live in Beirut to explain what's happening here. And a number of twists and turns already in the opening hours there -- Rula, good evening.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good evening.

As you said, it was a very rocky start for a summit that was supposed to be a landmark summit. It started with the absence of three key players: the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, and the King of Jordan, Abdullah, did not come. Yasser Arafat, the President of the Palestinian Authority, was also not able to come after he failed to get guarantees from Israel that if he leaves he will be able to get back.

Anyway, the summit still convened this morning. But after a smooth session, the Palestinians walked out of that session protesting, they say, that the Palestinian president was prevented from addressing the summit by the Lebanese president. The Palestinians say they wanted Yasser Arafat to talk to the Arab leaders meeting here through a satellite link directly live from Ramallah. That didn't happen, and the Palestinians say they are not joining this summit again until Yasser Arafat is able and enabled by the Lebanese to do that.

The Lebanese president who heads this summit had a different explanation on why Mr. Arafat was not able to address the summit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. EMILE LAHOUD, LEBANON (through translator): In clarifying the misunderstanding regarding the address of our brother, President Yasser Arafat, to this summit, I would like to clarify that we all argue (ph) that President Arafat's address (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the summit and through it the world. And we have asked our brothers in the Palestinian delegation to record this address and later broadcast it to us in this room. Since live broadcasts could run the risk of Israel interrupting the satellite transmission, and that possibility interfering with Arafat's address, therefore we believe it was necessary to clarify this situation. And we hope that the Palestinian delegation will respond so we can broadcast this tape and this session.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMIN: Now despite these snags, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Prince Abdullah (UNINTELLIGIBLE), was still able to present his peace initiative, basically saying it's a land (ph) for peace formula. He said that the Arab world is willing to have peaceful relations with Israel if Israel is willing to withdraw from Arab land it occupied in 1967. And, also, the crown prince said that this is a peace initiative that was directly addressed to the Israeli people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWN PRINCE ABDULLAH, SAUDI ARABIA (through translator): Not withstanding military superiority, and despite efforts to subdue and oppress, peace emanates from the heart and mind, and not from the barrel of a cannon or the exploding warhead of a missile. The time has come for Israel to put its trust in peace after it has gambled on war for decades without success. Israel and the world must understand that peace and the retention of the occupied Arab territories are incompatible and impossible to reconcile or achieve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMIN: Now despite -- as we said before -- these snags, most of the Arab leaders who spoke today endorsed this peace initiative, including the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Yasser Arafat, from Ramallah, also endorse it, and said that the Palestinians support the Crown Prince Abdullah's ideas -- Bill.

HEMMER: Rula, quickly here, with the walkouts and the confusion that we saw earlier, some have suggested the summit was more or less a farce in the early hours. Curious to know, any reaction with the world watching on right now the credibility of this league? Is that perhaps in danger given what we've seen in the past several hours?

AMIN: Well, you know, it's on two levels. On the level of disappointment, the disappointment is actually big for the Arab streets. The Arab people here did not have a lot of expectations from the summit. Still, there's a lot of disappointment on the street. They feel that the leaders have acted very childishly, basically. On another level -- on the Saudi initiative level -- the participants in this summit have been telling us, actually, the peace message is still there. Because the participants who are here - especially Saudi Arabia and Syria - the countries that have not had peaceful relations with Israel yet have said that they are willing to have it. And that is what counts -- Bill.

HEMMER: Rula Amin, live in Beirut. Rula, thanks.

And as Rula was mentioning that Saudi proposal about the Middle East peace plan calls for a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem; specifically, East Jerusalem, the old city there, long a point of contention between Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Muslims. Both claim stake to that old part in the Middle East. And truth be known, Jerusalem arguably is the centerpiece for this entire conflict.

So then, with that as a backdrop, how are both sides on the ground in the Middle East feeling about the future for Jerusalem? We took "The Pulse" on the streets of the Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYOR EHUD OLMERT, JERUSALEM: It's holy for Muslims, it's holy for Christians, but it's the holiest for Jews. And it has been the holiest for Jews for 3,000 years. And it was the capital of the Jews for 3,000 years; it never was the capital for any other nation, and it will not be.

SARI NUSSEIBEH, PLO OFFICIAL, JERUSALEM: I believe East Jerusalem should be the capital of Palestine, just as I think West Jerusalem could be the capital of Israel. Nonetheless, having said this, I believe that East and West should remain united. I think it is possible to devise the systems of government between Israelis and Palestinians over Jerusalem to make sure that this unification or this unity is a unity of equal partners. Of partners who work hand in hand to give Jerusalem its due, and to make use of Jerusalem as a place that can be a light unto the world. The Palestinian, the Arab attachment, the Muslim attachment to Jerusalem is historical, it's spiritual, it's part of the existential perspectives of ourselves (ph), identifications of images, of understandings, of the Palestinians as Muslims, as Arabs, as Christians.

OLMERT: For 2,000 years, the Jewish people are praying every day for the city of Jerusalem. When you open the bible, you find Jerusalem in hundreds of different contexts. It has never been mentioned in the Koran, it has always been mentioned in the bible. Jerusalem was always the ultimate dream of Jewish resurrections. And for 2,000 years, the greatest dream that we had was to return back to Jerusalem. and when we were praying to return back to Jerusalem, there was one place on which we always focused, and this was the Temple Mount, because the Temple Mount is where the Jewish nation was born.

NUSSEIBEH: I dare say that the Israelis, none of them, would wish to propose that the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) or the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) must be dismantled. On the other hand, I would imagine that the Jews in general would like the affinity that they have to that specific area be at least recognized. On the Palestinian side, we need to be able, I believe, to maintain that area as a very precious area, as it has been.

Clearly, for the Muslim point of view, this is a unique place. And I say it's unique because it's the only place associated in Islam with human beings ascendancy to happen. It's the place which Mohammed the profit chose to come to in order to rise to heaven, according to the story. So it's a very unique place for us connecting the divine life with our earthly life.

OLMERT: Amongst the population of Jerusalem in the last 17 months, there was not one single major confrontation. The minute the Arafat people will be here, it will start. They haven't demonstrated, they haven't rioted, they haven't participated in the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). They want to have quiet, peaceful and a productive life within the framework of one city.

NUSSEIBEH: The Palestinians of East Jerusalem, like the Palestinians everywhere, need to feel that they live in their own country, in their own state, masters of their own destiny. They would like to feel happy about East Jerusalem being the symbol of their national aspiration, their religious focal point.

OLMERT: All these ridiculous arguments that because there are different people living in the same city, therefore the city has to be divided. You know how many cities should be divided in the world if we would follow this reasoning of ethnic divisions? You know how many cities in the world have national minorities?

So every city that has national minorities should be divided according to ethnic lines? This is ridiculous. Can't we live together? I believe we can.

NUSSEIBEH: This is not a natural disaster, this is not a volcanic eruption whose effects we are suffering. This is a tragic situation created by us human beings. And it is crazy if we, the human beings, cannot adjust ourselves to dealing with it, transforming it and creating a happy and prosperous life for us all in the neighborhood for Israelis and Palestinians.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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