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CNN Live At Daybreak
Palestinian Officers Evacuated in Anticipation of Israeli Response
Aired March 28, 2002 - 06:31 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: We want to get more now on that suicide bomber in northern Israel. Our Michael Holmes is checking reaction to the bombing from Israel -- good morning, Michael.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. Yes, I can report to you that official Palestinian officers in the West Bank town of Ramallah are being evacuated by Palestinian leaders. They have told their workers to go home, leave those buildings. It's not because they know anything about any sort of imminent action by Israel. It is pretty much standard operating procedure after an attack has taken place in Israel to clear those buildings in case of an attack, but I can tell you that those workers are heading out of there right now.
Also spoke to our people in Ramallah. They tell us that the locals there, just ordinary civilians in Ramallah, are stocking up on food and essentials. Of course, it was earlier this month that Israel launched a major incursion into the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and people in Ramallah were locked up for the best part in their own homes, ordered not to leave for the best part of three days, so plenty of people are stocking up on food and essentials in case that happens. Will it happen? It remains to be seen.
Last night, the Israeli defense minister met with his top generals and security officials to discuss the situation and potential retaliation. And we are told that the defense minister was in telephone contact with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
We are also told that senior cabinet ministers may well meet later today or this evening here to discuss what they may or may not do as a result of yesterday's -- or last night's suicide bombing in the seaside town of Netanya just north of Tel Aviv -- Carol.
COSTELLO: With all of this in mind, does what happens at the Arab summit really matter now?
HOLMES: I don't think it matters much to Palestinians on the ground, but to be honest, it didn't matter much before anyway. I have talked to a lot of Palestinians in the last week or two. They didn't put a lot of faith in the Arab summit coming up with anything to help them. They all said the same thing. They said that Arab summits have come and gone. There has been plenty of talk that here we still are. So I don't think that ordinary Palestinians had much faith that the summit was going to achieve much directly for them on the ground in any kind of tangible sense. They certainly are feeling that this suicide bombing has affected the mood of that summit. It has also affected the mood of the ongoing cease-fire negotiations of the U.S. Special Envoy Anthony Zinni, who has been working hard in the last couple of weeks to try to bring these two sides together to broker some sort of truce, even using bridging proposals, compromised proposals to the original Tenet plan. They are still no closer to having a cease-fire, and after the events of last night, one would think further apart -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, basically, Anthony Zinni is negotiating between Arafat and Sharon, but the group responsible for the suicide bombing, this latest one, is Hamas. And no one really has control over that group.
HOLMES: That's true. Hamas runs its own race. It is vehemently opposed to any sort of cease-fire or even cease-fire talks, and it has said publicly, along with the Islamic jihad and other extreme groups, that if a cease-fire were put in place, they wouldn't recognize it anyway. However, the Israelis have, as they have in the past, laid the blame for last night squarely at the feet of Yasser Arafat, saying that his security forces have not done enough, not just to stop this bombing, but to stop previous attacks.
Of course, there has been a string of attacks here in the last couple of weeks, and there was one particular case where Israel said they had advised the Palestinian Authority of a car bomb attack that was, they felt, pending, and gave information to the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority, they say, did nothing. That car did turn up in Jerusalem and was stopped by police, and the two Palestinians inside did detonate that car bomb. No one else was injured. Israel says that's an example of how Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority have done little.
The Palestinians for their side say they are working hard to try to crack down and stop militants. They say that in the wake of this bombing last night in Netanya, they have issued a list of people, suspects that they want to round up and arrest. So the debate goes on -- Carol.
COSTELLO: As it has for many, many years. Thank you -- Michael Holmes reporting live for us this morning.
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