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CNN Live At Daybreak

Palestinian Authority Makes International Plea for Help to Stop Israel's Military Offensive

Aired March 29, 2002 - 05:47   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: Getting back now to the Israeli- Palestinian crisis. The Palestinian Authority is making a plea for international help to pressure Israel to stop its military offensive in Ramallah.

For more on the Arab reaction to the military crackdown, we go live to our Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler.

Good morning, Brent.

BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: Thanks, Carol, good morning.

In the wake of the Arab summit which offered an olive branch, say Arab leaders, to Israel, exchanging land for peace, Arab leaders are saying that as they are offering peace and security for Israel, the Israelis are turning their tanks, their gun barrels against the Palestinians.

I'm now joined live here in the Lebanese capital by Senior Palestinian Cabinet Minister Nabil Sha'ath.

Now you're speaking to Mr. Arafat in his Ramallah compound every half hour or so. What's the latest from there?

NABIL SHA'ATH, PALESTINIAN CABINET MINISTER: He is steadfast. I mean he is a brave man. He doesn't fear. He has been through situation like this, but the situation is drastic, it's threatening, it's ominous. The -- they have devastated his compound. The tanks are just parked outside his office and shooting at anything that moves. And there are casualties in his own guard, in his own assistants and secretaries. And he is with few of his assistants and cabinet ministers in his office in the second floor.

SADLER: So how close is this to Arafat himself to the incoming fire?

SHA'ATH: Very, very close. The tanks are literally few yards below his office.

SADLER: And in terms of what happens on the ground in terms of how Palestinians are responding, how do you see this battle going on? SHA'ATH: Well the battle is a rerun of the battle that enraged with the Israeli assault about a month ago. The Israelis then occupied all of Bethlehem and in fact, most of Palestinian towns in the West Bank. The resistance is already starting and is going to be fierce, and there are going to be lots of civilians killed, lots of buildings destroyed by the Israeli onslaught of tanks and artillery in very, very crowded lanes and streets.

SADLER: In terms of trying to put pressure on the Israelis, what are you, as a representative of the Palestinian Authority, doing here in Beirut? You've had contacts with Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

SHA'ATH: We know that a very important part of this battle is a political one. The Israelis are really attacking in order to defy the olive branch, the peace process that has been offered here. And we -- I addressed myself to the very proponent of this peace process, to the Crown Prince Abdullah and who is extremely angry at the attack. He's called leadership in the United States. We -- and President Mubarak, whom we called him through his Foreign Minister here. Other foreign ministers have been contacted, the King of Morocco.

We visited Prime Minister Hariri in his office, Prime Minister of Lebanon, who talked to President Chirac, who promised to talk to President Bush and to President Putin. I am in touch with Mr. Solana and Mr. Pique, the Foreign Minister of Spain, and others. We are moving in every way to stop a catastrophe, a carnage from taking place.

SADLER: Let me ask you this question, if anything happens to Mr. Arafat, should he become a victim of the assault on the ground, where does that lead the Palestinians and the Israelis?

SHA'ATH: The explosion that will erupt not only in Palestine but everywhere in the Arab world is something I cannot possibly estimate. It's a -- it's a traumatic event that everybody fears and every Palestinian and Arab thinks of as a catastrophe that will be met with a lot of bloodshed and a lot of explosions everywhere.

SADLER: All right, Nabil Sha'ath, Palestinian Cabinet Member there giving us a very downbeat assessment of what might happen in the region should anything happen to Mr. Arafat now under siege, it's being described here, by Israeli tanks in his West Bank headquarters of Ramallah.

Brent Sadler, CNN, Beirut.

COSTELLO: All right, many thanks to you, Brent.

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