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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview with Hanan Ashrawi

Aired March 31, 2002 - 07:41   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, of course, we need to add balance to this story, as it continues to unfold. We are going to switch the phone lines now to Palestinian legislator, Hanan Ashrawi. She joins us now to give, of course, the other side to this story.

Ms. Ashrawi, can you hear me?

HANAN ASHRAWI, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATOR: Yes, I can.

PHILLIPS: Your first initial response, please, to this bombing in Haifa?

ASHRAWI: Well, it is part of a very, very tragic cycle, which is the result of the occupation of Sharon's brutal and morally blind policies, thinking he can besiege and isolate and subjugate a whole nation. The loss of life is tragic. It is doubly tragic when it happens to innocent civilians. Unfortunately, the Israeli occupation has been under rampage, killing Palestinians with impunity, assassinating. And we've been having also a series of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) killings and some of the executions and shooting people, entering their homes, destroying their lives, destroying their houses.

And there's a whole population held captive. And this is how Sharon thinks he can bring quiet. He is only making the situation worse. He is only provoking the Palestinians and bringing about more and more acts of revenge. And of course, he's pushing the Palestinians to the breaking point, the point of destination where even individuals turn into weapons and they wreak havoc. They do unto the Israelis what was done unto them.

This is not acceptable. Sharon has to be brought to his senses. The occupation must end. The incursions, the killings, the blood feast in the West Bank must stop.

PHILLIPS: Ms. Ashrawi, why can't it begin with Yasser Arafat coming out and making a statement in Arabic, telling these organizations to stop this violence? I mean..

ASHRAWI: Yes, I wish I had the dime, not a dollar, for every time I was asked this question. Yasser Arafat is duly elected president to the Palestinian people is hostage. He is imprisoned. He is besieged by tanks. He is being shelled. He cannot communicate with the rest of the world. He doesn't even have water to drink anymore and no electricity and no food. How do you think that President Arafat, whose own security forces are being assassinated? They're being executed in public. We have bodies in the street. And the ambulances cannot get to them. There are people who were left bleeding for four hours, four young men that I know they died in the streets without ambulances getting there. And you think Yasser Arafat can reach us?

The last time I talked to him was about five hours ago. And now we've lost all communications. Can he talk to anybody and can a people besieged of under occupation come out and say this is it, we surrender or stop the violence? When the Israeli violence -- Israeli army is becoming an army of terrorists. The Israeli government is becoming the leaders of gangs. They are issuing orders to kill civilians, to besiege civilians, to destroy peoples' homes.

What do you think the Palestinian action would be? Put yourself in our place. If you were under such a massive brutal siege, and there's no value to your life, to your property, to your freedom, what would you do? Would you surrender, raise the flag and say, "We will live as slaves under occupation?" This has to stop. You cannot constantly ask Arafat to do a mission impossible.

President Bush has to deal with reality, not fiction. He has to tell the world in English, in plain English and in good English that he does not condone terrorism, that he does not condone the occupation, he does not condone assassinations, he does not condone summary executions, starving a whole people, besieging their leadership, threatening the lives, the stability of the security of everybody in the region. These are war crimes. And when Sharon is presented a war crimes tribunal, I hope that President Bush does not stand up there and give him a character defense.

What he's doing has not been done in history. And it should no be repeated. And it should be stopped immediately.

PHILLIPS: And Ms. Ashrawi, you mentioned that Arafat has no means of communication, yet he does have a cellphone. We have shown the pictures of that, obviously. He's spoken with us. He's been on CNN via his cellphone.

ASHRAWI: But not lately. He hasn't been. And he has spoken -- let me give you examples. September 16, he called on his people not to fire back. We don't have an army. We don't have anti-tanks. We don't have anti-aircraft guns. We don't have anything. We're sitting ducks. He said even if they fire on you, even if they demolish your home, even if they massacre people, do not shoot back, do not defend yourself.

For three weeks, Palestinians died quietly. Nobody said anything. And then when Zinni was coming, immediately we knew that Sharon is going to escalate in order to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) his mission. So he started again with a policy of assassinations. And he provoked the Palestinians. And we enter the whole new cycle of violence.

Nobody recognizes that when Arafat accepted the peace process, accepted the Tenet proposals, the Mitchell proposals and told the Palestinians to take it quiet, to lie down and die quietly. And yet, they keep telling him you have to do more. Why is it that people do not address the occupation itself, the brutality of the most massive military assaults against a captive, defenseless civilian population? And yet, everybody says Arafat has to do that?

Now he doesn't have any communications. Yes, he did have, and we did talk to him. The last communication was about five, six hours ago. I doubt whether he can call anybody now. At the same time, it's not a question of Arafat calling anybody. His own security people are killed in the streets. They are out there, besieged. You see all the young men in Ramallah. They are all being rounded up. They are herded off like cattle. They are tied up.

Many of them have been shot and killed -- shot in the head at close range. These are some of the executions. How do you think he can control anybody given these conditions? Let's make some sense out of this insanity, hold Sharon and the Israeli government accountable, apply implement U.N. resolutions and international law. Treat the Palestinians as human beings, not as (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for the Israeli terrorism and army. And let's put an end to the situation once and for all.

PHILLIPS: Ms. Ashrawi, if Yasser Arafat did come on and call an end to the suicide bombings, do you think that is the answer? Can -- if he made that statement...

ASHRAWI: No.

PHILLIPS: ...would he stop the suicide bombings? Could he stop that?

ASHRAWI: No, he cannot. I tell you why, because what makes a suicide bomber? What drives a person to desperation? What drives a 16-year-old teenage girl to killing herself? She was about -- she's engaged. She was in love, and yet she went out there and she blew herself up. Why? People are driven to desperation. They have no way out. People, they act in revenge. As they destroy your home, they kill your family. What would you do?

Would you listen to anybody who tells you you've got to stop this and you've got to be nice and sweet about it? That's what's happening. Sharon is turning a whole nation into captive victims and into potential suicide bombers. So it's not asking the people nicely to die quietly. It is preparing the conditions, putting an end to this carnage, and telling the Palestinians that there is hope, that there is some justice, that there would be respect for international law and U.N. resolutions, that there would be protection, international troops, whoever.

We have now civilians. We have Americans. We have Italians. We have British people. We have Dutch. They're all here voluntarily as a human shield, trying to protect the Palestinians. Why can't the government understand that there is such a thing as a global rule of law? And why can't they take a position to curb and detain Israeli behavior, instead of constantly holding the victim accountable and blaming the Palestinians for the recent carnage that is the result of the occupation and Sharon's morally blind and irresponsible policies?

PHILLIPS: Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi, thank you very much for coming on with us.

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