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CNN Live Today

Interview With Muhammed Rashid

Aired April 01, 2002 - 11:08   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We are now joined on the telephone by Muhammed Rashid, who is a senior adviser to Yasser Arafat. Mr. Rashid, can you hear me?

MUHAMMED RASHID, ARAFAT ADVISER: Yes.

HARRIS: Can you tell us exactly where you are right now? Are you in the same compound where Mr. Arafat is holed up?

RASHID: No. I'm not in that compound. I regret it, but I'm not there.

HARRIS: OK. Can you tell us what is going on right now?

RASHID: Can you say that again?

HARRIS: Can you tell us what is going on right now?

RASHID: Well, as you just reported, the shelling and aggression going on heavily in a severe way. Nobody knows exactly how many lives we lost today and yesterday inside Ramallah because of the Israeli measures against the free movement of the media. If you remember, even when there was a military coup in Russia, still they allowed the CNNs and the media to move freely inside Moscow. What's happening here is much worse than what we saw in ideological regimes.

HARRIS: Can you tell us if you've spoken to Yasser Arafat today? And if so, what is he saying right now?

RASHID: A few minutes ago, my friend, Harland (ph) and I, we spoke to the president. He is in a very good morale. There's lots of pressures around them. They are even not giving them enough water. When United States of America attacks the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, they supplied food and water to everybody. And there was some rejections to that by some of the people. They said the regime using that food and water for its soldiers, but still Washington decided this is moral step and they continued to do that. What we are seeing here is totally different, nobody saw like this before.

HARRIS: Have any channels of communication been opened between the Palestinians and the Israelis at this point? Has Yasser Arafat either been in contact with Ariel Sharon or someone from his cabinet at any level, at any point yet? RASHID: They're (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and they are living and following the situation in this area. There's some proposal to discuss and negotiate some higher Palestinians, but not with the President Arafat. This is in -- it's so clear, the man in siege in his office, the man under this amount of shelling and pressure, he's the only one authorized to speak in the political issue on behalf of the Palestinian people. This is an old game. We know it, trying to look for an alternative...

HARRIS: I'm sorry to cut you off, sir, but in the interest of saving lives that we've been seeing lost in the recent days between the shelling and shooting there in the West Bank as well as the suicide bombings we've seen in another parts of Israel, can you give us -- some idea of exactly where these negotiations or where these talks are right now? Is there any hope at all that they will be fruitful or successful?

RASHID: To save the life of the people from the both parties, you don't need a political negotiation and you don't need to exclude President Arafat from such a negotiation. All what we need so have the Israeli forces withdrawing from Ramallah and ending the siege and the shelling, because, in this case, any political negotiation will be seen as negotiations under pressure and this is something that is seen in people who will not accept and they will find -- I'm sorry to say -- they will find no Palestinian negotiator willing or ready to sit and negotiate under this -- under the current situation.

HARRIS: Mr. Muhammed Rashid, senior adviser to Yasser Arafat. We thank you very much for taking time and talking with us on the telephone.

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