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CNN Live Today

Middle East Crisis Continues to Escalate

Aired April 02, 2002 - 14:30   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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning our attention now back to the crisis in the Middle East. CNN's Bill Hemmer tracking all the developments in the region, and he joins us again from Jerusalem -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, hey, Carol, good evening once again. And we have reported on so many things that have given us frankly a dim outlook on the current situation here, but none more dim than the scenario that was painted to us last hour by the U.N. envoy to the Middle East, saying at this point there are no negotiations at all at any level, between the two parties that matter the most, the Israelis and the Palestinians.

And in fact, earlier today Ariel Sharon offered Yasser Arafat a one-way ticket out of the region -- one-way meaning he would not come back. The Palestinians say forget about it, Arafat is going nowhere.

The day has been full of events and Mike Hanna right now takes us through it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yasser Arafat remains pinned in a room in a compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah. There have been several requests from international envoys that they be permitted to go through the military coordinates and speak to him. The response of the Israeli Prime Minister, unequivocal. International representatives will only be given access to Arafat to organize his departure from the region. And even then, says Ariel Sharon, Arafat will only be allowed to leave on three conditions.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: One, I have first to bring it to the cabinet to be approved. Second, he cannot take anyone with him, because there are wanted and murderers around him there. And the third thing, is going to be one-way ticket.

HANNA: The cabinet is still to discuss the issue. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has implicated that he's unlikely to back the proposal to exile Arafat.

SHIMON PERES, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: I don't think the cabinet has dealt with this issue. And if you ask me, it's a highly academic issue. I do not see Arafat agreeing to leave. I don't see us imposing upon him to be expelled. So this is just a speculation, in my judgment.

HANNA: Palestinian leaders say Arafat will resist any attempt to send him into exile, and have reacted with fury to Sharon's proposal.

HANAN ASHRAWI, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATOR: Arafat is a person who has been elected by his people as president of the P.A. It's not up to Sharon, either to imprison him, to hold him hostage, to terrorize him, to try to humiliate him, or to try to send him into exile.

HANNA: Israel has produced documents it says were found in Arafat's Ramallah compound that it alleges implicates the Palestinian Authority in terror activities. Displayed, the copy of a letter from members of the extremist Al Aqsa Brigades, asking Fuad Shibaki (ph) for money to prepare bombs. Shibaki is described as the chief procurement and finance officer of the Palestinian Authority, and a close adviser of Arafat.

Ringed by Israeli forces, neither Arafat nor Shibaki can be reached for comment. The Palestinian cabinet member, Saeb Erekat, vehemently denies the accusation. Earlier he outlined to CNN's Christiane Amanpour the Palestinian Authority's position on suicide attacks.

SAEB EREKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: We condemn suicide bombing.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you justify it?

EREKAT: Christiane, I'm a father of four, four children. And it breaks my heart to see Israeli children killed, to see Palestinian children killed. Nothing justifies what goes on out there, in terms of suicide bombing.

HANNA (on camera): But Israel clearly is no longer interested in Palestinian denials of condemnations. The military deployment continue. These, say Israel, part of its war on terror. In Palestinian eyes, the military action is designed to crush the Palestinian Authority and to depose its leader, Yasser Arafat.

Mike Hanna, CNN, Jerusalem.

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