Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Sharon Determined in Crackdown on Terror Infrastructure

Aired April 08, 2002 - 14:01   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: We begin hour in the Middle East, where it's been a day of attacks and surrenders, fire and gunfire and missile strikes. And at this time, not even the reputed birthplace of Jesus was spared. CNN's Jerrold Kessel brings us now the latest from Jerusalem.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, not only strike and counterstrike, but also argument and counter argument, as Ariel Sharon stands pat on the need for the Israelis to complete what they call this crackdown and undercutting and demolition of the Palestinian terror infrastructure, by that fearsome military offensive in the West Bank, after the spate of suicide bombings in Israel.

And standing up against, standing up to the United States insistence, repeated insistence that that operation wind down. And this an interesting moment, because just as what could be shaping up, at least to -- I don't want to put it too strongly and say a confrontation between the United States and Mr. Sharon, but certainly a disagreement, shaping up about the need, whether he needs to indeed wind up that operation -- Israel has begun marking this evening a very solemn day, the beginning of the 24 hour period of the marking of Holocaust memorial day. That's the remembering of the 6 million Jews who were killed in the Nazi Holocaust.

This began at a ceremony a short while ago at the Holocaust Memorial Institute here in Jerusalem. And Mr. Sharon was one of the keynote speakers. And he linked it to the events now in this battle with the Palestinians, what he calls a battle of self-defense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): In the midst of the hard battle that we face today, faced with the current surge of anti-Semitism in Europe, we who remember the 6 million every day, are duty-bound, as Jews and human beings, to defend our home, our warm and protected home. The only home in the world where Jews have the right and the strength to defend themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KESSEL: In the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) parliament earlier today, it was a very strident Mr. Sharon who said he would not pull out those troops until they had completed their mission. And by late this evening, it seems they had not done that, because the fighting was still raging, particularly in two major Palestinian towns and adjacent refugee camps, in Jenin, right in the northern part of the West Bank, where the Israelis say they have killed over 100, they estimate, Palestinian gunmen.

Palestinians haven't put the exact fatality figure, but they do say there have been many, many casualties. And they say most of them are civilians. Israelis have also been using helicopter gunships to attack the militant stronghold in that refugee camp. And also, down further south in the other big Palestinian town of Nablus.

The Israeli prime minister, in his speech today, absolutely ruled out any possibility of going back to negotiations with Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian Authority. He termed the Palestinian leader the head of a regime of terror.

And he almost, though this was only implicit, said that there was no point in the United States trying to broker a cease-fire. He did not believe, he seemed to say, that there could be a cease-fire with Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. The Palestinians are charging that Mr. Sharon is trying to undercut, to shoot down, even, the Powell mission before it even gets under way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's obvious today that the man's end game all along was to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, to dismantle the peace process, to resume occupation. And I think the Israeli people must understand that they need responsible leaders. They need people who can stop this madness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

So just before he went to that Holocaust memorial ceremony this evening, which begins this 24-hour solemn day, Mr. Sharon had another meeting with the U.S. envoy, General Zinni, sent by President Bush to underline the message again: the Israeli troops must begin to move out right away. So far, no sign of that happening -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And, Jerrold, Ariel Sharon said that even when this is over, that the Israeli forces will still be put into security zones. How is this different from occupation?

KESSEL: That's a very, very good question. He didn't exactly spell out what those security zones were about. But reading in to the way he structured his very interesting address, the hour-long address in the Knesset today, what he seemed to be saying was, yes, that operation in the Palestinian towns and villages will eventually come to an end, when they have completely crushed the Palestinian terror infrastructure, as he put it.

But after that, he said the troops would be arrayed in what he called security zones, from which they would be able to intercept and prevent the presumption of terror attacks from those Palestinian towns into Israel, into Israeli cities, like the spate of suicide bombings that we've seen. Well, I think we can read in to that, and must be the message to Mr. Powell as he begins his mission in the area. Ariel Sharon doesn't believe there will be a cease-fire. He expects the Palestinians to try to resume the terror. And he has a way, he says, of trying to intercept them. And that is the way he means to do it, by those security zones. That, at least, is the way he seemed to be laying out the contours of his plan for handling the Palestinians after the current offensive is over -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jerrold Kessel live from Jerusalem, thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com