Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Interview of Yehuda Lancry, Nasser Al-Kidwa
Aired April 12, 2002 - 09:02 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Up front this morning, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and his search for peace. As Jack just said, Powell met this morning with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. And Sharon told reporters he hopes an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank will happen soon. But he gave Powell no timetable for that to happen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Israel is conducting a war against the Palestinian infrastructure of the terrorist and it does hope to conclude it shortly. There can be no peace with terrorism. The terrorism of suicide bombers is a danger for Israel and the entire free world. Israel is the only democracy in the world where every single kindergarten and every single school have to be guarded in order to prevent attacks by Palestinian terrorist on the children.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We understand the need for Israel to defend itself. We understand that Israel is under threat from terrorist attack. And we have been supportive, but at the same time, we believe as a friend of Israel, we have to take note of the long-term strategic consequences of the incursions that are underway and it's effect on other nations in the region and the international climate.
And so I think in the conversations with the prime minister, I have explained our position to him and he has explained to me what he feels he has to be done. And I hope we can find a way to come into agreement on this point of duration of the operations and get back a track that will lead to a political settlement because I think that is uppermost in everyone's mind. How can we go forward?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: On to the issues in the Middle East, both sides in the conflict have been burying their dead. And our own Chris Burns reports on the emotional farewell for a young Israeli woman killed Wednesday in a suicide bomb attack on a bus near the city of Haifa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Outside her family's apartment the site of Noa Shlomo's coffin unleashes a wave of grief. At 18 she was the youngest of three daughters. Her mother Fanny (ph) is a nurse. Her father Joseph the manager of truck parts warehouse. The intense grief wells up again at Noa's gravesite. Hundreds of townspeople, relatives, friends and fellow soldiers join to bid her good-bye. Noa and a close friend, Karen Franco (ph), were on their way to work as border guards at Allenby Bridge when a suicide bomber blew himself up in their bus killing them and six others. Noa's uncle, Israel's Ambassador to United Nations, says his sister had long worried about Noa's safety. She told him.
YEHUDA LANCRY, ISRAEL'S AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: I fear a suicide bombing in her car. So it happened unfortunately and my sister called me a couple of days ago in New York and that was the first time that she had heard. You see, it happened.
BURNS: Another uncle remembers Noa as talented dancer and artist. Even made a short film winning a prize for it. Does her death change his mind about Israel's crackdown in the West Bank?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it should have taken place a long time ago. Like you say in English, strike the iron while it's hot.
BURNS: A common feeling among many here in Nahariya, a place bordered by conflict.
Noa Shlomo's hometown is a beach town that's been hit by repeated attacks by a suicide bomber in train station by Hezbollah guerrillas firing from the Lebanon's border, just a 10-minute drive away.
Hezbollah stopped the shelling two years ago but resumed recently. And then came the suicide blast despite the Israeli crackdown.
YEHUDA BOTBOL, CAFE OWNER: It's the small thing that we can give because if Israel would not do that, it would be like before, every day 20, 30 people dying.
BURNS: Yet Yehuda Botbol joins in bidding farewell. Noa's comrades fire off a salute. She's laid to rest next to other soldiers, 18, 19, 20 years old in a funeral this day multiplied several times over.
Chris Burns CNN, Nahariya, Israel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: And as you've been watching over the past couple of weeks, we have hosted both the Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. and the Palestinian Representative to the U.N. here together discussing the conflict in the Middle East. And 10 days ago the subject was suicide bombings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NASSER AL-KIDWA, PALESTINIAN REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Let's implement immediately the resolution and that includes both ceasefire and the withdrawal from the Palestinian cities, immediately. LANCRY: Nasser, important resolution a call for cessation, an immediate cessation of suicide bombing you will get the positive Israeli answer. I can promise you that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: But earlier this week, as Chris Burns just reported, eight people were killed in the suicide bombing near Haifa and one of the victims was the niece of Israeli Ambassador, Ambassador Lancry. Her name, you just met her in the last piece, was Noa Shlomo. And joining us once again this morning in New York Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian U.N. Representative and on the phone from Northern Israel where he is traveled to be with his sister's family, Israeli Ambassador Yehuda Lancry. Welcome, gentlemen.
LANCRY: Good morning.
ZAHN: First of all Ambassador Lancry, we offer you our condolences.
LANCRY: Thank you, Paula. Thank you Nasser.
ZAHN: How is your family faring?
LANCRY: They are in -- and we are in a sense in a devastating situation. That is an unbelievable loss and I can only imagine what my sister is -- here and now, she and her husband and two other daughters are feeling (ph) and trying to assist her as best as they can. But this kind of situations are extremely difficult.
ZAHN: Ambassador Al-Kidwa, I understand when you heard this horrible news you were one of the first to pick up the phone and talk to Ambassador Lancry. If you're comfortable, share with us some of what you told him.
AL-KIDWA: Well indeed I did precisely that and I told him what I have always been saying publicly. We have been always against this kind of criminal (ph) actions. Nothing could justify us killing innocent civilians, however, I also said that when there is a personal contact, of course, it's more painful.
So on this front, there's no doubt whatsoever with regard to our position. Unfortunately, we are even deprived from mourning to the fullest because of the huge amount of death and destruction caused by the Israeli forces on the Palestinian side. We have even the likelihood of complete full-fledged massacre in the city of Jenin, which was off limit to even to the Red Cross -- International Red Cross and the United Nations. So we feel the pain, of course, and I definitely feel greatly with Ambassador Lancry and his personal loss.
We have to see, at the same time, the full picture and try to cease -- to stop this madness that is taking place. And urgently now I believe to stop the Israeli military attacks and to achieve the full withdrawal so that we can at least try to take care of the complete devastation which took place and maybe try to build a life from the beginning for the Palestinian people as a whole. ZAHN: All right. And Ambassador Lancry, I know you've been with your family this morning but you no doubt have heard the news that Secretary Powell said no timetable was set for that withdrawal. And I know you have supported this military offensive. Now that this violence is so personally affected your family, has it changed in anyway you view this incursion and you -- you view these next steps in trying to get back to the peace table?
LANCRY: Let me first tell you, Paula, that I was (INAUDIBLE) and I am now still able to seal the compassion and the solidarity in voice of Ambassador Al-Kidwa. Undoubtedly, he's called before the flight from New York to Israel has helped lift my spirits undoubtedly and I can read a lot of messages condolences to my sister and in particular the message of Ambassador Nasser Al-Kidwa, my colleague and my friend. And I'm sure that beyond this huge tragedy, at a personal level and international level, some Israel sides and Palestinian sides, we will be doing our best you know to overcome the situation and to finally reach the state of coexistence and peaceful neighborhood nation.
And as to the military operation, I told you what was my position. I, unfortunately, beyond the inevitable (ph) huge loss remained convinced that Israel was prepared to take action against not the Palestinian people but the terrorist networks and I can only mourn and deplore losses on both sides.
I do know that Palestinians are also sharing a lot of suffering and pain and that is maybe the opportunity to call on both sides for vital I would say consciousness as to the need for peace and coexistence.
ZAHN: We're going to close with Ambassador Al-Kidwa. I'll give you a chance to address Mr. Lancry directly and then just a final thought on where you think talks between Yasser Arafat and Secretary Powell might go tomorrow.
AL-KIDWA: Well we hope that the talks will be successful. Unfortunately, the Israel side has already undermined, to a large extent, the mission of the secretary by refusing to heed the request of the president to withdrawal immediately thus shifting the focus to things which are much less important than focusing on the serious next steps including the resumption of peace negotiations and finding a political solution.
Nevertheless, we should not lose hope, but at the same time, I think the world, including the United States, should show more seriousness with regard to what the Israel side ought to do and ought to do immediately.
ZAHN: All right, gentlemen. We're going to have to leave it there at this hour. Again, our condolences to you and your family Ambassador Lancry. Thank you for joining us at this difficult time.
LANCRY: Thank you.
ZAHN: And Ambassador Al-Kidwa.
AL-KIDWA: Thank you.
ZAHN: Thank for your time as well.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
