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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Special Edition: Arafat Condemns Killing of Civilians; Can Powell Broker a Peace Deal?; Is It Time for U.S. Troops in the Middle East?
Aired April 13, 2002 - 16:00 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.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from Jerusalem. Under pressure after a bloody bombing, Yasser Arafat condemns attacks against civilians on both sides, but neither side seems satisfied.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR EHUD OLMERT, JERUSALEM: Why are we always the ones who have to condemn the killing of innocent civilians, when Israel seems to be able to kill innocent civilians with impunity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't need any condemnation. We don't need any apology. We think that this is ridiculous and appalling and insulting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: But is it good enough for Colin Powell? Can peace ever be made with these two leaders? With the bodies still uncounted in Jenin, Israeli forces roll into two nearby villages. Is it time for U.S. troops to step in?
It's Saturday, April 13, 2002. We're coming to you live from a country on edge. Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting live from Jerusalem. It's just after 11:00 at night here in this holy city, and we'll bring you all the news, but first, our Middle East News Alert.
Off again, on again, after a bloody bombing in Jerusalem led him to postpone talks with Yasser Arafat, Secretary of State Colin Powell is now prepared to give Arafat another chance. He'll meet with the Palestinian leader tomorrow in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
The door was opened by a statement from the Palestinian Leadership, in which Yasser Arafat, under heavy U.S. pressure to renounce terrorism, condemned the Jerusalem bombing, along with violence against all civilians, Israelis and Palestinians alike. Powell's spokesman says that statement contains a number of "positive elements."
One step forward, two steps back. Israeli forces have pulled out of a West Bank town, but there are new incursions with troops rolling into villages near Jenin and Nablus, areas which have seen the bloodiest fighting in the two-week offensive. Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon have again attacked Israeli positions in a disputed border zone, drawing return fire from the Israeli artillery. The latest attacks by the Syrian-backed guerrillas came after Secretary Powell called on Damascus to rein in Hezbollah, and after the group's other patron, Iran, called for restraint.
We have new pictures of the devastation in the Jenin refugee camp, much of it in rubble after bloody battles between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen. There's still no firm count of the dead. Palestinians allege a massacre. Israel says there were hundreds killed or wounded in the camp, but insists they stemmed from the fierce fighting.
An in Nablus, the West Bank's largest city, bodies and survivors are still being pulled from the rubble. A Palestinian says eight of his relatives were crushed when Israeli bulldozers demolished a building during the recent fighting. The Israeli military says it was not aware of the deaths.
Yasser Arafat has managed to come up with the words, the words necessary to justify, in U.S. opinion, a meeting with the secretary of state. Yasser Arafat did it, but he did it his way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: The statement issued earlier today by Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian leadership, contains a number of interesting and positive elements; condemnation of all terrorist acts against Israeli and Palestinian civilians, the strong condemnation of yesterday's bombing in Jerusalem, a call to start immediate implementation of the Tenet understandings and the Mitchell report, a reaffirmation of the Palestinian commitment to a negotiated peace, and support for Secretary Powell in his mission.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The meeting between Secretary of State Colin Powell and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will now take place Sunday. Word of the meeting followed the release of a Palestinian statement in Arabic condemning terrorism, a statement Powell had demanded as a prerequisite for a meeting with Arafat. It reads in part: "We strongly condemn violent operations that target Israeli civilians, especially the last operation in Jerusalem."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: I think President Arafat is the one who will make the statement. Actually, President Arafat and the Palestinian leadership express their condemnation for all terrorist activities whether targeting Israeli civilians or Palestinian civilians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The statement came 24 hours after Friday's suicide blast near an open air Jerusalem market that killed six Israelis and injured scores of others. Israeli officials were less than enthusiastic about the Palestinian statement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OLMERT: When I heard about the chance of a meeting between Secretary Powell and Yasser Arafat that I feel embarrassed for the secretary that while America fights terror and the president condemns terror and the Secretary condemns terror, that he has to meet with the greatest terrorist on earth today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Instead of meeting with Arafat on Saturday as originally scheduled, Powell met at the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem with religious leaders and with humanitarian workers from the International Committee for the Red Cross and the United Nations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Clearly, there are humanitarian needs here in the region greater than ever and I wanted to meet with the dedicated people who do such a great job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: And covering the secretary's visit to this part of the world is our State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel. She joins us now live from Jerusalem. Andrea, take us behind the scenes. What convinced specifically Secretary Powell to go forward with the meeting tomorrow morning in Ramallah with Chairman Arafat?
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it was really the very strong language and very explicit language that Yasser Arafat used on behalf of himself and the Palestinian leadership, in which he not only spoke out against violence against all Palestinian and Israeli civilians, but he also condemned acts of terrorism. It was really that word that U.S. officials were listening to hear.
BLITZER: Is there a sense, Andrea, that he can get more than just words though from Yasser Arafat? Can he get enough in specific deed that will convince him to work for a cease-fire with the Israelis?
KOPPEL: Well, you've really hit the nail on the head there, Wolf, and that in fact is what Secretary Powell will be looking for specifically from Chairman Arafat. We've heard it said many times before. He is going to be looking for those words to be put into action.
Yasser Arafat has said it before. He has condemned acts of terrorism before, but what he has as yet to do, say U.S. and Israeli officials, is to translate those words into concrete action.
BLITZER: And as you know, Andrea, the secretary spent part of today meeting with U.N. and Red Cross personnel, as well as with clergy, Christian community leaders here in Jerusalem. What emerged specifically from those meetings?
KOPPEL: A couple of things, one an additional U.S. donation to humanitarian work, another $30 million. Also some fairly strong language from Secretary Powell urging Israeli military in the West Bank to exercise restraint against civilians there, also urging the Israeli military to allow humanitarian workers to actually get in there, and really also the idea, Wolf, that has been pushed within the Arab world and that is to get a donor's conference going as soon as possible.
Secretary Powell said the Norwegian government had agreed to host one later this month, and why is that important? Well, the U.S. and the Arab world want to show the Palestinian people that there's light at the end of the tunnel and that all of the destruction that they have witnessed in the last several weeks will be repaired and their homes rebuilt and roads rebuilt and whatnot with the help of the international community -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Andrea Koppel, our State Department correspondent, covering the secretary of state's visit to the Middle East.
And let's go to Ramallah now. That's where the meeting will take place between Secretary Powell and Chairman Arafat. Our Michael Holmes has been there now for weeks. He joins us now with the very latest in terms of Palestinian reaction -- Michael.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, yes, good evening. I can tell you that the statement issued by Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian leadership was done so after enormous pressure, and not just from the Americans. Our sources here tell us that the pressure came from the Europeans. It came from the United States. It also came from Arab nations, in particular Saudi Arabia and Egypt, all putting pressure on Yasser Arafat to issue the statement you've just been discussing.
Now as for the meeting tomorrow, something else I can tell you. People inside the compound have reported to us this evening that Israeli bulldozers have been driving around the compound outside. They're outside Yasser Arafat's offices, a large car park area, and the last time I was there, I can tell you that there were crushed cars. There were a couple of burned out cars, and a fair bit of debris around the entrance to Yasser Arafat's office.
People inside the compound tell us that Israeli bulldozers have been clearing a lot of that away. One of them called it a cleanup operation to make the area look a little better for when Colin Powell arrives. You can't hide the damage to the buildings around Yasser Arafat's office however. There are holes in walls, holes in perimeter walls. At one of the buildings in particular had a fire go through it.
So when he arrives there, he's going to see a fair amount of damage. Now inside the building where Yasser Arafat is, sanitary conditions we're told have been atrocious, and that's not just in the words of people inside there. We've spoken to diplomats and other observers who have been inside there, international observers. They say the conditions are, in their words, atrocious.
Something else that happened today, the water after being off for some 11 days, was mysteriously turned back on for about five hours this afternoon. It's off again now, but it was turned back on for five hours, and people were able to use bathrooms and wash.
Now when we talk about the success or otherwise of Colin Powell's visit there tomorrow, we're detecting from our Palestinian sources that there's a fair degree of pessimism, Wolf, that Colin Powell is going to be able to achieve much if anything.
At the moment, the feeling seems to be very much to get him there, see how Yasser Arafat and the several hundred other people in that building are living. They want him to get there and see it in person, Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Michael Holmes. He's in Ramallah. He's been there now for days. He'll be there tomorrow morning as well, covering the visit by the Secretary of State Colin Powell with Yasser Arafat. Michael Holmes, thanks very much.
Let's go now to Sheila MacVicar, CNN's Sheila MacVicar. She's just back to Jerusalem from Jenin, the Palestinian refugee camp just outside that camp. Sheila, tell us how close you got to the actual refugee camp, what you saw, and heard.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Today, Wolf, there are some new Israeli military activities in the villages just outside of Jenin. That meant that the area that we tried to go through was, in fact, under curfew. We weren't able to get in. It meant that we had to stay on the Israeli side of the line, just at that major checkpoint there that Israel has set up that separates the state of Israel from the occupied territories.
From where I was, the city of Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp were about a 10-minute walk away, no more than that I was told, impossible to see from where I was what was going on. But while I was there, I met with a French television reporter, a correspondent for the French TV Network TF-1, who was able to get into the Jenin refugee camp yesterday.
Now of course, Wolf, one of the reasons why we are all so concerned and interested about what has happened in Jenin is we know the fighting there was very fierce. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers died. We also know that Palestinians have charged that there was a massacre that took place there. The Palestinians have said that perhaps as many as 300 people died there.
Now what this French television reporter, Michel Scott (ph), reporter for France's TF-1 saw yesterday when he was in the Jenin refugee camp, one of the very few journalists to make it in so far, very narrow alleyways. In those alleyways, Wolf, lots of evidence of very heavy fighting, and initially very little evidence of human habitation, until suddenly he told me a door opened and there was a young woman there asking, "are you a journalist?" He said "yes." The woman broke into tears, told him she had no idea where her brother was. No obviously Michel Scott (ph) started to talk to here about what did she know about what had gone on in the camp. She told him that in the house across the road, there were five dead bodies, men all killed when the Israelis apparently, she said, threw a grenade into that house.
Now Michel Scott (ph) says he saw those five bodies, saw the body of another man who died in his garden, according to the man's sister- in-law, when he went outside to get water from a well. He was apparently they say shot by a sniper. Michel Scott (ph) very carefully says that he saw no evidence of mass numbers of bodies, but the Israeli military is now acknowledging, Wolf, that at least 100 people died there, and that they are beginning to collect the bodies and put them into refrigerated trucks, which we have seen and take them away for burial.
Now the Palestinians allege that they are doing this in order to cover up evidence of the massacre that they say took place at Jenin, and the Israelis, of course, have a different explanation. This is what the Israeli Defense Force spokesman said this afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOSHE FOGUL, IDF SPOKESMAN: Many of the bodies are still being held by the Palestinians themselves in a propaganda ploy, simply that when we leave the area, they'll be thrown out in the street or displayed to create the wrong impression that they were massacred.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACVICAR: Now, of course, it's very difficult. The Israelis are picking up bodies. There may be bodies buried under the rubble. It will be a long time, Wolf, before we can know for certain precisely what took place there.
BLITZER: And, Sheila, very briefly the Israeli explanation why they're not allowing anyone into Jenin right now is what?
MACVICAR: There are many places we're not allowed to go. As you know, Wolf, the Israelis say that it's simply too dangerous. They say there are too many booby-traps. Of course, the Palestinians charge that the Israelis don't want us to see what, in fact, has taken place there. Wolf.
BLITZER: Sheila MacVicar, just back from outside of Jenin, now in Jerusalem. Thanks so much for that report.
Let's bring in our military analyst General Wesley Clark, the former supreme allied commander, the NATO commander. He joins us now live from Little Rock. General Clark, there's a lot of speculation, a lot of talk potentially of introducing U.S. military personnel in some sort of monitoring or peacekeeping role on the West Bank, separating Israelis and Palestinians. Is that a good idea?
GEN. WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think it would be an acceptable idea once there's an agreement and there are specific authorizations from both sides as to what the peacekeeping force can do, Wolf.
But absent specific authorizations, what we're going to find is the peacekeeping force is just a third party thrown into the middle of the conflict, and if it doesn't have the authorities to go in and search and review records and talk to people and inspect facilities and dig into things very deeply, and if it doesn't have a political authority to appeal refusals from the sides too, and if it doesn't have the final authority to use force to conduct these inspections, well we're going to find that it's a frustrated and incapable force.
BLITZER: As you well know, General Clark, there have been a few hundred U.S. soldiers in Sinai for more than 20 years, since the Israeli-Egyptian agreement. They're relatively quiet, in fact completely quiet in Sinai.
But I have to tell you, the discussions I've had with top Pentagon officials, there's no great desire to send U.S. troops into the West Bank. They remember what happened to those 241 Marines at that barracks outside Beirut in 1983 when they were killed by a suicide truck bomber. Is that the sense you're getting as well?
CLARK: Well, I'm confident the Pentagon is not volunteering to send troops in there. But I think it's important to note that the situation in the West Bank would be nothing whatsoever like the situation in the Sinai, where there was a peace agreement. The troops went in after a peace agreement, and it's a relatively unpopulated area. So they're doing military tasks, like patrolling and observing. They're not in and amongst potentially hostile populations and they're not fighting urban combat.
The more relevant consideration or the more relevant analogy is to Bosnia, and you look at the U.N. protective force there 1992 through 1995 and how ineffective and powerless it was to stop the fighting between the sides, and that's the risk that we would face if we put forces on the ground prematurely, before a political agreement in the West Bank.
BLITZER: And wouldn't those U.S. forces be the targets of those who would oppose any agreement and try to undermine an agreement by killing as many U.S. soldiers and other military personnel as possible?
CLARK: Wolf, I think that's exactly right. There's a tremendous risk of that and there's also the risk that the forces there, of course, could stop any Israeli actions but could they really be effective in stopping terrorist activities? Probably not as effective as the Israelis have been.
BLITZER: General Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander, our CNN military analyst, thanks so much for that analysis.
And our Web question of the day is this: "Should U.S. peacekeepers go into the West Bank?" You can vote. Go to my Web page, cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, let me know what you're thinking. There's a "click here" icon right on the left side of the page. Send me your comments. I'll read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, by the way, where you can read my daily online column.
When we come back, would Israelis and Palestinians be better off with new leaders? Coming up, a closer look at Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat's ability or inability to achieve peace. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. At the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a question of leadership and personal rivalry, two aging leaders who have long detested each other, 74-year-old Ariel Sharon the very definition of an old warrior.
He's fought against Arab armies and Palestinian militants since the age of 14 as a resistance fighter, an Israeli army commander, and a cabinet minister. It was only two and a half months ago that Sharon said he was sorry Israel had not killed Arafat when it had the chance, during Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
Yasser Arafat, 72 years old, cut his military teeth in the Egyptian army in the 1956 Suez campaign against Israel. He's taken a path full of intrigue and contradiction, from being a young militant bent on the destruction of Israel to sharing a Nobel Peace Prize with the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and the current foreign minister Shimon Peres. He's consistently been an antagonist to Sharon and the Israeli right wing.
So the prospects for peace depend on these two very different men who clearly do not like each other. Let's get some analysis on who they are. Joining us from New York, Alon Pinkas. He's Israel's consul general in New York. And Nasser Al-Kidwa, he's the Palestinians' representative at the United Nations. Gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us.
NASSER AL-KIDWA, PALESTINIAN REPRESENTATIVE TO U.N.: Thank you.
BLITZER: First to you, Ambassador Pinkas, do you believe that Yasser Arafat, when all is said and done, can still make some sort of peaceful deal with Israel?
ALON PINKAS, ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL: No. No I don't, Wolf. It's as simple as that.
BLITZER: Because I know in the past, in the past you've been optimistic in 1999, 2000, you thought that the Oslo agreements were working pretty well.
PINKAS: Well, I think that by 1999, Wolf, it became quite evident to those who were realists, whether they were from the left or the right, that Oslo outlived its usefulness as a political mechanism to make progress towards peace, which is why Israel then chose the comprehensive path toward Camp David, culminating in the summit in July of 2000. I'm still optimistic. I'm optimistic about the needs for political settlement. I think that both people will cohabit the same piece of land whether some people like it or not. I think that there is a Palestinian elite. There are Palestinian leaders. There are Palestinian, hopefully they will become decision makers, but there are Palestinians political leaders out there who understand what needs to be done in order to reach an accommodation or some kind of a coexistent mechanism, even if it's short of a peace agreement with Israel.
Arafat himself, you asked specifically about Arafat, I think he's an impediment to peace. I think he's not to be trusted. It's up to the Palestinians to decide whether they want to continue with him. I'm not saying anything about deposing him, but look he signed ten separate cease-fire agreements. He broke all of them.
BLITZER: All right, Ambassador Pinkas, let me interrupt you because I want to bring in Ambassador Al-Kidwa and ask him the same question, except about Prime Minister Sharon. Ambassador Al-Kidwa, do you believe that the Palestinians can still make a deal with Prime Minister Sharon?
AL-KIDWA: Well, the problem is the prime minister himself said that he doesn't want to reach a final settlement with anybody. He made a series of statements from that rejecting any final statement to that saying that one has to inflict maximum suffering on the Palestinian side and that's the only way forward. Of course also, the one when he said that he regretted that he didn't kill Yasser Arafat earlier and so on.
And now, I think the prime minister will have some time to clean his name from the obvious war crimes which have been committed in the last two weeks against the Palestinian people, specifically the horrible war crime in the refugee camp in Jenin.
BLITZER: Let me ask you, Ambassador Al-Kidwa, as Ambassador Pinkas has written off Arafat, have you as the Palestinian representative of the U.N. written off Sharon?
AL-KIDWA: Again, I think Mr. Sharon has written himself off from doing any successful peace process with the Palestinian side. However, if he turn around and come clean, saying that he is ready this time to start seriously with the Palestinian side, with the elected leader of the Palestinian side, I think we will have to give it a try.
BLITZER: Ambassador Pinkas, by all accounts what's happened over these past few weeks has strengthened Arafat's popularity among Palestinians as he's holed up in that Ramallah headquarters. You're saying you're looking for other Palestinian leaders to replace Arafat. Are there any?
PINKAS: I'm sure there are, but it's up the Palestinians to choose them or to elect them. Look, Arafat's popularity was not an issue when Israel launched this military operation. We were forced into doing something that every country would have done if it had been subject to daily terror attacks, to daily homicide attacks, to daily murder of innocents, children, women, old people, people having dinner, people going to a pizza parlor.
Whether or not he emerged more strong, more popular, more resilient is almost immaterial. The idea was to destroy and infrastructure of terror that he himself allowed...
AL-KIDWA: And you destroyed the livelihood of the whole people.
PINKAS: ... that he himself did not destroy and he was supposed to.
BLITZER: All right.
AL-KIDWA: It wasn't any attack against any militants as much...
BLITZER: Ambassador Al-Kidwa, go ahead and respond.
AL-KIDWA: Yes. You know, what happened during the last two weeks is just appalling. I mean the whole international community is saying that. The Israeli occupying forces destroyed the livelihood of the -
BLITZER: Ambassador Al-Kidwa, what are the Israelis supposed to do, Ambassador Al-Kidwa? What are the Israelis supposed to do in the face of massacres, suicide bombers at a Passover seder or yesterday here in Jerusalem at an open-air market? Any government would respond to those kinds of terrorist incidents, wouldn't they?
AL-KIDWA: Well, first of all the Israelis should have reached out to the Palestinian side. They should have said clearly that they intend to end their occupation and that they accept the settlement of a Palestinian state.
(CROSSTALK)
AL-KIDWA: And then, if they want to react militarily in a very measured and specific way, maybe at least the world might have understood. But what happened was completely different. This was willful killing. This was wanton destruction. This was massacres committed against the Palestinian people, the war crimes under international law. You know even the International Red Cross is prevented from getting into some of those territories, especially in Jenin. I mean, this is unheard of, something which the world has to look at in a very serious way.
BLITZER: All right. Ambassador Pinkas, go ahead.
PINKAS: Look -- yes I understand, Wolf. Look, I don't want to drag this conversation into a tit-for-tat, but Mr. Al-Kidwa needs to understand that after 54 years of blaming everyone except itself for these self-inflicted tragedies, it's time that you be responsible and accountable for your idiocies, shortcomings and inadequacies. You can not always blame the entire world for a failed and bankrupt region.
AL-KIDWA: We don't. We don't do that. PINKAS: Oh, yes you do. You sit there quietly.
AL-KIDWA: We blame you, not the whole world.
PINKAS: You talk about atrocities. You never showed up at Camp David. You never showed up...
AL-KIDWA: Were there atrocities in the last two weeks or not?
PINKAS: Please let me finish.
AL-KIDWA: Were there atrocities in the last two weeks or not?
PINKAS: Let me finish please, Mr. Al-Kidwa because I think your understanding of history and your knowledge of history is selective at best. You did not show up at Camp David. You did not come up with a counter proposal. You lied to President Clinton. You made up a story about an unfair peace offer that no one prevented you...
(CROSSTALK)
AL-KIDWA: Broken record again.
PINKAS: No one prevented you from coming up with a counter proposal.
BLITZER: Let's let Ambassador Al-Kidwa respond. Go ahead, Ambassador Al-Kidwa.
AL-KIDWA: I mean, there wasn't anything serious which was said. Again, I mean, there is Israeli occupation, there has been colonialism conducted by the Israeli side -- confiscation of land, building settlements, transfer of Israeli civilians to the Palestinian territories, grave breaches of the Geneva convention. Grave war crimes committed non-stop against the Palestinian people.
But what happened in the last two weeks have been unparalleled, unheard of, real war crimes, and I believe that at least Shaul Mufar (ph), the chief of staff of the Israeli forces, and other officers really must be indicted and face international criminal court because of the war crimes they...
BLITZER: All right. We only have a few seconds left. Go ahead, Ambassador Alon, I'll give you the last word. We have 10 seconds.
PINKAS: Look, we have no war with the Palestinian people. We don't seek to occupy the Palestinian people, we do not want to control the lives of the Palestinian people. We want to live next to the Palestinian people. The sooner they understand that we want to live next to them, the soon they will realize their dreams. But they are ruled by a ruthless minority of terrorists, led my Mr. Arafat, who makes Tony Soprano look like Mother Teresa. A bunch of mobsters.
BLITZER: Unfortunately, gentlemen, we'll have to leave it right there. We will continue this conversation on another day...
AL-KIDWA: Hopefully in better times.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Hopefully in better times. You're absolutely right. And Ambassador Alon Pinkas in New York, thanks to both of you for joining us.
And Yasser Arafat tomorrow has an audience with a very important man, the secretary of state of the United States. But does Arafat deserve that meeting with Secretary Powell? Coming up, a look at how President Bush is handling this entire crisis. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: It's 11:35 at night here in Jerusalem, welcome back. Time now to bring you up to date with this Middle East news alert.
A spokesman says Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah on the West Bank tomorrow. The meeting originally scheduled for today was put into question after yesterday's suicide bombing in Jerusalem. Today, Arafat and key aides issued a formal statement condemning terrorist operations against Israeli civilians.
Let's go to the White House and bring in our correspondent there, Kelly Wallace. She's been monitoring President Bush and his top aides who have been huddling on this very issue. Kelly, give us the latest.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello to you, Wolf. You know, it's unusual. The White House did not issue any formal comment to the statement by the Palestinian leader and also to Powell's decision to meet Sunday with Yasser Arafat. We know that Mr. Bush went over that statement with his national security aides at the presidential retreat at Camp David.
U.S. officials are only saying that the president has given Secretary Powell, quote, "maximum flexibility" to carry out this mission, and that the president supports the decision to meet with Yasser Arafat. So a lot riding on Secretary Powell's mission, a lot riding on this president as well, as he steps up his engagement, but so far has little to show for it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE (voice-over): Exactly one week ago, a confident President Bush said the Israelis would adhere to his demand to halt their military offensive and withdraw from Palestinian areas without delay.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think they will heed the call.
WALLACE: But they have not. Neither have the Palestinians heeded Mr. Bush's call to take concrete steps to prevent Palestinian suicide bombings like the bloodshed Friday in Jerusalem. Calls to Arab leaders to put pressure on Yasser Arafat and stop incitement of terror on state-owned media have, it appears, also gone unheeded.
So nine days after demanding results in his Rose Garden speech, Mr. Bush doesn't have many results to tout other than this public statement by the Palestinian leader Saturday condemning terror.
Critics say the president has put his personal prestige and American influence into the region on the line. White House aides say Mr. Bush is not worried.
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president doesn't look over his shoulder, he doesn't look left, he doesn't look right. He doesn't worry on a day-by-day basis about what people are saying. His focus is on how to bring the parties together to achieve peace.
WALLACE: But some lawmakers think the president, who was reluctant to get deeply immersed in the Middle East, needs to get even more involved. And consider new initiatives, such as convening an international conference to bring the parties together.
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: Because something drastic has to happen to get us off this dime that we're on now, this vortex that is just sucking everybody in and making I think the president look not as effectual as he can be.
WALLACE: For now, the administration's focus is on Secretary Powell's mission, but even some of the president's biggest supporters say the chances of success are slim.
SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: People kept saying to the president, you've got to engage, you've got to get involved in this. And I think reluctantly he said, all right, I'll do my best. But I don't think they expect him to necessarily pull off a miracle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: A miracle no, but most Middle East observers believe the United States is the only country which can pull the two sides back from the brink.
And so, as Secretary Powell prepares to deliver a blunt message to Yasser Arafat, U.S. officials are also trying to figure out next steps, because they know stepping away from the Middle East now is no longer an option -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Kelly Wallace at the White House, thank you very much for that report.
And how is the Bush administration handling the crisis in the Middle East? Let's get some perspective from Capitol Hill. Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives join me now live. In West Babylon, New York Republican Peter King, and Democrat Eliot Engel. He is in our New York bureau. Gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us.
First of all, to you, Congressman Engel. Should the secretary of state be meeting with Yasser Arafat in Ramallah tomorrow?
REP. ELIOT ENGEL (D), NEW YORK: No, I think it's a sad day in U.S. diplomacy when the secretary of state of the greatest democracy in the world is meeting with a terrorist. I think it's a terrible move, and I think President Bush would not meet with Osama bin Laden. And frankly, the way Arafat has been conducting himself, I see no difference between Arafat and Osama bin Laden.
BLITZER: Peter King, what do you say?
REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: Yeah, actually I have to respectfully disagree with Eliot. We're probably on the same coin, just on different sides. I believe Arafat is a terrorist. I don't take Arafat -- his word for anything he says. But I think the political reality is -- the diplomatic reality is that the United States wants to get some possible political process going.
My belief is that if something at least can be brought about to bring a brief cessation that could allow President Mubarak in Egypt or King Abdullah in Jordan or King Mohammed in Morocco to lean on Arafat to try to bring about at least a sustained cease-fire, which would get the peace process back in place, or at least get the semblance of a peace process.
I agree with Eliot that Arafat is a terrorist, but he was also a terrorist 20 years ago and 10 years ago when Prime Minister Rabin dealt with him and President Clinton dealt with him, and even before that Secretary of State Schultz dealt with him. The fact is that he is the leader the Palestinian have put up, and I wish there were another leader. But as Senator Mitchell said, you have to deal with the leader that's there.
But again, I have no great prospects that this is going to work, but I just think the alternative would be worse.
BLITZER: Congressman Engel, what is the alternative to meeting with Arafat? If Powell, for example, were not to meet with him and leaves this area, the fighting and the deaths on both sides would simply continue.
ENGEL: Well, you know, Wolf, we had hoped -- let's put things in perspective. Eighteen or 19 years ago, Israel was willing to accept an unprecedented offer to give the Palestinians a state of their own, to have unprecedented aid from all over the world, and the Palestinians said no. Israel said yes. They turned their backs on this. Arafat walked away and unleashed the intifada.
I mean, at some point you have to say what good is having an agreement with a man who doesn't keep his word? He has violated ever agreement he signed in Oslo. And at some point, you have to say, well, you have to move beyond that because the man doesn't tell the truth and his word means nothing. So what's the point of negotiating with him? I think that secretary...
BLITZER: So is the point simply, Congressman Engel, is the point simply to throw up everyone's hands and say let the Israelis and the Palestinians just fight each other and die?
ENGEL: No, I think one would hope that better leadership would emerge from the Palestinian side, because if you sign an agreement with Arafat, it is not worth the paper it's written on. I have very sadly and reluctantly come to this conclusion, and I don't know what else there is to do. The man is not only not stopping the violence, he's the violence. The three quarters of the suicide bombings have come from the Fatah group, from Tanzim, from the Al-Aqsa Brigade. These are all groups that Arafat controls.
BLITZER: Peter King, what about that?
KING: Well, the fact is, listen, I agree with everything Eliot said as far as the culpability of Arafat. The point I'm making, though, is to try to get beyond this, to have some semblance of a long-term political solution, diplomatic solution, the idea is to try to stop the fighting.
I don't think Arafat will ever do the right thing because it's the right thing. He will do the right thing, number one, because he realizes that Ariel Sharon is serious about going after him. That's why I've supported the Israeli incursion. He will also, though, do the right thing, possibly, if the strong Arab leaders in that region for their own self-interest lean on him and pressure him.
And I think that one way to get that done is for Colin Powell, Secretary of State Powell, to try to maintain this contact. And yet Eliot is also right when he says there has to come a time when we cut off with Arafat. I would just rather let Secretary of State Powell make that decision as to when it serves absolutely no purpose to deal with him.
And I want to emphasize, I don't trust Arafat at all. I'm just hoping that with Colin Powell's diplomatic skills and the pressures from the other moderate Arab leaders in the region, enough can be done to exert the pressure on Arafat that's necessary.
BLITZER: Congressman Engel, don't you trust Secretary of State Colin Powell, who has a reputation as being a strong and reliable friend of Israel, to do the right thing?
ENGEL: Well, I think that Secretary Powell is trying to do the right thing, I think President Bush is trying to do the right thing. The problem is, when you are dealing with someone who carries out the terror, who is behind the terror -- the old adage, "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" -- Yasser Arafat has fooled us a hundred times. So when do we say enough is enough?
I think the specter of the American secretary of state going there and, you know, looking for a hook to hang his hat on, looking for Arafat to make some kind of condemnation of terrorism -- you know, he's condemned terrorism before. It's all worlds. The proof is in the pudding. And just the terrorist attack that was carried out yesterday in Jerusalem, as Colin Powell was in Jerusalem, what could be more arrogant than that, to carry out a suicide bombing? It was from the Al-Aqsa Brigade, which is part and parcel of Arafat's Fatah movement.
BLITZER: Let me get Congressman King the last word. Very briefly, there seems to be an inconsistency in what you're saying, Congressman King. You say he's a terrorist, you say he's not trustworthy, but you also say give him one more chance?
KING: Actually, it's not so much give him the one more chance, it's to give the moderate Arab leaders in the region, such as the president of Egypt and the king of Jordan, the opportunity to put pressure on Arafat. If Arafat is removed tomorrow or we cut off all ties with Arafat, that I think weakens the position of those moderate Arab leaders as far as putting pressure on him.
So I don't think it's an inconsistency; it's a dual position because of our complexities. But no, I don't trust Arafat, but I do have some trust in the other Arab leaders, and hopefully they can put the pressure on him. And the combination of the political pressure from the moderate Arab leaders and the military pressure from Ariel Sharon and the good faith of the United States as a broker, I'm hoping can set some diplomatic process in motion. Otherwise, I don't see any end game here, other than Israel continuing to fight the Palestinians, which they have the right to do.
But ultimately, that also goes down against Israel, because they will end up being an occupying power when they don't want to do. This is a decision Prime Minister Rabin made almost 10 years ago.
BLITZER: Congressman Peter King, Congressman Eliot Engel, thanks to both of you for joining us. We appreciate it very much.
And the Middle East, as all of us know, is not necessarily the only hot spot in the world today. When we come back, a gun battle broke out in Afghanistan. We'll have details right after this.
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BLITZER: Now, the results of our Web question of the day: "Should U.S. peacekeepers go into the West Bank?" Look at this, 37 percent say yes; 63 percent say no. A reminder: This is not a scientific poll.
Will the secretary of state's meeting with Yasser Arafat tomorrow make a difference? Just ahead, the diplomatic moves. We'll hear from both sides as the secretary prepares to meet with Yasser Arafat.
And a little bit later, a familiar face returns to the political foreground. Could Al Gore be gunning for 2004? Much more coming up as our special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS continues live from Jerusalem right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: It's just after midnight here in Jerusalem. Later on Sunday, the secretary of state will be driving from Jerusalem to Ramallah to meet with the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Welcome back to our special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting live from Jerusalem. We'll have details on all of that, but first, this Middle East news alert.
Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet with Yasser Arafat after all. Powell will see the Palestinian leader in the West Bank town of Ramallah Sunday morning. The decision came as U.S. officials found what they call some positive elements in a Palestinian statement which condemns, quote, "all kinds of terrorist activity." The meeting was postponed after a suicide bomber killed six Israelis yesterday here in Jerusalem.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a wing of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, has released a video of this young woman said to have carried out yesterday's suicide bombing in Jerusalem. The 20-year-old was a West Bank clothing factory worker whose brother had been arrested by Israeli troops.
Withdrawing from one West Bank village, Israeli forces have entered others. The Israeli military says it rounded up a number of terror suspects in villages near Jenin. While in the city of Nablus, tanks reportedly shelled the local Palestinian government complex.
Death and dough instruction in Jenin. These new pictures from inside the West Bank refugee camp hint at the fury of the recent fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants. Palestinians say hundreds were massacred. Israel acknowledges heavy casualties in the camp, but says they resulted from the battle.
Two members of a Palestinian family are pulled from the rubble of a home in Nablus after being trapped five days. Witnesses say eight other family members were killed. Palestinians say the home was destroyed when Israeli bulldozers demolished a nearby building. Israeli military officials insist they cannot confirm that.
So what are the prospects that Secretary of State Colin Powell's meeting with the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will achieve a cease-fire? Let's bring in our State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel. She's joining me now live. You're traveling with the secretary.
What is going to happen and what is likely to happen?
KOPPEL: Well, the first thing, Wolf, that Secretary Powell needs to get from Yasser Arafat is for him to put those words condemning acts of terrorism into action. And that certainly is something that the State Department spokesman Richard Boucher made clear today when he responded to the news that the U.S. has received that Yasser Arafat had made those statements and that the trip tomorrow to Ramallah would go forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: The statement issued earlier today by Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian leadership contains a number of interesting and positive elements. Condemnation of all terrorist attacks against Israeli and Palestinian civilians, a strong condemnation of yesterday's bombing in Jerusalem, a call to start immediate implementation of the Tenet understandings and the Mitchell report, a reaffirmation of the Palestinian commitment to a negotiated peace and support for Secretary Powell in his mission.
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KOPPEL: Now, in order to break the impasse between Israelis and Palestinians, Secretary Powell plans to tell the Palestinian leader, Wolf, that he will in exchange for a cease-fire move rapidly and help the Israelis to move rapidly to get into the political negotiations that could result very soon in a Palestinian state and an end to Israeli settlements.
BLITZER: All right. An ambitious agenda for Colin Powell when he meets with Yasser Arafat. You'll be covering that; we'll be back to you tomorrow, of course. Andrea Koppel, thanks for joining us.
And throughout the day, we have been getting some of the first videotaped pictures from Jenin, from the refugee camp, the Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin on the West Bank. The scene of fierce fighting between Israeli military forces and Palestinian fighters inside that camp. For days now, Palestinians have been insisting the Israelis have been engaged in what they describe as a massacre, a massacre they say of hundreds of Palestinians. Israel denies any such thing, insisting, yes, there was fierce fighting, they point to 23 Israeli soldiers who were killed in the course of that fighting.
But they also say that, yes, there were casualties on the Palestinian side, perhaps even hundreds of killed and injured. At the same time, independent confirmation of any of this is nearly impossible as Israel continues to seal off that area, preventing journalists, Red Cross personnel, U.N. personnel from entering the refugee camp in Jenin.
Let's bring in Dan Meridor. He's a high-ranking Israeli official, former justice minister. Mr. Meridor, thanks for joining us. Tell us your explanation of what happened in Jenin, because by all accounts, Palestinian and Israeli, there are a lot of dead people there.
DAN MERIDOR, ISRAELI CABINET MEMBER: War is a very ugly business, unfortunately. We didn't want to be there. Because of the attacks against us, we had to go there. People were hiding there. Over 20 suicide attempts came from Jenin and killed our people in restaurants, in cafes. We went into these areas. The terrorists made the people there human shields, and this is why people were killed there.
I'm sorry for everyone who was killed who is innocent. But this is war, and in war things happen. We never target civilians, unlike our enemies. We never target civilians. We try to avoid civilian casualties, even at the cost of risking the lives of our soldiers. Over 20 Israeli soldiers were killed there.
BLITZER: So why won't Israel allow independent observers, journalists or U.N. personnel, or personnel from the Red Cross, all of them anxious to go into Jenin, see what is going on?
MERIDOR: No doubt, they will all go there and see it. It's not going to be a nice sight, because there was war, very heavy fighting going on there. When the fighting is over, they will be there, and they will see it. I know that the journalists were very angry at the Americans not allowing them to go to Afghanistan. In times of war, it's difficult, but they will go and see it. And it's death, it's war, but we didn't want to be there. We wanted to solve the problem, not to go and fight them.
BLITZER: Palestinians say the Israeli military has been engaged in a cover-up, trying to remove Palestinian bodies so the sites won't be as gruesome once the media gets into that refugee camp in Jenin. And as you know, the Israeli Supreme Court has now issued an order restraining the Israeli military from removing any of those bodies.
MERIDOR: You see the difference. We have a Supreme Court telling us what to do, and we abide by the rule of law. We fight with the rule of law and within the limits of the rule of law. We will not do anything that's illegal, and we'll do it best possible way, and this is what we are doing. In the end of the day, it was a bad fight, an ugly fight, as all fights are ugly. It was in civilian population. And the best thing to do is to stop the attempts to kill us and the suicide bombs, and we will not have to be in those refugee camps or other places that we have to be in now.
BLITZER: Do you have any hope whatsoever that the meeting between Colin Powell tomorrow and Yasser Arafat will achieve what Powell wants, at least to begin with, a cease-fire?
MERIDOR: We desperately need it. We need it and they need it. And Secretary Powell's visit in the area may be the best, if not the only hope now. It may be the last chance given to Mr. Arafat who, as President Bush said, betrayed the hope of his people to stop the shooting, to stop the fighting and to move to political negotiations.
We all know the problem will not be resolved by fighting. It will be resolved by political negotiations. But we cannot, we should not negotiate under fire. If they want to talk, let them talk, not shoot. Arafat can do it. Even today, he is listened to by the people who fight, and he -- if he tells them stop fighting, I'm sure they will. He never did it to this minute.
BLITZER: Dan Meridor, thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate it very much.
And let's go back to the White House now, where CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace is standing by with some reaction to how the Bush administration is being criticized by some for this decision to go forward with the meeting between Secretary Powell and Yasser Arafat -- Kelly. WALLACE: Well, Wolf, you even heard in your statement just about a half hour ago with two U.S. lawmakers the decision by Secretary Powell to meet on Sunday with Yasser Arafat is definitely getting its share of criticism.
On the one hand, you have those who say such a meeting is only rewarding acts of terror, saying that Yasser Arafat has simply not done enough to crack down on Palestinian suicide bombings, and also saying that by having a meeting it really goes against President Bush's own doctrine, that either you are with the United States against terrorism or you are against the United States.
But on the other side, you have lawmakers who say, look, Yasser Arafat is the leader of the Palestinian people. A lot of people in the administration might not like him, but he in fact is the leader of the Palestinian people, and that Secretary Powell has no choice but to sit down with him, if he wants to somehow try and achieve a cease-fire between the two sides -- Wolf.
BLITZER: What happens, Kelly, and I'm sure White House officials have been thinking about this, if Secretary Powell emerges from this region without anything whatsoever to show for all of his diplomatic efforts?
WALLACE: Well, Wolf, as you know, even before Secretary Powell left the United States, headed to the region, he said, look, I'm not going to come back with a peace agreement in hand. I might not even come back with a cease-fire in hand. So expectations were low then. They continue to be low now. It's not clear what, if anything, Secretary Powell will be able to achieve in that meeting on Sunday.
Clearly, after that meeting, Secretary Powell will have to assess his options from there, how long he will remain in the region, what he does from here on out. U.S. officials, though, Wolf, are clearly trying to figure out next steps, because it was nine days ago, as you know, when the president came out here, very publicly saying he wants the Israelis to withdraw from the Palestinians areas. That hasn't happened. He wants the Palestinians to do more to crack down on terror. That hasn't happened. So the president looking for results; he hasn't seen many so far -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Kelly Wallace at the White House, thanks so much.
Joining me now here in Jerusalem, Michael Tarazi. He is a Palestinian American. He's a legal adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization. Michael, thanks for joining us.
What do you think the Israelis should do in the face of, for example, yesterday's suicide bombing here in Jerusalem? What would any government do?
MICHAEL TARAZI, PLO LEGAL ADVISER: Well, I certainly understand the horror that Israelis feel by that kind of suicide bombing. I often spent a lot of time in Israel, and I understand the feeling. But Israelis need to take a step back and they need to ask themselves, why is this happening? They have to understand the link between the Israeli lack of security and the Palestinian lack of freedom. There is no way to address Israeli security without addressing Palestinian freedom.
What Israel needs to do is what it should have done 35 years ago when it first started this occupation, which is to end the occupation of Palestinian territories, abide by international law, and recognize the rights of the Palestinians to live in free and secure state just as they demand for themselves.
BLITZER: They say without specific, hard assurances if they were to unilaterally pull out from the West Bank, there would be a terrorist state right next door which would even pose a greater threat to Israel.
TARAZI: Well, this is the problem. They have to understand the link between security and freedom. Unfortunately, many Palestinians have made it very clear to Israel that they are never -- Israelis will never have security as long as Palestinians never have freedom. And the Israeli response is to say you will never have freedom as long as we don't have security. The obvious answer is to address both of those concerns simultaneously, and we hope that's what Colin Powell will eventually do, because otherwise he will fail.
BLITZER: How concerned are you about what the Israelis say is the evidence that they have now presented to the White House that Yasser Arafat personally signed off on expenditures for suicide bombing attacks against Israeli civilians?
TARAZI: I am an attorney, and I can tell you if I went into an American court of law making the allegations that the Israelis are making now, I'd be laughed out of court. First, you have to question the authenticity of these documents. It's not beyond Israel to create evidence. They certainly did that in 1967.
BLITZER: Are you saying they're forgeries?
TARAZI: I'm saying that's a possibility. We haven't been allowed to investigate, nor have journalists have been allowed to go and independently verify.
Secondly, even if they are not forgeries, they don't prove anything. For example, they claim that a check made payable to Marwan Barghouti...
BLITZER: The head of the security services.
TARAZI: No, Marwan Barghouti is actually the head of Fatah in the West Bank. He is simply an employee of the political party that Yasser Arafat heads. So of course it's perfectly normal that he would have a check made payable to him. It might very well be his salary. That doesn't prove anything.
I think Israelis need to stop trying to think about how they can look backward in order to justify what they are doing, but rather how to look forward. And to look forward, you have to understand why we're in the situation that we're in. BLITZER: What is the most that Yasser Arafat can offer Colin Powell tomorrow to convince him that Arafat is sincere in wanting a cease-fire and the resumption of peace negotiations with Israel?
TARAZI: Well, very much along what he has offered over the last year and a half, which is what is said in the Mitchell report, which is 100 percent effort. We can by no means guarantee...
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BLITZER: ... he is not giving that 100 percent effort.
TARAZI: Well, you know, I wish they would allow third party observers to actually come in and actually see what is going on. I think it's very difficult to accuse the Palestinians of anything when you don't have a neutral third party actually observing what is happening on the ground.
You have to understand the security limitations that we have. We live on 13 different reservations, noncontiguous territories. We can't go from one to the other. It's like telling the Boston Police Department, you can't leave Boston but you're responsible for anything that happens in Philadelphia. It's absurd.
But taking into account those limitations, we're prepared to do everything we can. But the bottom line is, Wolf, we are not a security subcontractor to the Israeli occupation forces of our country. We are prepared to cooperate with respect to security as long as Israel is prepared to cooperate in ending its occupation in accordance with international law.
BLITZER: Michael Tarazi, thank you so much. A Palestinian American, a U.S. citizen, Palestinian as well, representing -- you're a legal adviser to the PLO. Thanks so much for joining us.
TARAZI: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Appreciate it.
And stay with CNN for continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East. Bill Hemmer will report live from Jerusalem, a special report tonight 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific, and then once again at 10:00 Eastern tonight, 7:00 Pacific.
And back in the United States, a special appearance today at the Florida Democratic Convention. Could -- could Al Gore be gathering support for 2004? We'll have a live report right after this.
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BLITZER: It's now past midnight here in Jerusalem. Earlier tonight, after the end of the Jewish sabbath, some people walked around the streets of Jerusalem. Everyone in Jerusalem, though, on edge, especially after yesterday's suicide bombing. I'm Wolf Blitzer with our special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. I'll be back later with more on the crisis in the Middle East. But now let's go back to CNN's Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN center in Atlanta with other news -- Fredricka.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, Wolf. In Central Florida, Democrats are getting pumped up. Among the goals, reclaiming the White House in 2004. Our Judy Woodruff, the host of CNN's "INSIDE POLITICS," is at the floor of the state Democratic Convention. Hi there, Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, Fredricka.
Well, right now, these Democrats are hearing from the Florida governor candidates, because they very much would like to replace Jeb Bush in the election this November.
But you know, much of this weekend has been taken up by speeches from the men who are thinking seriously about running for president in 2004. And much of the national attention here is focused on Al Gore. For the last 15 months, he's pretty much been on the sidelines, he hasn't said very much about President Bush, but this weekend he chose to come out to say to these Democrats, it's one thing to agree with the president on the war on terror, but we have an obligation to speak out when we disagree with him on other issues. At one point, he asked the crowd of Democrats, what happened to the budget surplus that was there when Bill Clinton and I left office?
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AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: The largest single factor, of course, was that they wanted to shovel it out to the wealthiest tax brackets in the form of tax relief for those who need it least, and the rest of the country got peanuts, and the American people got stuck with the bill.
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WOODRUFF: Gore was equally critical of the president on the environment, on Social Security, on his record on education. But neither Gore nor any of the other Democrats who are speaking who are thinking about running for president, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, Senator Chris Dodd and Senator Joe Lieberman, both of Connecticut, none of them have declared for president, none of them have even said they have made a final decision.
But, Fredricka, it's clear they are all thinking about it, and this party has declared that it is serious about challenging George W. Bush in 2004.
WHITFIELD: All right. And already thinking out loud about it, too. Judy Woodruff in Central Florida, thanks very much.
Well, many people say Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has lost his authority, but he remains the most prominent voice for his people. Who is this man? A look when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Welcome back to our special coverage of the crisis in the Middle East. We have been getting e-mail from viewers from around the world, we've been getting swamped with e-mail. Let's read some of them right now.
Florette from Jordan, she writes this: "While Secretary Powell enjoys his holiday in Israel, he should visit the camp in Jenin and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. They represent the success of his glorious mission." She's obviously not impressed.
David wonders this: "What realistically can Colin Powell do to help the two parties stop killing each other?" Good question, David. We don't know the answer.
Maria writes: "Ariel Sharon has become what he claimed he deplored: The Eichmann of our age, the Israeli architect of the new Holocaust."
But Steve asks this question: "Would the U.S. government want Powell to meet with bin Laden? Why should he meet with Arafat?" Tough questions from our viewers. We will have much more coverage of this crisis in the Middle East. I'll see you tomorrow. A special edition of "LATE EDITION" from here in Jerusalem. That's at noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific. We'll be speak with top Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting live from Jerusalem.
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