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CNN Live At Daybreak
Palestinian and Israeli Negotiators Plan to Meet Again Today in Bethlehem
Aired April 24, 2002 - 05:30 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 COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: For more details now on the problem between Israel and the United Nations fact-finding team, we send to our Senior U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.N. team was all set to leave, with Israel the first stop on the fact-finding tour.
MARTTI AHTISAARI, U.N. JENIN PANEL CHAIRMAN: I think our of share courtesy I should perhaps start with the foreign minister and defense minister and continue from there.
ROTH: But it was a false start for the team. A few hours later, Israel told the U.N. this panel was not welcome.
YEHUDA LANCRY, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We consider the team should be more balanced and should include mediator experts and counter-terrorist experts.
ROTH: Israel said it was not consulted by Secretary General Kofi Annan on the panel members. Indeed, when he unveiled the selections, Annan told journalists the final judgment was his. But Annan is backed up by the Security Council, which quickly huddled and told Israel to live up to its promise made Friday to permit a team to visit Jenin.
SERGEY LAVROV, U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT: They expect fast implementation of this resolution with full cooperation from the government of Israel, with the secretary general and with the fact- finding team.
ROTH: So now Israel will send diplomats to New York to press for more military experts to be included in the fact-finding mission. Annan will consider adding panel members, but so far rules out removing the core diplomatic team.
NASSER AL-KIDWA, PALESTINIAN OBSERVER TO U.N.: Either it's final or it's blatant blackmail, which will definitely undermine the integrity of the fact-finding process.
ROTH: The Palestinians say Jenin was the site of a massacre of civilians. Israel says it was an entrenched terror network.
(on camera): The only agreement so far between Israel and the United Nations is to postpone, but for how long? The secretary general's office says Kofi Annan still expects the fact-finding team to be in the Middle East this Saturday.
Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And Palestinian and Israeli negotiators plan to meet again today in Bethlehem to try to hammer out an end to that standoff at the Church of the Nativity. Our Jerrold Kessel has exclusive pictures for you from Bethlehem's Manger Square in his report on the standoff -- watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It has the trappings of a medieval siege, this holy land standoff. The Church of the Nativity itself appears largely unscarred, but there are scars all around. Scars of desolation, of the lengthy and occasionally bloody standoff, and fear of an unyielding struggle that's not yet over.
The tiny entrance to the fifth century Basilica, through which pilgrims down the ages have passed, shut tight. A tank squawks where tourists wandered passed the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) souvenir stores. Ladders left by Israeli soldiers await monks who choose to get out. Fourteen have done so.
The Palestinian flag flutters above the abandoned Bethlehem Municipal Building. Snipers at the ready -- a real siege.
(on camera): Despite the almost complete absence of movement here in Manger Square, there does seem to be now a distinct sense of momentum towards resolving this conflict, at last.
(voice-over): Palestinian negotiators arrive for a second set of talks with Israeli officers -- handshakes. "At least we're talking and also listening to each other," they say. Antwan Salman (ph), the Palestinian lay leader of the orthodox church emerges from inside The Basilica to join the other negotiators.
An army jeep ferries in the short distance to a nearby building. It's name, now ironic, The Peace Center. After the first round of talks here, Salman (ph) had returned to those besieged in the church. Now, he has no comment.
Other negotiators admit the complexity of the situation. From both sides, they tell us the same thing: there could be an agreement within an hour, if only the other side would accept their position. Otherwise, they add glumly, the standoff could continue for three more weeks.
CNN's team and another news crew are the first camera to reach Manger Square since the start of the siege 22 days ago. Specific instructions from the Israeli commanders keep undercover of the armored jeep. "Palestinian snipers are in position to fire," they warn.
The Palestinians accuse Israel of trying to starve the wanted men out. Israel says dozens of young Palestinian boys are essentially hostage to the gunmen. So, too, 30 odd clergymen, monks and nuns.
To make their point, the soldiers call out the abbott (ph) of the Armenian Monastery. Father Rumsik (ph) says he and an 88-year-old monk are the only two members of these eight-strong community left behind. He's angry with everyone.
FATHER RUMSIK (ph): I don't know what is going on in my convent, you see. It's all robbed, all looted. They broke it, yes. They took the chain and the crown.
KESSEL: They, he explains, are the Palestinian gunmen. They scare him, he says. Then, he turns on the Israeli officers.
RUMSIK (ph): You are not helping me. You are not helping me, no. How many -- look, I am very angry. Why? My deacon (UNINTELLIGIBLE), he was shot by you.
KESSEL (on camera): Father, what will your prayers be tonight for ending this?
RUMSIK (ph): Please, I don't know what to say.
KESSEL (voice-over): Father Rumsik (ph) retreats into the gloom of his monastery, preparing to face the test of another dark and fearful night. A forlorn bell rings out from a church farther off in Bethlehem. Here, the bells are silent.
Jerrold Kessel, CNN, in Manger Square, Bethlehem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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