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CNN Live At Daybreak

Agreement to End Siege at Yasser Arafat's Headquarters Still Not Done Deal

Aired April 30, 2002 - 06:32   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: The agreement to end that siege at Yasser Arafat's headquarters is still not a done deal. We get a live update now from CNN's Matthew Chance, who is in Ramallah -- Matthew, what can you tell us?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Carol. It's not a done deal yet, but certainly after months of confinement here to the West Bank town of Ramallah, and under siege, in fact, in that battered presidential headquarters since the end of March, it does look possible still though that Yasser Arafat is going to be able to walk free out of that compound, at least free in the Palestinian areas of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

First though, importantly, the terms of the U.S. initiative to bring to an end that siege have to be agreed upon. A second round of meetings between Palestinian officials and security experts from the United States and Britain is expected to get under way within the next few hours or so.

Those security experts are due in the West Bank town of Jenin, where they will be inspecting the Palestinian -- not Jenin, rather it's Jericho -- I'll correct myself there -- to inspect the Palestinian prison, which is being proposed where the six Palestinians wanted by Israel will be transferred under that U.S. plan and guarded over by monitors or guards from the United States and from Britain to verify that when Israel gives the order for its troops to leave Yasser Arafat's compound, that these men won't simply be allowed to walk away free.

For their part, the Palestinians also have their concerns. In fact, they are seeking a letter of guarantee from that British-United States team, guaranteeing the security and the safety of those prisoners, and of course, guaranteeing that once the responsibility for them is handed over that they won't find their way ever into the hands of the Israeli authorities.

So still the nuts and bolts of that agreement to be agreed. It's on the table. Palestinian officials are saying that it could be agreed any time within the next hours ahead. So we are watching it very closely to see what happens here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Matthew, isn't another concern is that the British and American people, who will be guarding these Palestinians in Jericho, who is going to protect them? That could be very dangerous, couldn't it?

CHANCE: It could be certainly. I am sure there is something being worked out though, both with the Israeli authorities and the Palestinian Authority to make sure that if this team of U.S. and British personnel is deployed on the ground here to oversee the guarding of these prisoners that their security will also be at stake. Obviously, it's something the governments of the United States and of Britain are going to be extremely concerned about, the welfare of their own personnel. They wouldn't be putting these people on the ground unless they received the guarantees from the appropriate authorities -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Matthew Chance reporting live for us this morning -- thank you.

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