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Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat Emerges From Battered Ramallah Compound

Aired May 02, 2002 - 11:13   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat emerged from his battered Ramallah compound today, after a month-long Israeli siege there ended. He toured damaged areas of the West Bank City, and visited wounded Palestinians at a Ramallah hospital.

CNN's Matthew Chance got a chance to speak one on one with the Palestinian leader just after that siege was lifted. And he asked Arafat about demands that he do more to crackdown on militants who attack Israeli civilians.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YASSER ARAFAT, PRESIDENT, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: What they are doing with this big crimes is increasing this activities, and I hope that you had heard from President Mubarak, who is worried, like me, from this barbarian activities from the Israeli army.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What a pressure are you prepared to bring to bear on militant groups to get them to stop their attacks on civilians? What pressure, specifically?

ARAFAT: Not to forget, I can't forget myself the peace of the brave, which I signed with my partner Rabin, who has been killed by these fanatic groups who is in power now in Israel. But for this I have to follow-up and not to forget the peace of the brave, which I had signed with my partner Rabin.

So we, the Palestinians cannot forget.

CHANCE: Have you given up...

ARAFAT: And we have to follow up with all our power.

CHANCE: Have you given up hope in the peace process? Do you think it could possibly be revived at this stage?

ARAFAT: I believe that if there is a will, there is a way. And not to forget that the majority of the Israeli people are with the peace of the brave. And our people, as I say -- is the same, and me the same, and the Arab summit conference had declared the initiative and adopted the initiative, which had been declared by Crown Prince Abdullah and become an Arab initiative and the resolution of the Security Council, and the resolution of the Kofi Annan for this committee, and for the observers, and for this, we are in need of a quick move from (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It's a superpower now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon says that if Arafat leaves the area and terror attacks occur while he's gone, Israel cannot guarantee that he'll be allowed to return.

Now that the standoff in Ramallah is over, the Bush administration is trying to push Mideast diplomacy to the next step.

CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace joins us now live. She's got that part of the story for us this morning.

Hello, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Leon.

Well, U.S. officials are really trying to figure out what the next moves in the Middle East should be. Just as you said, they hope to build on the progress that comes with the end of the siege of Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters, but, Leon, they're also very, very cautious here. One aide saying we know that you sort of sometimes take one step forward in the Middle East only to see two steps backwards.

Now Mr. Bush at this hour is meeting with European Union leaders. One item definitely on the agenda, certainly the Middle East. He's meeting with European Union commission president Prody (ph), who arrived at the White House a little bit earlier, as well as famed Prime Minister Asnar (ph), who is the current head of the rotating European Union presidency.

And I believe we have some pictures we can show you of, Mr. Bush meeting with those leaders in the Oval Office.

Now the Europeans are likely to push for an international conference very, very soon on the Middle East, to pave the way for political discussions between the Israeli and the Palestinians, and pave the way for a political settlement. The view from the White House is that that matter is still in the -- quote -- "idea stage," and that much more work needs to be done before a meeting can be convened.

There's one other issue out there, Leon. You heard talks of members of Congress wanting to bring forward resolution expressing support for Israel's crackdown on terror. Well, we understand as early as today the House and the Senate will go forward the non- binding resolutions. Last week, the White House asked the House, in fact, to hold off on such a resolution, saying it could -- quote -- "inflame the situation."

Well, on this day the White House is saying that it believes the timing is much better now, now because of some progress in the region, than last week. So it understands Congress' desire to go forward with resolution. It's working on the appropriate language, perhaps trying to lessen some concerns of some language that might condemn Yasser Arafat.

But right now, the word is, the White House is not standing in the way, and that members of Congress will speaking out on this issue on this day.

Leon, back to you.

HARRIS: All right, thank you, Kelly.

Kelly Wallace at the White House. We'll check back with you later on.

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