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CNN Sunday Morning

Israelis Express Sorrow for Killed Woman

Aired May 05, 2002 - 11:17   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.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to go back to the Middle East where Israeli soldiers have killed a Palestinian woman and her two children. It happened outside an army camp in the northern West Bank. The shooting comes as negotiations continue in the standoff in Bethlehem. CNN's Senior International Correspondent Walter Rodgers joins us now with details on the latest developments in the Mid East. Walt.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Hello, Jonathan. The Israeli army issued a statement expressing its regret at the killing of that Palestinian woman and her two children. According to the Israelis, one of their armored vehicles was maneuvering near Tulkarem on the West Bank when it ran over an explosive device.

The crew inside the armored vehicle assumed it was under attack and began shooting. The shooting was targeted at what they said, what the Israelis said were suspicious figures in a nearby olive grove. What the suspicious figures turned out to be were the Palestinian mother and her two children.

Meanwhile here in Bethlehem, the 36-day standoff between Israelis and Palestinians at the Church of the Nativity, traditional site of Jesus' birth continues. There were intense negotiations today among the Israelis, the Palestinians, the Americans and the British to bring this to a close.

There is an unstated deadline of Tuesday coming, because that's the day Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in Washington to meet with President Bush. Both sides, Israelis and Palestinians, say they want this ended quickly, one reason clearly the fact that this was Orthodox Easter in the Holy Land and neither side, neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians benefited from the sight of tanks outside the Church of the Nativity, which is the traditional site of Jesus' birth, nor the sight of Palestinian gunmen inside that church, armed rather heavily.

Again, there is continuing pressure here, now from the Vatican to end this crisis. The cardinal, the emissary from the Vatican, Cardinal Rojai Echegari (ph) preached a homily in the Latin Patriarch Church here today and said that the standoff at the Church of the Nativity is now a humiliation of Christians around the world and a scandal for all mankind.

One hopeful sign by way of footnote, I was in Manger Square a short while ago within the hour, and I saw a large Israeli flatbed truck pull up into Manger Square. That's the kind of truck the Israelis use when they take their armor and tanks away. Jonathan.

KARL: All right, Walt, thank you very much for that report.

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