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CNN Live Today

Negotiations Slow at Church of Nativity

Aired May 06, 2002 - 10:09   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go ahead and turn to the Middle East and the standoff at the Church of the Nativity. Negotiators have reportedly -- or actually negotiations have reportedly bogged down over the fate of some of the Palestinians involved. This is now in its 35th day of taking refuge inside of one of Christianity's holiest sites.

Our senior international correspondent, Walter Rodgers, has an update for us on these negotiations. Walter, it sounds like things were so close, and then just kind of coming to a grinding halt here.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, but don't lose faith. We are in the stage where negotiations have resumed after they broke off at 6:00 a.m. this morning, and there are people who remain quite hopeful that there will be a resolution.

If we can look down the street towards the Church of the Nativity, you can see the door, the Door of Humility looking across Manger Square still closed. There are 123 people inside, most of those are Palestinians. Many of them said earlier today, they hoped, prayed and expected to get out of there today. That has not happened.

Nonetheless, an Israeli army spokesman predicted there will be a resolution of this standoff at the Church of the Nativity, which is approaching its fifth week he said, soon. When I asked him to define soon, he said maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow.

Naturally the Israelis are blaming the Palestinians for the last- minute hitches. They say they are awaiting answers from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on the draft agreement for ending this crisis.

A short while ago, an Israeli spokesman, Col. Olivia Rafowitz (ph), came up to the same barricade and gave us his best estimate on the state of the negotiations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The negotiations are still going on. We are maybe today closer than yesterday, but we are still waiting for the final answers from the other side. As you know, there have been several points of discussion, still in discussion right now. And we hope very much that a solution, safe and quick, will arrive in order to solve this crisis of the church. (END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: This morning, a delegation of Palestinian women here in Bethlehem came to protest as close to the Church of the Nativity as they were allowed to get. They are, of course, objecting to continuing Israeli military occupation of their town, and they are specifically objecting to one of the tentative points in the agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, which is to say the deportation of the most militant hardcore Palestinian fighters still inside the church.

The Israelis are insisting that 13 of the men, whom they have identified, have to be deported from this area, sent to a European country, perhaps Italy. The Palestinians say, no, no more than six. Yasser Arafat is said to be adamant that no more than six will be deported. That appears to be the sticking point at this moment.

By way of a footnote, we are hearing reports from inside the Church of the Nativity, the traditional site of Jesus' birth, that there has been considerable vandalism during this nearly five-week standoff. Icons and frescoes very badly damaged. The Israelis are quoting priests and monks inside saying the damage was allegedly committed by the Palestinians -- Daryn.

KAGAN: That will be unfortunate news for Christians all around the world. Walter, I want to ask you about this exile plan. The Israeli call it exile. The Palestinians call it being a guest of another country. It does look like it's focusing on Italy. Why Italy? Why would they be sent there, the Palestinians?

RODGERS: Well, perhaps -- you know, I really can't answer that question, although we have to point out that the Europeans have always been anxious to play a role in the Middle East, a bigger role in the Middle East. Additionally recall that one of the prime movers in trying to resolve this crisis has been Pope John Paul II. The Vatican being in Italy.

So the Vatican itself has been heavily involved in these negotiations at one time or another. We called the pope's emissary here in Jerusalem, said the continuing standoff between the tanks and the soldiers in Manger Square was nothing less than -- quote, "a humiliation for Christians around the world and a scandal for all mankind."

So perhaps it's the intercession of the pope which makes Italy a likely candidate, a likely place for the deportation -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Good insight. Walter Rodgers in Bethlehem -- thank you so much.

And as Walter mentioned, the Europeans want to play a bigger role. One person who is playing a bigger role and that is President Bush. He will meet tomorrow with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who already has arrived in Washington.

Let's bring in our senior White House correspondent, John King, with more on that meeting and what progress that might come out of that, and how that might be tied to the holdup in Bethlehem -- John, good morning.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn. Well, the White House certainly wants that standoff in Bethlehem resolved, so that the meeting here between President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon can be more forward-looking.

The president preparing for that conversation. It is tomorrow afternoon. He is out of the White House at this hour though, traveling to the state of Michigan to focus on his domestic agenda, specifically education. U.S. officials say the president in that meeting expects somewhat of a debate, if you will. They don't call it an argument, but a debate with Prime Minister Sharon over Yasser Arafat.

The prime minister comes here with new documents that he says proves a direct link between Yasser Arafat and payments to those blamed for some of the suicide bombings and others attacks on Israel. The White House's position is that accepts much of the Israeli evidence, but it says the cold political fact is that Yasser Arafat is the recognized international leader of the Palestinian people, and that if there are to be negotiations to get toward peace, Israel and the United States have no choice but to deal with Yasser Arafat, like it or not.

So that's likely to be one point of contention in the discussions when Prime Minister Sharon is here at the White House tomorrow. The prime minister also says he comes bringing some new ideas for how a peace process should unfold. U.S. officials say they are very eager to see them and promise to listen to them, but even there, they expect another disagreement, at least in the nuances on the speed of how this should go forward.

Prime Minister Sharon wants an interim period of more security, more buffer zones, more checkpoints between the Israelis and the Palestinians, including he has talked about fences and ditches and other barriers separating Israeli from Palestinian territories. U.S. officials say they don't believe that is the right approach to take if, and they think the most important point looking forward is you are to rebuild some trust between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

So a hope this standoff in Bethlehem will be resolved by the end of the day, but that doesn't mean the issues looking forward become any easier at all -- Daryn.

KAGAN: John, one of the ideas that was floated out there by the Bush administration last week, this idea of an international conference. That doesn't seem to be getting such a warm reception in the Arab world.

KING: You get a mixed reception in the Arab world. One thing in the Arab world is they are on board with the idea of a conference, but they believe before then, the U.S. must demonstrate to the Arab world again. In their perspective, this administration has not been evenhanded. Before they want to talk about the agenda for any international conference, whether you call it a peace conference or something less than that, they want to see all of the Israeli troops out of the Palestinian territories. They want to see Prime Minister Sharon acknowledge that he has to deal with Yasser Arafat. They want to see steps by the Israelis.

So there is a great deal of disagreement, even though you have a Saudi peace plan on the table, Prime Minister Sharon says he has ideas of his own. The White House says it has ideas from a U.S. perspective. A lot of ideas floating out there, but very hard to connect the dots, if you will, and get any consensus on what pace this should all proceed at, who should be the leading players in the negotiations from the beginning, a lot of difficult diplomacy.

KAGAN: John King at the White House -- John, thank you so much. We will check back with you in the next hour.

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