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CNN Live Today
Following Bombing, Prime Minister Returns to Israel
Aired May 08, 2002 - 13:04 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Time to check on the latest turbulence in the Middle East.
That brings us to CNN's Wolf Blitzer, once again in Jerusalem.
Wolf, good to see you.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you very much, Kyra.
The situation here is extremely tense. The prime minister of Israel will be landing shortly at Ben Gurion Airport outside of Tel Aviv. But following the bombing, the suicide bombing in Rishon Letzion, just south of Tel Aviv last night, the mood is very, very angry here among Israelis.
The bombing resulted in the deaths of some 15 Israelis. The suicide bomber was killed. Nearly 60 other Israelis were injured. About 20 of them are in various hospitals in critical condition. Only within the past hour or so, the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat went on Palestinian television, spoke in Arabic, condemned the bombing. He went further, though, and said all Palestinian must stop these kinds of suicide attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YASSER ARAFAT, PRESIDENT, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (through translator): And I have issued my orders for the Palestinian National Security Forces to confront and to prevent any terror attacks on Israeli civilians no matter which Palestinian factions stand behind them. At the same time and parallel to this, also to confront any aggression on Palestinian civilians carried out by the Israeli army or the settlers whose attacks we all totally condemn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Prime minister of Israel cut short his visit to the United states. He had been in the Oval Office meeting with President Bush when they both learned of the attack, the suicide attack, in Rishon Letzion. That has sparked debate already within Israel about what to do next. Some members of the Israeli cabinet are already calling on the prime minister to exile Yasser Arafat and his key lieutenants from the West Bank and Gaza. Although the Israeli foreign minister, Shimon Peres, says that would be a mistake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIMON PERES, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: I think there would be a majority against it because when we reached an agreement about Ramallah, we agreed that it will not be expulsion of Arafat. And I think it's unwise, and I don't think it's even useful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: How is the White House likely to react to these late- breaking developments here in Israel?
Let's go to our Senior White House Correspondent, John King. He's standing by.
John, we heard shortly from the secretary of state, Colin Powell, who pointedly avoided saying, at least publicly, that the Bush administration is urging restraint on the Israeli government.
JOHN KING, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. In fact, the secretary, Wolf, said he expected some acts of self-defense to follow yesterday's suicide bombing. So the administration is bracing for some form of Israeli response. Certainly, he would like the response to be what the diplomats call proportionate. The administration noting, of course, all of this coming just as the president was trying to make a major diplomatic push.
And even before the suicide bombing, we should remember there was some disagreements between the U.S. position and the Israeli position, even greater differences between the Israeli position and the position of the Saudi Arabians and the Jordanians and the Egyptians, the Arab world positions. So Mr. Bush was already facing a difficult task trying to navigate the very delegate diplomacy and then the suicide bombing. Violence was again interrupting diplomatic efforts in the Middle East.
The prime minister, as you noted, rushing home, cutting his trip short by a day. Secretary Powell today applying direct pressure to Yasser Arafat to get his security forces up and running. And the secretary also noting he hopes here that there can still be some progress that this diplomatic effort will not collapse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. COLIN POWELL, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We note, with deep regret, the terrorist incidents yesterday in the occupied territories, which, once again, puts at risk the possibility of going forward. And we condemn them, and we ask all others to condemn them and all others who have any hope for a peaceful life in the future for Palestinian people to do everything they can in their power to stop this terror and stop the violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: It was during this Oval Office meeting that the two leaders, the president and the prime minister, were first told there had been an explosion south of Tel Aviv. At the end of the meeting, after reporters left, Prime Minister Sharon was briefed on the details. He then rushed home.
During this question and answer session, the differences between the U.S. position and the Israeli position were quite clear. Mr. Bush says he wants an accelerated timetable for negotiations aimed at creating a Palestinian state. The prime minister said that is premature in his view. Remember, that was even before he learned of this latest bombing.
The diplomatic efforts continued today. President Bush out of the White House in Wisconsin at this hour saying promoting his domestic agenda, focusing on education. But he is due back at the White House in a few hours. Jordan's King Abdullah comes calling on the president. The Jordanian monarch making clear that he believes the suicide bombers will win, in his words, unless the peace process can be reinvigorated.
But there's a great deal of skepticism here at the White House, as they wait to see what Israel's response will be. Then Prime Minister Sharon will be ready to talk peace directly with Palestinians and Yasser Arafat anytime soon -- Wolf.
BLITZER: The secretary of state said George Tenet, the CIA director, would be heading back here to this part of the world perhaps as early as next week. What do they hope he'll be able to achieve?
KING: Initially, that trip was part of what the president hoped would be a number of steps that ultimately got you into peace process. Now the focus is overwhelmingly on security. What the U.S. says and what the Israelis have complained about for years is that there are six, seven or eight different Palestinian security factions. Each have different commanders. There's corruption and inefficiency. And the Israelis would say even a direct role in some of the violence.
Mr. Tenet's job to meet with Yasser Arafat and tell him you must bring these security forces all under unified command. You must follow our advice from the United States and others on how to structure it. So it is an effort, one of a number of efforts, the United States says is necessary to reform the Palestinian Authority as a governing force. And they want to focus with the issue they think is most important now, security -- Wolf.
BLITZER: John King, at the White House. Thank you very much.
If the United States gets more deeply involved in the Middle East peace process, it probably won't be cheap for U.S. taxpayers, if the past is any example of what could lie down the road.
CNN's Bruce Morton takes a closer look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Israel gets more U.S. foreign aid than any other country, about $2.8 billion this year: $2 billion in military aid, the rest economic. Egypt gets the second- largest amount, about $2 billion this year, thanks to a speed-up in payments: about $1.3 billion in military, the rest economic. These payments are meant to help those countries' economies, but also to keep the peace. They go back to Israel's agreement to return the Sinai to Egypt during Jimmy Carter's administration. It was big money for a long time.
PROF. SHIBLEY TELHAMI, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: If you look back at the Camp David Agreement between Egypt and Israel in the late '70s, it has cost about $5 billion a year of aid to Israel and Egypt every single year since.
MORTON: Or more than $100 billion. U.S. aid to Palestinians is much less. U.S. pledges to the Palestinian Authority come to less than $300 million. The European Union has given more.
Is it worth it? It depends whom you ask. Egypt and Israel have remained at peace. Their economies have probably improved, Israel's more than Egypt's. One thing is certain: if peacekeeping between Israel and the Palestinians is to get off the ground, everything will get a lot more expensive.
How much to rebuild Ramallah and Jenin and the other shattered camps and towns? No one knows. Peacekeeping? The U.S. force in the Sinai costs relatively little, about $16 million a year. But peacekeeping on the West Bank would be harder. There are calls for U.S. troops, for NATO troops; the U.S. would get some of the bills. But with its big economy, the U.S. can afford them.
TELHAMI: The real question is whether that cost will bring about the results that we intend, which is to bring about peace between the parties, stability in the region, and guarding U.S. vital interests. If that is achieved, it's a price worth paying.
MORTON: If -- that's the question.
Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: This just in, an Israeli Defense Force spokesperson telling CNN that they have just arrested someone they describe as a leader of the Hamas Islamic militant group in the Palestinian refugee camp of Tulkarem on the West Bank. The IDF says its troops are arrested Abas Mohammed Mustafa al-Sahib (ph), someone they describe as a leader of Hamas. This is significant since Hamas has claimed responsibility for the bombing in Rishon Letzion, just south of Tel Aviv last night. We'll have more on this development, as it becomes available.
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