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CNN Live Today

Arafat, Sharon Suffer Separate Setbacks

Aired May 13, 2002 - 11:04   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We move on right now to the Middle East. Some tense moments, when Yasser Arafat was rushed out of a hall by security personnel. He was about to give a speech, when crowds rushed the stage. It came during the Palestinians tour of the West Bank today.

More on all of this now from our Jerrold Kessel, who is in Jerusalem -- Jerrold, hello once again.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

And Kate Snow talking about a sense of where we are. Well, I think that pretty much sums up the situation today between Israelis and Palestinians; a sense of not where they are or not knowing where they are. And this is a day of stock taking for both the Palestinian and Israeli leaders, as they've suffered something of a -- well, I wouldn't necessarily call it stinging rebuke to both of them, but at least they've had some sobering experiences.

Ariel Sharon losing a key vote in the Likud party -- his Likud party yesterday. And Yasser Arafat, as you rightly point out, during a tour of the West Bank -- now it's the first time he's been out of Ramallah in six months, since he's been pinned up there literally by Ariel Sharon and the Israeli military. He began that tour of the West Bank, a visit to battered Bethlehem, and specifically to the Church of the Nativity, that place which was besieged by the Israelis; besieging those Palestinian militants for almost six weeks.

It was a warm reception that the Palestinian leader received there. He said, "I'm not only a Muslim. I'm also a Christian and a human being. This place is very dear to me and also to the Palestinian people."

But from there on, he went on to Jenin, which of course has been a symbol for many Palestinians and the battles against the Israelis, particularly the Jenin refugee camp. And there, Mr. Arafat gave a miss to a big gathering that took place in the Jenin refugee camp, because -- either for security reasons or because his aides were fearing that he might be heckled, he might be jeered, because there has been some criticism from militants of the radical Islamic groups, particularly the Palestinian Authority. And Yasser Arafat's police were not as involved as they believe they might have been in squaring up to the Israeli army when it engaged them in Jenin. So a miss there from Yasser Arafat. But he did speak in conciliatory terms about the possibility of going forward to an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Here's what he had to say on that subject when interviewed late yesterday by CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARAFAT: And we hope that we will have this independent Palestinian state side by side with an Israeli Jewish state.

BLITZER: That's a significant statement you just made.

ARAFAT: No. For me -- not to forget, they are our cousins.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KESSEL: Well, a jovial move there in that interview of the Palestinian leader. When he did address a crowd in Jenin town, he did say very pointedly, "We will be heading on towards Jerusalem to the creation of our Palestinian state no matter who wants it or who does not want it." And that a reference by the Palestinian leader to that decision taken, that resolution passed by the Israeli Likud party's central committee yesterday in Tel Aviv, which amounted to very much a stinging rebuke of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

It was a resolution prompted by his rival, you could say, now, the former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who wanted the Likud to restate its adamant and absolute opposition to any idea of a Palestinian state. That's exactly what happened at the Likud central committee. Mr. Sharon voted down on his idea that there should be no such vote on a Palestinian state.

He wasn't yesterday advocating the idea of a Palestinian state. But in the past, he said he could conceive of it being part of a future peace between Israel and the Palestinians. So he is facing up to the implications of that rebuke in the Likud, just as Yasser Arafat may be having to face up to a sobering assessment that not all Palestinians are pleased with his performance over the last couple of months -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right -- Jerrold Kessel, a very thorough report there from Jerusalem. Thank you.

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