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American Morning
Palestinian-Israeli Front Tense after Reoccupation, Grenade Attack
Aired June 21, 2002 - 07:31 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: And we begin in the Middle East after another attack on a Jewish settlement. Israeli tanks roll once again in the West Bank. And Prime Minister Sharon calls his army commanders to the table.
Our Christiane Amanpour is live in Jerusalem with the latest -- Christiane, hello.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, there have been three, there have been several incidents today at the Gaza Strip, we're told by Israeli spokespeople that a Palestinian -- apparently, it was claimed by the Al Aqsa militant brigade -- the Palestinian threw a grenade at a border police station. The border police returned fire, killing that Palestinian and two Palestinian bystanders.
Also in the Jenin area in the West Bank, in response to these Palestinian suicide attacks in Jerusalem, the army has sent in troops and tanks and other armor into various towns, including Jenin. And this morning there was apparently some confusion, because the army has imposed a curfew. Apparently some residents thought that the curfew had been lifted. They came out in order to go to the market and buy food and at that time Israeli soldiers opened fire. Two Palestinian children were killed, according to Palestinian sources and also Israeli sources.
At the same time, Israel is burying more of its dead, victims of more attacks. Last night there was an attack by a Palestinian into a settlement called Itamar, which is near Nablus in the West Bank. Itamar is home to some of the more militant Israeli settlers and in this incident, a Palestinian gunman opened fire into an Israeli house there, killing five people, including a woman and three children. Their funeral is going to be held today.
Ariel Sharon has in the last hour called his security cabinet to an emergency meeting. They will be discussing a new limited call up of reserves and also the army, we're told, will be presenting its proposals for any kind of response and retaliation to these Palestinian suicide attacks inside Israel.
There have been other developments, as well. Israeli newspapers, the "Ha'aretz" newspaper caries a front page interview with Yasser Arafat, the president of the Palestinian Authority, in which he declares for the first time that he is ready to accept the Clinton proposals. There are proposals that President Clinton put forward to the Palestinians and the Israelis just before he left office, and this is the first time that Arafat has said that he is prepared to accept them.
These proposals include some modification of language that the Palestinian Authority officials have already told CNN that they are presenting to this administration, saying, for instance, that they are making concessions on language about refugees, very sticky language before that had held up and, in fact, stalled peace negotiations.
Now, another interesting article that is in the Israeli newspaper "Ha'aretz," and I'll just briefly hold it up, is an interview, a long interview with Israel's defense minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer. He says that he has in the last couple of weeks visited two suicide bombers to try to find out their motivation. These bombers had had their missions aborted and he says that he knows that there is a lot of despair and frustration and that while Israel's military maneuvers in the West Bank are necessary for security, they are breeding frustration and despair and could be the incubator for future terrorist acts -- back to you, Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, and Christiane, on that note, what kind of support among the public is Mr. Sharon getting about this new policy of reoccupying West Bank lands?
AMANPOUR: Well, this is a very controversial policy. First of all, according to some members of the government, there's no formal policy, and some members of the government oppose reoccupation. What we're seeing so far is incursions to try to stem these suicide bombings.
The Israelis do support that. They want a tough response to these suicide bombing attacks. And in a new poll, a majority of Israelis polled are also saying that they favor this new security fence that is under the initial stages of construction, that is meant to keep the peace, if you like, between the West Bank and Israel proper -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Christiane Amanpour joining us from Jerusalem.
Christiane, thank you so much.
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