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CNN Live Today
Israeli Forces Destroy Most of Arafat's Compound
Aired September 20, 2002 - 12:05 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Following two suicide bombings in two days, Israel is striking at the heart of the Palestinian Authority. Yasser Arafat remains holed up in his Ramallah headquarters after a relentless night-long assault by Israeli tanks and bulldozers.
CNN's Matthew Chance joining us live from Jerusalem with the latest -- hello, Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Miles. And as Israel buries the dead from that latest suicide attack in Tel Aviv, the Israeli Army has returned to its policy of surrounding Yasser Arafat and his presidential compound, attempting to isolate him from the outside world.
Throughout the course of today, Israeli armored personnel carriers and tanks have entered that presidential compound. Israeli demolition teams have set about leveling buildings, destroying some of the structures that remain undestroyed in that compound, which, of course, has been very severely damaged over recent months over these continuous Israeli exercise -- Israeli operations around that compound.
Alone, untouched, at this stage, Yasser Arafat's private offices. We are told by Palestinian officials that he is in good spirits still inside those offices. The Israeli officials say they have got no intention, at this stage, despite recent speculation that they may move in and attempt to arrest the Palestinian leader.
What Israel is demanding, though, is that suspected Palestinian militants holed up inside that presidential compound alongside Yasser Arafat surrender themselves to Israeli custody, included amongst them the head of Palestinian Authority security in the West Bank, as well as a number of other senior Palestinian Authority officials.
Already, about 20 individuals have surrendered themselves to the Israeli Army. Palestinian officials say, though, that amongst them, were a number of collaborators who had been charged by the Israeli courts of collaborating with Israel, and were acting to save their own skins.
Now, as I mentioned, this latest military action came in response to a suicide attack in Tel Aviv which destroyed a bus, six people are now confirmed to have been killed as a result of that suicide attack.
The funerals for those people have been held there today, on the eve of the Jewish Sukkat holiday, and those scenes, along with the military scenes, along with the military scenes, and the scenes of bloodshed in the Palestinian areas, of course, now a very commonplace scene in this area -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Matthew, you say there are reports that Yasser Arafat is in good spirits, but most of his compound which surrounds his office is now in rubble. Give us a sense of how much of that compound is left, and a sense of really whether things are headed toward the demoralization side, inside that office.
CHANCE: Well, I mean, not a great deal of the compound is left. When I have been there over several occasions over the course of the last 12 months or so, many of the buildings had been destroyed, there were, perhaps, one or two that were left standing, another -- a number of buildings were being reconstructed by the Palestinian Authority. It seems now, though, that the buildings associated with Palestinian intelligence and the Palestinian security forces there have been completely destroyed by Israeli demolition teams, and it is only the main building in the center of the complex, that occupied by Yasser Arafat, where he lives, where he works, and where he sleeps that remains standing, if not completely intact because all of the buildings there, including the outside perimeter wall, have been more or less completely destroyed now by the Israeli armed forces -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Matthew Chance in Jerusalem, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 20, 2002 - 12:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Following two suicide bombings in two days, Israel is striking at the heart of the Palestinian Authority. Yasser Arafat remains holed up in his Ramallah headquarters after a relentless night-long assault by Israeli tanks and bulldozers.
CNN's Matthew Chance joining us live from Jerusalem with the latest -- hello, Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Miles. And as Israel buries the dead from that latest suicide attack in Tel Aviv, the Israeli Army has returned to its policy of surrounding Yasser Arafat and his presidential compound, attempting to isolate him from the outside world.
Throughout the course of today, Israeli armored personnel carriers and tanks have entered that presidential compound. Israeli demolition teams have set about leveling buildings, destroying some of the structures that remain undestroyed in that compound, which, of course, has been very severely damaged over recent months over these continuous Israeli exercise -- Israeli operations around that compound.
Alone, untouched, at this stage, Yasser Arafat's private offices. We are told by Palestinian officials that he is in good spirits still inside those offices. The Israeli officials say they have got no intention, at this stage, despite recent speculation that they may move in and attempt to arrest the Palestinian leader.
What Israel is demanding, though, is that suspected Palestinian militants holed up inside that presidential compound alongside Yasser Arafat surrender themselves to Israeli custody, included amongst them the head of Palestinian Authority security in the West Bank, as well as a number of other senior Palestinian Authority officials.
Already, about 20 individuals have surrendered themselves to the Israeli Army. Palestinian officials say, though, that amongst them, were a number of collaborators who had been charged by the Israeli courts of collaborating with Israel, and were acting to save their own skins.
Now, as I mentioned, this latest military action came in response to a suicide attack in Tel Aviv which destroyed a bus, six people are now confirmed to have been killed as a result of that suicide attack.
The funerals for those people have been held there today, on the eve of the Jewish Sukkat holiday, and those scenes, along with the military scenes, along with the military scenes, and the scenes of bloodshed in the Palestinian areas, of course, now a very commonplace scene in this area -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Matthew, you say there are reports that Yasser Arafat is in good spirits, but most of his compound which surrounds his office is now in rubble. Give us a sense of how much of that compound is left, and a sense of really whether things are headed toward the demoralization side, inside that office.
CHANCE: Well, I mean, not a great deal of the compound is left. When I have been there over several occasions over the course of the last 12 months or so, many of the buildings had been destroyed, there were, perhaps, one or two that were left standing, another -- a number of buildings were being reconstructed by the Palestinian Authority. It seems now, though, that the buildings associated with Palestinian intelligence and the Palestinian security forces there have been completely destroyed by Israeli demolition teams, and it is only the main building in the center of the complex, that occupied by Yasser Arafat, where he lives, where he works, and where he sleeps that remains standing, if not completely intact because all of the buildings there, including the outside perimeter wall, have been more or less completely destroyed now by the Israeli armed forces -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Matthew Chance in Jerusalem, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
