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CNN Live At Daybreak
More Trouble in Mideast
Aired May 01, 2003 - 05:03 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.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And there is more trouble in the Mideast this morning. At least seven Palestinians are dead after Israeli forces entered Gaza City and surrounded the house of a Hamas activist. Now, this comes one day after the release of the so-called road map for peace in the region.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel joins us from Jerusalem with more -- hello, Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Arthel.
And that road map, now that peace map, is on the table, but really in the center of the Palestinian-Israeli road, more violence. The Israeli troops went in in force into the Shijaiyah neighbor -- that's a neighborhood of Gaza City -- overnight, tanks, backed up by helicopter gunships. And they are surrounding a house where they believe to be a number of the militants of the Hamas organization, its military wing, Izz a-Din el-Kassam.
There have been fierce fighting between the Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen in the area and so far seven Palestinians have been killed, including a 2-year-old toddler and a teenager. The Israelis report six of their troops wounded in this ongoing operation, as the Israelis continue to surround this building in Gaza City.
Now, there are media reports -- this has not been officially confirmed -- but good, reliable sources on the Israeli side say that the very large Israeli operation is linked to that suicide bombing the night before last in Tel Aviv because according to these reports, the Israelis went in to find the Hamas operatives who planned and dispatched the suicide bombers to Tel Aviv.
In that Tel Aviv incident three people were killed, more than 50 wounded. And the Israeli police reported in a dramatic disclosure last night that there was not only the one bomber who was killed, but two, in fact. And they were both British citizens. The one man who was killed, his bomb belt was exploded. The other man had a bomb belt, discarded it when it apparently didn't go off. And there's a major manhunt in Israel for that second suspected bomber, whom, as I say, the Israelis are saying is a British citizen.
So all this suggesting that there are major obstacles, major bumps on that to get that road map in place in a constructive kind of way. The violence on both sides, Hamas and the other militant organizations saying that they don't want to have anything to do with the road map, will do anything to shove it off the road. And the Israelis saying they have serious reservations about implementing the map, as well -- Arthel.
NEVILLE: OK, Jerrold Kessel, thank you very much for that report.
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 May 1, 2003 - 05:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And there is more trouble in the Mideast this morning. At least seven Palestinians are dead after Israeli forces entered Gaza City and surrounded the house of a Hamas activist. Now, this comes one day after the release of the so-called road map for peace in the region.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel joins us from Jerusalem with more -- hello, Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Arthel.
And that road map, now that peace map, is on the table, but really in the center of the Palestinian-Israeli road, more violence. The Israeli troops went in in force into the Shijaiyah neighbor -- that's a neighborhood of Gaza City -- overnight, tanks, backed up by helicopter gunships. And they are surrounding a house where they believe to be a number of the militants of the Hamas organization, its military wing, Izz a-Din el-Kassam.
There have been fierce fighting between the Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen in the area and so far seven Palestinians have been killed, including a 2-year-old toddler and a teenager. The Israelis report six of their troops wounded in this ongoing operation, as the Israelis continue to surround this building in Gaza City.
Now, there are media reports -- this has not been officially confirmed -- but good, reliable sources on the Israeli side say that the very large Israeli operation is linked to that suicide bombing the night before last in Tel Aviv because according to these reports, the Israelis went in to find the Hamas operatives who planned and dispatched the suicide bombers to Tel Aviv.
In that Tel Aviv incident three people were killed, more than 50 wounded. And the Israeli police reported in a dramatic disclosure last night that there was not only the one bomber who was killed, but two, in fact. And they were both British citizens. The one man who was killed, his bomb belt was exploded. The other man had a bomb belt, discarded it when it apparently didn't go off. And there's a major manhunt in Israel for that second suspected bomber, whom, as I say, the Israelis are saying is a British citizen.
So all this suggesting that there are major obstacles, major bumps on that to get that road map in place in a constructive kind of way. The violence on both sides, Hamas and the other militant organizations saying that they don't want to have anything to do with the road map, will do anything to shove it off the road. And the Israelis saying they have serious reservations about implementing the map, as well -- Arthel.
NEVILLE: OK, Jerrold Kessel, thank you very much for that report.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
