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CNN Live At Daybreak
Middle East Has Exploded in Violence
Aired June 13, 2003 - 05:02 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Less than two weeks after a new Middle East peace initiative appeared possible, the Middle East has exploded in violence. Here is the latest. Israeli missiles struck a car in Gaza City yesterday, killing a senior Hamas militant and six others, including the man's wife and infant daughter. Twenty-five were wounded. Israeli military sources also say two Islamic Jihad militants were killed in the West Bank.
On Wednesday, Israeli helicopter gunships fired on another car, killing four militants and seven others in Gaza. And earlier that same day, a Hamas suicide bomber killed 17 people aboard a bus in Jerusalem. Scores were injured.
Secretary of State Colin Powell will try his hand at finding a diplomatic solution to end this cycle of violence. He's attending a June 22nd meeting in Amman, Jordan with representatives from the United Nations, Russia and the European Union.
Right now, it's just after noon in Jerusalem. The Muslim holy day and Friday prayers have just ended.
Let's see what's happening at that volatile part of the world right now.
Live to Jerusalem, Jerrold Kessel -- good morning, Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
And as the United States steps up its efforts to try to get a handle on the surging violence, sending in a monitoring team over the weekend and also that news that Secretary of State Colin Powell will be in the region to meet with other members of the so-called quartet, the people who hammered out that road map to peace next week in Amman, Jordan.
But for the people in the area, Israelis and Palestinians are focused very much on their anger and on their pain on both sides, as this surging violence and so many deaths. Let me just show you the leading newspaper, one of the leading newspapers in Israel, Carol. All the newspapers have the same thing, of these pictures of all the people who died and were killed in that bombing in Jerusalem.
And interesting, I'll tell you a personal story, Carol, this morning as I went in to buy my newspaper in the neighborhood around my house where I regularly buy, the man who sells me the paper said look at these pictures. The woman round the corner in the next -- who runs a shoe store, she was one of those killed -- and another woman who came in regularly to buy her newspaper in the same store. That's just in this small neighborhood. She, too, was among the 17 Israelis killed.
Funerals being held today and equally on the Palestinian side, another tight community, where just about everybody knows somebody who was affected. Well, down there today there will be the funerals for the people killed in that latest Israeli helicopter strike yesterday. The senior Hamas man Israel was targeting, but he was killed along with his wife and infant daughter and four other Palestinians. Those funerals will be held today.
The Israeli military saying it had an intelligence error and they didn't mean to kill the family and they regretted that. But Hamas is vowing revenge, vowing to step up its campaign against Israelis and that all Israelis are targets, says Hamas, as it will carry out, it threatens, a coordinated bombing campaign.
The Israelis also talking very tough, saying that the Hamas leadership will be pursued to the bitter end. That's the Israeli statement. But another thing from the newspapers today, a public opinion poll here in Israel suggests that as many as 58 percent of the Israelis say that Prime Minister Sharon is wrong to go on with the targeted assassinations, as they are called, of Hamas leaders. For the moment, the public opinion poll suggests, the majority of the Israelis feel he should back off and give the Palestinian leadership under Mahmoud Abbas a chance to try to reign in the militants that way.
Something perhaps for the prime minister to ponder on. Something, perhaps, for the United States diplomats to build on -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Exactly, to seize on that.
Thank you.
Jerrold Kessel live from Jerusalem this morning.
President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, says only the Israelis and the Palestinians can bring peace to that region. She asked the two sides must work as partners to thwart this latest tidal wave of violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It is important that the Israelis and the Palestinians realize, however, that they took a different step at Aqaba from the path that they've been on for a number of years. And that step was to recognize each other as partners in building a Palestinian state, in building a secure Israel and Palestine, in building a new kind of Middle East. And therefore, as partners, they need to work together, each from their own resources and own perspectives, to get the job done.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: And you can keep up with the latest from the Middle East and the background on the crisis by going to our Web site. You'll get the depth of a newspaper, the immediacy of television. The address, cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
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 June 13, 2003 - 05:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Less than two weeks after a new Middle East peace initiative appeared possible, the Middle East has exploded in violence. Here is the latest. Israeli missiles struck a car in Gaza City yesterday, killing a senior Hamas militant and six others, including the man's wife and infant daughter. Twenty-five were wounded. Israeli military sources also say two Islamic Jihad militants were killed in the West Bank.
On Wednesday, Israeli helicopter gunships fired on another car, killing four militants and seven others in Gaza. And earlier that same day, a Hamas suicide bomber killed 17 people aboard a bus in Jerusalem. Scores were injured.
Secretary of State Colin Powell will try his hand at finding a diplomatic solution to end this cycle of violence. He's attending a June 22nd meeting in Amman, Jordan with representatives from the United Nations, Russia and the European Union.
Right now, it's just after noon in Jerusalem. The Muslim holy day and Friday prayers have just ended.
Let's see what's happening at that volatile part of the world right now.
Live to Jerusalem, Jerrold Kessel -- good morning, Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
And as the United States steps up its efforts to try to get a handle on the surging violence, sending in a monitoring team over the weekend and also that news that Secretary of State Colin Powell will be in the region to meet with other members of the so-called quartet, the people who hammered out that road map to peace next week in Amman, Jordan.
But for the people in the area, Israelis and Palestinians are focused very much on their anger and on their pain on both sides, as this surging violence and so many deaths. Let me just show you the leading newspaper, one of the leading newspapers in Israel, Carol. All the newspapers have the same thing, of these pictures of all the people who died and were killed in that bombing in Jerusalem.
And interesting, I'll tell you a personal story, Carol, this morning as I went in to buy my newspaper in the neighborhood around my house where I regularly buy, the man who sells me the paper said look at these pictures. The woman round the corner in the next -- who runs a shoe store, she was one of those killed -- and another woman who came in regularly to buy her newspaper in the same store. That's just in this small neighborhood. She, too, was among the 17 Israelis killed.
Funerals being held today and equally on the Palestinian side, another tight community, where just about everybody knows somebody who was affected. Well, down there today there will be the funerals for the people killed in that latest Israeli helicopter strike yesterday. The senior Hamas man Israel was targeting, but he was killed along with his wife and infant daughter and four other Palestinians. Those funerals will be held today.
The Israeli military saying it had an intelligence error and they didn't mean to kill the family and they regretted that. But Hamas is vowing revenge, vowing to step up its campaign against Israelis and that all Israelis are targets, says Hamas, as it will carry out, it threatens, a coordinated bombing campaign.
The Israelis also talking very tough, saying that the Hamas leadership will be pursued to the bitter end. That's the Israeli statement. But another thing from the newspapers today, a public opinion poll here in Israel suggests that as many as 58 percent of the Israelis say that Prime Minister Sharon is wrong to go on with the targeted assassinations, as they are called, of Hamas leaders. For the moment, the public opinion poll suggests, the majority of the Israelis feel he should back off and give the Palestinian leadership under Mahmoud Abbas a chance to try to reign in the militants that way.
Something perhaps for the prime minister to ponder on. Something, perhaps, for the United States diplomats to build on -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Exactly, to seize on that.
Thank you.
Jerrold Kessel live from Jerusalem this morning.
President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, says only the Israelis and the Palestinians can bring peace to that region. She asked the two sides must work as partners to thwart this latest tidal wave of violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It is important that the Israelis and the Palestinians realize, however, that they took a different step at Aqaba from the path that they've been on for a number of years. And that step was to recognize each other as partners in building a Palestinian state, in building a secure Israel and Palestine, in building a new kind of Middle East. And therefore, as partners, they need to work together, each from their own resources and own perspectives, to get the job done.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: And you can keep up with the latest from the Middle East and the background on the crisis by going to our Web site. You'll get the depth of a newspaper, the immediacy of television. The address, cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
