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CNN Live At Daybreak
Bethlehem Withdrawal
Aired July 02, 2003 - 06:33 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: Sharon, Abbas, smiling, shaking hands and taking another step towards peace; this happening in a city where Christians believe Christ was born: Bethlehem. Israeli troops are now withdrawing from that city and handing over control to the Palestinians.
Live to Bethlehem now and CNN's Dan Lothian.
Good morning -- Dan.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
I'm standing in Manger Square. Of course, this is the area, you might remember, where in the spring of last year there was that violent standoff between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen that lasted for about 41 days. Things are much quieter today, and there is that sense of anticipation. As you mentioned, Israeli troops expected to withdraw from Bethlehem later this afternoon.
Now, it won't be very visible, because for the most part over the past few months Israeli troops have been on the outside of Bethlehem, only coming inside of the city to do routine patrols or to make arrests of militants they were going after. That, of course, under the plan expected to stop, but Israeli troops still will be manning that checkpoint on the main route into Bethlehem.
Now, this is not the first time that Israeli troops have pulled out of Bethlehem. They did so back in August of last year. Then they returned about three months later, because Israeli officials were concerned about continued violence. They were trying to crack down on militant activity. Hence, people here are skeptical. They don't believe that this peace plan will work. In fact, one person telling CNN that they fully expect that the military, Israeli military forces, will eventually return to Bethlehem. A pharmacist telling us that he will have to wait several weeks before he can start celebrating.
Now, all of this comes just one day after both prime ministers, the prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, and also Mahmoud Abbas, the president -- the Palestinian president -- prime minister, rather, they met yesterday, shook hands. It was an unprecedented meeting in that they had this public display of support for finding peace and sticking with peace. Even Ariel Sharon going as far as saying that he will make major concessions to make sure that the peace plan stays on track -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Dan Lothian reporting live from Bethlehem this morning. 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 July 2, 2003 - 06:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Sharon, Abbas, smiling, shaking hands and taking another step towards peace; this happening in a city where Christians believe Christ was born: Bethlehem. Israeli troops are now withdrawing from that city and handing over control to the Palestinians.
Live to Bethlehem now and CNN's Dan Lothian.
Good morning -- Dan.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
I'm standing in Manger Square. Of course, this is the area, you might remember, where in the spring of last year there was that violent standoff between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen that lasted for about 41 days. Things are much quieter today, and there is that sense of anticipation. As you mentioned, Israeli troops expected to withdraw from Bethlehem later this afternoon.
Now, it won't be very visible, because for the most part over the past few months Israeli troops have been on the outside of Bethlehem, only coming inside of the city to do routine patrols or to make arrests of militants they were going after. That, of course, under the plan expected to stop, but Israeli troops still will be manning that checkpoint on the main route into Bethlehem.
Now, this is not the first time that Israeli troops have pulled out of Bethlehem. They did so back in August of last year. Then they returned about three months later, because Israeli officials were concerned about continued violence. They were trying to crack down on militant activity. Hence, people here are skeptical. They don't believe that this peace plan will work. In fact, one person telling CNN that they fully expect that the military, Israeli military forces, will eventually return to Bethlehem. A pharmacist telling us that he will have to wait several weeks before he can start celebrating.
Now, all of this comes just one day after both prime ministers, the prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, and also Mahmoud Abbas, the president -- the Palestinian president -- prime minister, rather, they met yesterday, shook hands. It was an unprecedented meeting in that they had this public display of support for finding peace and sticking with peace. Even Ariel Sharon going as far as saying that he will make major concessions to make sure that the peace plan stays on track -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Dan Lothian reporting live from Bethlehem this morning. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
