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CNN Live At Daybreak

'International News Desk

Aired September 16, 2003 - 05:35   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: Israel is downplaying plans to kill Yasser Arafat.
Our senior international editor David Clinch joins us now with the latest on the Middle East. And Israel's downplaying this now?

DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes. They're not going to kill him yet. Well, really, it's actually quite an interesting story. People in Israel today and over the last couple of days asking themselves this question -- what kind of idiots are our government, really? Arafat was being sidelined, he was off to the background increasingly, the Americans and everybody else were not dealing with him, were not treating him seriously.

Well, now all of a sudden he's right back in the center of things.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes.

CLINCH: Bathing, tens of thousands of people outside his headquarters. He's still holed up in his headquarters and, again, back at the center of things. There is no functional, active prime minister anymore. There is no government, really, anymore. He's the leader. He is the one making the calls and Israel is the one that's put him back at the center of things.

So they're pulling back from this idea they might kill him. They're, I suppose, a little bit embarrassed.

COSTELLO: Well, what could be their next step now?

CLINCH: Well, I suppose if you assume that they knew what they were doing when they aired the idea that they might kill him, I suppose the idea is that in airing the idea that they might kill him, they might actually make the idea of exiling him more acceptable.

COSTELLO: Oh.

CLINCH: Does that make sense? So I suppose the idea is that, as they get back on track here and clarify their policy, they are not going to give up on the idea that they should exile him. And the Israeli papers are reporting today that they think that they're, in their words, making some traction with the Bush administration on that idea, that Arafat should be not forcefully removed, but ala Charles Taylor in Liberia, persuaded, or at least the Palestinians persuaded that he should leave.

COSTELLO: But does anybody really think that anyone is going to persuade Yasser Arafat to just leave?

CLINCH: Not very likely, I think.

COSTELLO: So then they're going to have to go in and get him.

CLINCH: Yes.

COSTELLO: And that's going to be kind of a dicey situation.

CLINCH: Well, it's THE question. It is THE question. I mean the peace process is dead at the moment. It's not going anywhere. Violence continues, bombings continue. The cycle is never ending. This Arafat question is really this water change that we're looking for -- will they act? And will the U.S. express its opinion on whether they should act?

Well, they've expressed their opinion pretty strongly about the idea that they were going to kill him.

COSTELLO: Yes.

CLINCH: They've made it very clear that they do not think that that's a good idea. Exile is a different question. We'll see how that plays out over the next few days.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about something happy.

CLINCH: Well, there is some happy news. Breaking news that we're covering from the other side of the world. The Pitcairn Islands, a tiny little island right down the other side of the world, in between New Zealand and Peru, basically, out in the middle of nowhere, had a massive population boom within the last couple of days.

COSTELLO: You're kidding?

CLINCH: Two percent plus population boom. And there she is, Emily Rose Christian is her name.

COSTELLO: Oh.

CLINCH: The population of the Pitcairn Islands went from about 47 to now 48 with her birth in the last couple of days.

COSTELLO: Forty-eight.

CLINCH: Emily Rose Christian, and, again, the great fascinating back story on this, she's the first baby born there in 17 years.

COSTELLO: You're kidding?

CLINCH: Basically anybody about to have a baby thinking do I really want to bring them up in the Pitcairn Islands...

COSTELLO: Well, yes.

CLINCH: ... and leaving and going to New Zealand or somewhere else. But these parents have decided to stay and, of course, again, the fascinating back story on the Pitcairn Islands, these are the -- she is now the ninth generation descendent of Fletcher Christian, the leader of the mutiny on the HMS Bounty, 1780 something.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes.

CLINCH: I should know, but I don't. Where the mutineers left the ship, Captain Bligh on the ship, and went off and made their homes on Pitcairn Island all those years ago. Well, now the story continues. Little Emily Rose, welcome to the world.

COSTELLO: Well, it hasn't exactly become a bustling place.

What do they do there? I mean what do they work at? Do they fish? What do they do?

CLINCH: I'll find out more.

COSTELLO: They don't do much else.

CLINCH: I'll find out more.

COSTELLO: If there's only one baby in 17 years.

CLINCH: I will find out more and I'll report back.

COSTELLO: Thanks. We'd appreciate that.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: Thank you, David.

CLINCH: All right.

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 16, 2003 - 05:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Israel is downplaying plans to kill Yasser Arafat.
Our senior international editor David Clinch joins us now with the latest on the Middle East. And Israel's downplaying this now?

DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes. They're not going to kill him yet. Well, really, it's actually quite an interesting story. People in Israel today and over the last couple of days asking themselves this question -- what kind of idiots are our government, really? Arafat was being sidelined, he was off to the background increasingly, the Americans and everybody else were not dealing with him, were not treating him seriously.

Well, now all of a sudden he's right back in the center of things.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes.

CLINCH: Bathing, tens of thousands of people outside his headquarters. He's still holed up in his headquarters and, again, back at the center of things. There is no functional, active prime minister anymore. There is no government, really, anymore. He's the leader. He is the one making the calls and Israel is the one that's put him back at the center of things.

So they're pulling back from this idea they might kill him. They're, I suppose, a little bit embarrassed.

COSTELLO: Well, what could be their next step now?

CLINCH: Well, I suppose if you assume that they knew what they were doing when they aired the idea that they might kill him, I suppose the idea is that in airing the idea that they might kill him, they might actually make the idea of exiling him more acceptable.

COSTELLO: Oh.

CLINCH: Does that make sense? So I suppose the idea is that, as they get back on track here and clarify their policy, they are not going to give up on the idea that they should exile him. And the Israeli papers are reporting today that they think that they're, in their words, making some traction with the Bush administration on that idea, that Arafat should be not forcefully removed, but ala Charles Taylor in Liberia, persuaded, or at least the Palestinians persuaded that he should leave.

COSTELLO: But does anybody really think that anyone is going to persuade Yasser Arafat to just leave?

CLINCH: Not very likely, I think.

COSTELLO: So then they're going to have to go in and get him.

CLINCH: Yes.

COSTELLO: And that's going to be kind of a dicey situation.

CLINCH: Well, it's THE question. It is THE question. I mean the peace process is dead at the moment. It's not going anywhere. Violence continues, bombings continue. The cycle is never ending. This Arafat question is really this water change that we're looking for -- will they act? And will the U.S. express its opinion on whether they should act?

Well, they've expressed their opinion pretty strongly about the idea that they were going to kill him.

COSTELLO: Yes.

CLINCH: They've made it very clear that they do not think that that's a good idea. Exile is a different question. We'll see how that plays out over the next few days.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about something happy.

CLINCH: Well, there is some happy news. Breaking news that we're covering from the other side of the world. The Pitcairn Islands, a tiny little island right down the other side of the world, in between New Zealand and Peru, basically, out in the middle of nowhere, had a massive population boom within the last couple of days.

COSTELLO: You're kidding?

CLINCH: Two percent plus population boom. And there she is, Emily Rose Christian is her name.

COSTELLO: Oh.

CLINCH: The population of the Pitcairn Islands went from about 47 to now 48 with her birth in the last couple of days.

COSTELLO: Forty-eight.

CLINCH: Emily Rose Christian, and, again, the great fascinating back story on this, she's the first baby born there in 17 years.

COSTELLO: You're kidding?

CLINCH: Basically anybody about to have a baby thinking do I really want to bring them up in the Pitcairn Islands...

COSTELLO: Well, yes.

CLINCH: ... and leaving and going to New Zealand or somewhere else. But these parents have decided to stay and, of course, again, the fascinating back story on the Pitcairn Islands, these are the -- she is now the ninth generation descendent of Fletcher Christian, the leader of the mutiny on the HMS Bounty, 1780 something.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes.

CLINCH: I should know, but I don't. Where the mutineers left the ship, Captain Bligh on the ship, and went off and made their homes on Pitcairn Island all those years ago. Well, now the story continues. Little Emily Rose, welcome to the world.

COSTELLO: Well, it hasn't exactly become a bustling place.

What do they do there? I mean what do they work at? Do they fish? What do they do?

CLINCH: I'll find out more.

COSTELLO: They don't do much else.

CLINCH: I'll find out more.

COSTELLO: If there's only one baby in 17 years.

CLINCH: I will find out more and I'll report back.

COSTELLO: Thanks. We'd appreciate that.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: Thank you, David.

CLINCH: All right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com