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Your World Today

Hamas Victory; Judging Alito

Aired January 27, 2006 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: After jubilation and waving green Hamas flags, anger and waving yellow Fatah flags, reality sets in, in the Palestinian territories.

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Rising blood pressure in Iraq. There's plenty of reason to need therapy in that country.

VERJEE: And scraping by in a welfare state. Many Germans question where their country is headed and the role of foreign workers.

It's 6:00 p.m. in Ramallah, 7:00 p.m. in Baghdad.

I'm Zain Verjee.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. And this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world.

We've been watching the scene in Gaza, and it's been dramatic. Things are calming down now, but tense demonstrations there and concern in capitals around the world.

VERJEE: After elections drastically altered the political landscape in the Middle East, many questions remaining about the next Palestinian government that's going to be headed by the militant group Hamas.

CLANCY: We're going to take a look at what could be in store for the peace process with Israel. Will there even be one? A state that Hamas has sworn to destroy.

VERJEE: And we're also going to look at whether international pressure might bring Hamas more into the mainstream.

As the new realities sink in, supporters of the party that lost its grip on power are rallying in protest. Hundreds of Fatah activists demonstrated in Gaza, calling for the resignation of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas. He says he's going to ask Hamas to form a new government, acknowledging its landslide victory in legislative elections.

Hamas leaders say that they're going to try to meet with President Abbas over the weekend. They say as things stand now, they don't see any reason for dialogue with Israel. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHMOUD ZAHAR, HAMAS LEADER: Israel has nothing to give for the Palestinian people. All the time they -- we are wasting our time. They're discussing things with the Palestinian previous authority, implementing nothing. So up to this moment, if the Israeli has something to fulfill, the basic demand of the Palestinian people concerning the occupied territories, concerning the detainees, concerning the question of Jerusalem and other national interests, we are going to reevaluate these arguments (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: John Vause is watching all of the developments from Ramallah, the seat of government for the Palestinian Authority. And he joins us now.

John, as we were watching the rally in Gaza by Fatah, it doesn't look good for Fatah. It appears as though the internal rifts within that party are being exposed.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very much so, Zain. Just as the election left Fatah a party in disarray, now all the recriminations and the anger which will follow as a result of this electoral defeat for the Palestinian parliament is causing thousands to go onto the streets in Gaza in protest.

This is really the climax of a three-week-long bitter campaign, especially in Gaza, between Hamas and Fatah. There were a lot of accusations about dirty tricks. In fact, before the leadup to the campaign, especially in Gaza, members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military offshoot of the Fatah party, raided a number of office buildings, there were accusations of intimidation. Many members of the security forces were involved in that, members loyal to Fatah.

It was an attempt, according to members of Hamas, for Fatah to try and delay these elections because they knew that they were in trouble. The knew that they would not do well at these polls. They knew that (INAUDIBLE) power after four decades, it may be coming to an end. No one knew, though, that Hamas would walk away with such a huge landslide victory.

So while Hamas celebrates, while the green -- while the green flags have been flying around the West Bank and while Hamas supporters have been marching in triumph, not just in the West Bank, but also through Gaza, the anger and the recriminations are now flowing out on the streets of Gaza outside the Palestinian Legislative Council building there, and also outside of the house of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Many within Fatah blame him. Last night, Fatah gunmen were demanding that he resign. They called him a traitor, they called him an informer, one of the worst accusations which can be leveled from a Palestinian to another Palestinian. They say that it is all his fault because, quite simply, he allowed Hamas to take part in these elections which have now resulted in Fatah losing its grip on power and pretty much going into political wilderness with just a handful of seats left in the Palestinian parliament -- Zain.

VERJEE: And on top of all of this, clashes also between Hamas and Fatah members in the Gaza Strip really underscoring the potential for violence.

John, one of the toughest challenges for Hamas, at least in the short term, is whether they can reach some sort of deal with Fatah to prevent more violence and to prevent political paralysis.

VAUSE: Well, the situation with Hamas now, before the election there was a lot of debate whether or not Hamas in opposition or Hamas in some kind of coalition government with Fatah, whether or not that would persuade them or pressure them to disarm. The situation now with Hamas the dominant party in the Palestinian Legislative Council, Hamas will in fact be deciding who runs the security services.

So the situation is now being turned up on its head. It will be Hamas's interest to maintain law and order in Gaza. And they have the means to do it -- Zain.

VERJEE: John Vause reporting.

Thanks, John -- Jim.

CLANCY: While Hamas members are celebrating, Fatah members are dejected, and, yes, some of them are angry. You saw some of the demonstrations there.

Eyewitnessing the entire thing was our own Ben Wedeman. He was there right amid the crowd as the cars were torched and people took to the streets. He joins us with the latest -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, it seems that the crowd has dispersed. We do hear a bit of gunfire in the Gaza night, but by and large, it seemed that Hamid Dahlan (ph), the former security minister for the Palestinians and a member of Fatah, was able to somehow calm the crowd down.

But we saw some very angry scenes not just here in Gaza City, outside Mahmoud Abbas' house, outside the Palestinian Legislative Council, but we were also actually earlier this afternoon in the Musayrat (ph), a refugee camp where there was another angry demonstration.

What they're calling for is for Mahmoud Abbas to resign as president of the Palestinian Authority. Many people feel that it was because of his leadership, lack of leadership, they say, during the election campaign that allowed Hamas to win. It was as a result of a long legacy, 12 years of Fatah rule which was characterized by a good deal of corruption, misrule, nepotism.

For this reason, Hamas really took advantage of it, Fatah lost out, and now of course the Fatah faithful, the rank and file, the young men that we saw this evening, are taking out their anger. And they're angry at their leaders, which is really going to be the main challenge for those who run the Fatah movement -- Jim. CLANCY: You know, as we look at these pictures and everybody is wondering about the political turmoil, a 9-year-old girl was shot dead last night by Israeli soldiers that saw a suspicious shadow. They had fired some warning shots. She marks number 4,937 since the second Palestinian uprising that started in September of 2000.

And the hopes for peace now, Ben? The hopes for ending that?

WEDEMAN: It's very hard to say, Jim. We've seen, yes, just every year the death toll mounting. It's very close to 5,000 among Palestinians and Israelis, and sometimes it doesn't look like this conflict has any chance of ever ending.

On the positive side, we see, for instance, that Hamas has, by and large, respected the cease-fire agreement worked out among the Palestinian factions last March in Cairo under Egyptian sponsorship. And some people point to that and say Hamas may be changing its tactics, may be changing the very nature of itself as an organization, moving more into the political realm, less emphasis on the so-called arms struggle.

And I think that's one of the reasons why many people voted for Hamas.

CLANCY: All right.

WEDEMAN: They see it as a far better alternative to Fatah, which, as we saw this evening in Gaza, is somewhat out of control.

CLANCY: All right. All theories today. In the future, they are going to be sorely tested -- Zain.

VERJEE: Jim, some Israeli politicians are adopting a wait-and- see approach to the new reality. Others say the window of opportunity for Israeli-Palestinian peace has been slammed shut.

Guy Raz has more from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUY RAZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): There's an old adage in Israel: While moderates can make war, only hard-liners can make peace. And some Israelis are wondering if that might apply to Hamas as well.

ELIEZER HOLLAND, SUICIDE BOMB SURVIVOR: I think we should give them a chance because everyone wants to live in peace and quiet without suicide bombings and all this and dying on the street.

RAZ: An opinion poll in Israel shows nearly 48 percent of the public wants their government to continue negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, even one dominated by Hamas.

RA'ANAN GISSIN, SR. ISRAELI GOVERNMENT ADVISER: I don't think Israel is quite ready to admit right now and to say, listen, everything is lost, we don't have a partner on the other side, we go for unilateral steps.

RAZ: For now, the Israeli government is playing it cautiously, waiting to see the makeup of the next Palestinian government.

(on camera): But there are existential concerns as well here over a group like Hamas taking over. And it's not just because of the suicide bombs or the group's refusal to recognize Israel.

(voice over): Hamas' charter is filled with disturbing conspiracy theories not just about Israel, but Jews. Article 22 of the Hamas charter, for example, states...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, and the Lions."

RAZ: Article 32 of the Hamas charter states...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "The Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion.'"

RAZ: The last line is a reference to the 19th century anti- Jewish polemic that influenced early European fascists. It's that kind of language that Israel says must be excised from the group's platform before negotiations are considered.

ALVARO DE SOTO, U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY: Hamas has a past that is condemnable, and they have a covenant which is from 1988 which is also condemnable. And what we hope is that, whatever government emerges, however it is confirmed, it will reflect that wish of the Palestinians to make peace.

RAZ: But if Hamas doesn't soften its ideology, the next Israeli government may not hesitate to secure its borders, even over the objection of Palestinians.

Guy Raz, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: Hamas now faces huge challenges in running the new Palestinian government. The Palestinian Authority is broke.

CLANCY: And some donor nations are threatening to cut off funds because they label Hamas a terrorist organization, of course.

That brings us to our inbox question.

VERJEE: And it's this: Do you think Hamas can govern effectively? Send us your replays to ywt@cnn.com.

CLANCY: We'll be reading some of them out here a little bit later on our program. Include your name and where you're writing to us from.

Stay with us. We'll be right back after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Hello and welcome back to CNN International.

The World Economic Forum is in full swing in Davos. Microsoft founder Bill Gates says his charitable foundation will increase funding for efforts to eradicate tuberculosis to $900 million by 2015.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GATES, MICROSOFT CHAIRMAN: I think we can make a big difference in reducing the deaths caused by TB. We've got the science. We just need to apply it to this disease.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: World leaders in Davos have called for a campaign aimed at preventing 14 million deaths from TB in the next 10 years -- Jim.

CLANCY: Well, the Palestinian elections and Hamas's stunning victory have been a hot topic at the Global Economic Forum in Switzerland.

Joining from us Davos to discuss the Palestinian situation -- we're pleased to welcome him -- Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to the United States.

Thanks for being with us out there in the cold in Davos.

Some pretty hot tempers tonight in Gaza among Fatah. Now, "Assafir" newspaper described it like this: "One major development embarrasses Fatah, provokes Israel, makes Washington nervous, and worries Arab capital."

Why would this worry Arab capitals to have Hamas in a democratic, free and fair election win?

PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL, SAUDI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: I don't think it should worry Arab capitals, nor should it worry any other capitals, because the world community is committed to a two-side solution for Palestine and Israel. There is a roadmap on the table. There are efforts by the United States and other countries to bring together a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

And this reminds me -- you'll remember when the time Likud came to power in the late '80s and similar terms were used then, "calamitous," "earthquake," "shattering event." So I think that we should take things in stride and keep cool heads instead of letting passions rule us.

CLANCY: How much financial support does Saudi Arabia, its institutions and charities, lend to Hamas? I know that it increased to something like $25 million a month after Yasser Arafat and the PLO supported Saddam Hussein after the takeover of Kuwait.

AL-FAISAL: That is not true, Mr. Clancy. We've always supported the Palestinian Authority through United Nations organizations and through the Arab League commitments that we've made with them.

If there were private contributions to Hamas, that was up to the individuals to do that. But the government of Saudi Arabia has always supported the Palestinian people in general through the Palestinian Authority and not through any other organization.

CLANCY: Well, Prince -- Mr. Ambassador, if you can tell us right now -- when people look at this, they say the door on peace talks, slammed shut. I've heard that as an exact quote today.

Can anyone think of winning the war on terror, as we call it, unless this Palestinian-Israeli conflict is resolved?

AL-FAISAL: I think the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the primary cause for most of the unrest and terrorism that takes place in the world today. Just read the literature of all of the terrorist organizations, and you'll find that they use this conflict as an excuse, not just to commit their acts, but also to recruit supporters and support from all over the world.

So it is an issue that has to be resolved for the betterment of the world community.

CLANCY: Everyone says, you know, there's no solution to this conflict. In fact, it may be the biggest lie that we, in the news media, repeat on a regular basis, that there's no solution here, and that neither this Israeli government nor the Hamas government really want to resolve their differences.

But, in fact, there is a solution out there. It's called the Geneva accord. It was worked out by Yossi Beilin and Yasser Abed Rabbo.

AL-FAISAL: Right.

CLANCY: Details are in it.

Is it time for the international committee, for the U.S., Europe, the Arab states, to stop lending support to this so-called peace process that is really a search for obstacles and start focusing on what is the real solution as we know it now and make the parties agree to it?

AL-FAISAL: What has been lacking for 50 years has been implementation of peace solutions. You'll remember the plan in the early '70s followed by the Kissinger shuttle (ph) diplomacy and followed by many other initiatives either by the United States or by any other group of countries or single countries. But there has not been implementation.

On the table there is an Arab piece initiative that has been there for three years and it has not been taken up. As you said, the Geneva initiative worked out by Palestinians and Israelis has been on the table, and it hasn't been implemented. The roadmap itself which was initiated by the United States and supported by the world community has not seen any implementation.

What we need is implementation and not more rhetoric.

CLANCY: Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi ambassador to the United States.

Sir, I want to thank you very much for joining us here on YOUR WORLD TODAY.

VERJEE: And just ahead on our program, a U.S. Supreme Court nominee's day of reckoning approaches. Democrats in the U.S. Senate make one final effort to stop the nomination of Samuel Alito.

Will they succeed? That story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes. First, though, a check on stories making headlines in the U.S.

If Senate Republicans get their way, Judge Samuel Alito could be confirmed to the Supreme Court next Tuesday. Die-hard Democrats, including John Kerry, are threatening a filibuster. But GOP want it settled before President Bush delivers his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night.

Our Congressional Correspondent Ed Henry joins us with more now from Capitol Hill.

Ed, Hello.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Daryn.

That's right, the Senate has now officially begun its third day of debate over Judge Alito's nomination. As you mentioned, Senator John Kerry, as we speak, rushing back to Washington, expected to be on Capitol Hill early this afternoon to officially launch this filibuster of the nomination. He's racing back from Davos, Switzerland, where he was attending the World Economic Conference.

That has given Republicans a political opening here, with White House spokesman Scott McClellan earlier today saying, "I think it was an historic day yesterday. It was the first-ever call for a filibuster from the slopes of Davos, Switzerland."

Kerry, his staff, of course, saying he was not skiing, he was attending to international matters. They also note there were various Republican senators at that conference. And Kerry himself put out a written statement saying this is a matter of principle. He thinks Judge Alito is far out of the mainstream. But this is likely to wind up just being a symbolic fight. It's pretty clear the Democrats do not have the votes to sustain this filibuster.

In fact, earlier today, Judge Alito was on Capitol Hill meeting with Democratic Senator Kent Conrad. He said he would not support a filibuster, does not think it's wise. Also, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid this morning saying that, while he would support the filibuster, vote for it, he does not think they have the votes to sustain it.

The fact that Democrats like Conrad, who is up for election from the state of North Dakota, a conservative state, shows the trepidation, the political concern from some Democrats up here that this could backfire on them, this filibuster, and the bottom line is they're unlikely to have the votes on Monday evening, when there is a test vote, a procedural vote. Once the Republicans clear that hurdle, as expected there will be a Tuesday morning vote on Judge Alito's confirmation.

As you mentioned, Daryn, he's expected to be sworn in before the State of the Union. We may even see him Tuesday night -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ed Henry, live on Capitol Hill.

Ed, thank you.

HENRY: Thank you.

KAGAN: Traffic is resuming on the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky, after a runaway barge accident. Take a look at this.

River traffic was shut down after a towboat accident yesterday left three barges on the loose. Two plunged over a dam. They have been recovered. A third barge was stuck on an unused railroad bridge.

Detroit's three automakers are already struggling. Now there's a new threat to the U.S. auto industry, and it's coming from, would you believe, China. That story at the top of the hour on "LIVE FROM."

Meanwhile, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.

I'm Daryn Kagan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

VERJEE: The U.S. said it will not leave Iraq until Iraqi security forces can take control of security. Joining us from Baghdad is Lieutenant General Nasser Abadi. He is the deputy commanding general of the Iraqi Joint Forces. Thanks so much for being with us.

What is your assessment today on the state of the Iraqi troops?

LT. GEN. NASSER ABADI, IRAQI JOINT FORCES: Thank you. Well, we're progressing very well. Yesterday the 8th Division got its own battle space from the coalition. We have around 37 battalions now owning their own battle space, eight brigades and two divisions. By next month, we'll have another 11 battalions owning their battle space, and another 10 will be coming in the next month, so we are having our afterburners on, doing maximum speed.

VERJEE: When do you think Iraqi security forces will be ready to take over completely and independently, not relying on U.S. troops?

ABADI: Well, the pie is in the oven. We still need logistic support and firepower support, which the coalition are providing. By the end of 2006, hopefully we'll have most of that, but then the institutions like the training command and support command, we'll have them by 2007. And by then hopefully we'd be able to take charge.

VERJEE: What are you doing to deal with the problem in the Iraqi Security Forces of infiltration by insurgents in Iraqi Security Forces?

ABADI: Well, there's now our intelligence are working very hard to pinpoint the people who are doing, working with the infiltrators, with the terrorists, and we're working on it.

VERJEE: Are you also working on another major problem, which is that the Sunnis are not represented adequately in the Iraqi Security Forces, and it's really mainly comprised of Shia and Kurdish forces, Shias and Kurds, and that the Sunnis feel that they're going to be targeted, and it's really a sectarian issue for them.

ABADI: I beg to differ, ma'am. JHQ is mostly Sunnis, because most of the staff officers that were in the old regime, and now are serving with us, are Sunnis. The majority are Sunnis and not Shias or Kurds. Kurds have very few staff officers.

VERJEE: Lieutenant General Nasser Abadi, deputy commanding general of the Iraqi Joint Forces, thanks so much for speaking to us -- Jim.

CLANCY: Returning to our top story now. That is the state of affairs within the Palestinian territories. What comes next now that Hamas has taken power. We're joined by Nabil Sha'ath. He is the Palestinian deputy prime minister.

And I assume, Mr. Deputy Prime Minister, that you handed in your resignation along with Abu Allah and Ahmed Quorei?

NABIL SHA'ATH, PALESTINIAN DEPUTY PM: I resigned actually last January 1st when I became the campaign manager of Fatah.

CLANCY: OK, the campaign manager, so you could look back on a lot of problems, but other people are trying to look ahead. There are going to be talks with President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas. They've asked to meet with him about forming a new government. What's the latest you can tell us about that? SHA'ATH: Well, they have the absolute constitutional right to form that government. We have -- they have asked us to join in the government, but this is very difficult for us. We have to have a joint program that includes heading back to the peace process negotiated with Israel and so many other requirements that it's very difficult to really make a joint political program. They will go into forming that government, but Mahmoud Abbas will remain the president, and he has powers similar to that of the president of France, or part of the authorities of President Bush. We are not a purely parliamentary system, so he is in charge of foreign relations and of security, and he will have to work together with them, and also restrain them to make sure that they follow the constitution and the agreements we've signed.

The presence of President Abbas is a safety valve, is some sort of a guarantee, but the final analysis, Hamas will have to take the responsibility for conducting its program, hopefully within the confines of our constitution.

CLANCY: Are you saying that there's even the vaguest amount of hope for peace talks with Hamas, you know, in charge of the parliament, holding the prime minister's post, pointing all of the cabinet ministers, in charge of the security forces, after we have watched in recent years that there haven't been any real negotiations just simply because Hamas was there and refusing to disarm?

SHA'ATH: Well, I mean, to be -- in general, I agree with you. It's going to be really difficult on our side, because Hamas says it will not negotiate, and that in itself will delay or put a damper on our efforts that was waiting -- we were waiting for the results of the election to proceed as directly as possible through negotiation.

But to be fair, that's still the position of the Israelis. I don't think the Israelis will ever negotiate before the end of March when they have their own negotiations, their own election. And once they elect a new government, we will have to look at what will happen to that government.

The worst possible case is for Mr. Netanyahu to be elected which will mean two difficult positions, one of the Palestinian side, and one on the Israeli side. But if the coalition of the center and left, Kadima and Labor, wins, there might still be an opportunity. Hamas, in the meanwhile, is responsible for government and the conduct of policy, might itself also change its mind once there is an opportunity for negotiations between the two parties.

It looks difficult, but I don't think it's totally bleak, and I think we've got to do our best to make it happen on both sides.

CLANCY: Nabil Sha'ath, the former deputy prime minister, longtime negotiator, senior figure within Fatah, thank you for being with us.

Well, coming up right here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, a tight job market and a burgeoning immigrant community.

VERJEE: We're going to take a closer look at the political and economic implications of those challenges confronting Germany.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Welcome everyone in the United States and around the world. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. We continue to look at the news that's coming out of Davos, where influential leaders are meeting to answer some challenges that face both business and politics.

VERJEE: CNN has been traveling around Europe, speaking to some of the people who face those challenges every day.

CLANCY: Now, this is one of our final parts in our series looking at Europe's identity crisis. Karl Penhaul went to meet the immigrants that do the jobs Germans do not want to.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a rare night out for Marion Erler and her friend Janet Beuge. Erler's family scrapes by on unemployment benefits and Beuge says she and her daughter can barely survive on 660 euros a month she earns as a hairdresser.

MARION ERLER, HOUSEWIFE (through translator): Nobody asks us little people at the bottom of the system what we think. It's tough to make ends meet.

PENHAUL: So tough that even shooting pool in this East Berlin bar seems like a luxury. Last year, Erler picked up a few months work as a gas pump attendant, but she quit when the boss wouldn't increase her pay from 5 euros, about $6 an hour. She believes immigrant workers are competing on the cheap for German jobs, and driving down wages.

ERLER (through translator): The foreigners earn money here and send it to their home countries, yet that money is supposed to be ours. We are sitting here and a foreigner has our job.

PENHAUL: Erler also says she feels similar competition in the unemployment line as she waits for a Social Security handout.

ERLER (through translator): When I go to pick up 200 euros for me and my kids and the foreigner behind me in line takes up to 2,000 euros and drives around in a BMW, what else do you need? Of course I'm frustrated.

PENHAUL: Beuge shares that frustration , even though she works full time. She gets 660 euros a month and relies on Social Security benefits to supplement the family income.

JANET BEUGE, HAIDRESSER (through translator): The government should do more for Germans. I have nothing against foreigners. What we do is nice and good, but we Germans are frustrated. When a Polish, Chinese or black guy comes around and earns more double what I get, then it's very sad. There's huge frustration and Germany is going under. PENHAUL: With that sense of desperation comes desperate ideas.

BEUGE (through translator): We're paying debts to the Jews. I don't agree with that. The government is wasting money instead of doing something about unemployment. If a guy like Hitler was alive today, millions would vote for him. A person like him would make promises and not break them.

PENHAUL: Is this the face of growing right-wing extremism? To learn more, I head for Sunday lunch to Marion Erler's apartment, squeezed into these socialist-built concrete tower blocks. The area reminds me of the high-rises of the Paris suburbs in West Amsterdam, home to the kind of immigrants Erler fears.

Inside, it's a scene repeated across much of Europe. The children running riot in the playroom, fighting over Bob the Builder's hardhat. Erler checks a small joint of meat roasting in the oven. Her husband, Danny Wolff is a decorator. He's been jobless since the company he worked for went bankrupt. He could pick up work in Holland, but doesn't want to leave his family behind.

DANNY WOLFF, UNEMPLOYED DECORATOR (through translator): Well, it's not just about the money. It's nice to have a lot of it, but it's not everything. There are other things that are more important.

PENHAUL: In Berlin, jobs are thin on the ground, where around one in five workers are out of a job, according to the Bundesbank. Wolff says cheap labor from Eastern Europe and Morocco has flooded the market, but he doesn't blame the immigrants.

WOLFF (through translator): It's not the immigrants' fault. It's the fault of people who hire them. The little men can't do anything about that. The immigrants are just trying to survive themselves.

PENHAUL: But there must be a Germans first policy, he believes.

WOLFF (through translator): Big companies should receive benefits if they hire German workers. If they don't, they should be made to pay penalties.

PENHAUL: Wolff and his friends' earlier experiences were shaped by life in socialist East Germany. Now, 16 years after the Iron Curtain fell along with the Berlin Wall, they find themselves hankering for the old days.

This section of the wall still stands as a memorial to repression and dictatorship in the east. Wolff, Erler and Beuge recognize they have more freedom now, but with that freedom comes an uncertain future. That's why they seem to idealize the old Communist era, like the tiled mural on the old East German Labor Ministry building, a time they seem to remember, rightly or wrongly, when there was a social safety net, work for all, health care and child care. Beuge and Wolff say they vote for the former East German Communists, now known as the Links party. But also attempting to win over voters like them and others among the disaffected white working class is the right-wing National Democratic Party, or NPD. The cropped haircuts of some of the party faithful and the red, black and white logo is stirring alarm in some political circles. Critics say with the NPD, with its nationalist and social platform, is an heir to Hitler's Nazi party.

Jorg Hahnel is a member of the NPD leadership.

JORG HAHNEL, NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (through translator): We don't see ourselves as a right-wing party. The terms left and right are outdated. They come from before the last century. We see ourselves as a social and a national party. Therefore, we have overlaps with left-wing parties.

PENHAUL: It's the largest of Germany's far right parties. Its influence in local politics is growing, but it still has no representatives in national parliament. Hahnel blames globalization for bringing what he says is cheap labor into Germany, but his stance on immigrants is tough.

HAHNEL (through translator): What our ambition is a final return of the foreigners. That means we do not aim to integrate those people into our social structure. We want them finally to go back to their home countries sooner or later.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: All right, we are continuing to watch a developing situation right now. The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting a very strong undersea earthquake. It is reported in the Banda Sea. According to the USGS, its strength is being measured at 7.7. That is a very large earthquake in the Banda Sea. It is said to be deep undersea, 341 kilometers. Those are the only details we have right now.

If you remember, the last time that we had a major earthquake like this in that general area off the coast of Indonesia, it turned into a tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people. So we're continuing to watch this and see what it measures and what its effects are.

VERJEE: We're getting information also from the Pacific Tsunami Center site that says there is no tsunami threat. An evaluation that was done says that this earthquake is located outside the Pacific Ocean, so there is no destructive tsunami threat that exists in the Pacific or anywhere else based on historical earthquakes, as well as the tsunami data that they've received.

CLANCY: So we're trying to sort it out. We'll do our best to bring you the latest when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: All right. We continue to follow the story of a very strong earthquake that has rattled Indonesia. It was located in the Banda Sea off the coast of Indonesia, not actually inside the Pacific.

We're being told there's no threat of a tsunami at this time. At the same time, it is something that was certainly felt by the people in Indonesia, 7.7 is how that earthquake registered. We'll continue to follow it.

VERJEE: In 1992, thousands of young boys fled Sudan and its brutal civil war. They walked to a refuge in neighboring Kenya, but that wasn't the end of their journey. Ultimately, many settled in the United States where they were confronted with a society that's vastly different from their own. The story of three so-called lost boys of Sudan is told in the documentary "God Grew Tired Of Us."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With little hope of finding their parents or families alive, and the impossibility of returning to war-ridden Sudan, the United States agreed to resettle some of the lost boys to America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What city are you going to go and live in?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to live in Philadelphia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Philadelphia or Pittsburgh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know, Pennsylvania is a country, so which means the capital city of it is Philadelphia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's Philadelphia and there's Pittsburgh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pittsburgh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pittsburgh, right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Pittsburgh. I'm going to live in Pittsburgh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: "God Grew Tired Of Us" is now being screened at the Sundance Film Festival. The film's director ...

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. We're going to interrupt our international coverage for just a moment here to show you this fire that we're watching. This is not too far away from where we are here in downtown Atlanta.

It's midtown Atlanta, a fully engulfed apartment building. It's a three story building, and for those of you familiar with having visited Atlanta, it's very close to the High Museum along Peachtree. It's on Lafayette in the midtown region.

We're not sure if anybody was home in these apartments at the time they broke out, but once again, a fully engulfed apartment fire, a three-story building in midtown Atlanta. We'll keep watching it. Right now, we return to international coverage on CNN International.

VERJEE: ... their story, the lost boys, that you want the audience watching to be able to connect, to understand.

CHRISTOPHER QUINN, DIRECTOR, "GOD GREW TIRED OF US": Well, we wanted to make a very personal story, so it was very clear to us at an early stage that we wanted to have a very close eye on what they were doing and what they were experiencing and that way, you could you see kind of the human experience behind what these guys had gone through, not only their exodus out of Sudan, but also, you know, their new world here in America.

VERJEE: There's some fairly humorous moments also in the film, where, you know, they talked about having eaten better food in the refugee camp than they did on the plane over. Tell us a little bit about the adjustment that the three boys that you followed had to make when they came to the United States.

QUINN: I think it was enormous and it was in a short period of time. They had just about three months to get ready before they had to go and start work, and so they had to learn everything, from how to operate a kitchen, to shopping on their own, and it was an intense learning curve.

And I think they expected -- you know, the rumors in the camp were quite different from what the reality was. I think everyone thought once you arrived to America that things were going to be a lot easier, and as in the film, you learn that it was actually quite a struggle.

VERJEE: Christopher Quinn, thank you so much for joining us and speaking to us about your film, "God Grew Tired Of Us," now being screened at the Sundance Film Festival. Thanks.

QUINN: Thanks very much.

CLANCY: Sounds like a good one.

And also good, we got some responses here on our "Inbox." We've been asking a question of you of the Palestinian elections.

VERJEE: And the question has been this: Can Hamas govern effectively? Here's how some of you replied.

CLANCY: Eric from Florida says, "it is possible that Hamas may govern effectively in the eyes of their own people, but Hamas still not take any steps in the direction of peace with Jews."

VERJEE: Robyn from Lebanon writes, "neither Hamas for any other party will be able to govern effectively until Palestinians gain their own state. With no autonomy, there can be no effective government."

CLANCY: Jenny wrote this from Athens, Georgia: "In the U.S., no group centered on intolerance can effectively govern. Palestinians' frustration has led to this election outcome, but I don't think Hamas will provide relief for them." VERJEE: And finally, George from North Carolina tells us, "the questions Arabs are unable to government themselves. It is not up to us to question their governance. They will govern as they see fit, just as the U.S. does."

CLANCY: That's our report.

VERJEE: Thanks a lot for your e-mails. We always like getting them. I'm Zain Verjee.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy, and this is CNN.

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