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CNN Live Sunday

Israel Agrees to 48-Hour Cessation of Air Strikes; What is the U.N.'s role in the Israel-Lebanon Conflict?

Aired July 30, 2006 - 17:30   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It's 5:30 in Atlanta and just after midnight in Beirut and Jerusalem. And this is what we know so far. Survivors of an Israeli air strike on the Lebanese town of Qana call it genocide. The Israeli military calls it a tragic mistake. More than 60 bodies have been pulled from a destroyed building flattened by the IDF. Red Cross workers say many of the dead are children. The incident is drawing international condemnation. The Qana bombing has also prompted an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, which is set to meet again later tonight. U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan wants what he calls a cessation of hostilities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: The council is the master of its own proceedings, but I hope they will be able to realize how it will drive home the point of how dangerous the situation is and how it can escalate and get out of hand and the urgency for them to act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Well, just this hour Israel agreed to halt air strikes for 48 hours while it investigates the Qana bombing tragedy.

All right, so we want to find out more about reaction in the Arab world. Does this offer by the Israeli military have credibility in the Arab world? With me right now is our Arab affairs editor Octavia Nasr.

Octavia, has this already played out in the Arab media, and what are the announcers saying?

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN ARAB AFFAIRS EDITOR: Yes. They are treating it as breaking news. You know, all eyes were on the United Nations and then this piece of news comes and all eyes are focusing on Israel and why Israel made that decision.

Of course some in the Arab world are saying that Israel is losing to Hezbollah and basically this is a way to hide the losses. On the other hand, others are saying this could be a good sign because they were waiting for some kind of sign out of Israel. But certainly it took the limelight away from the United Nations.

LIN: Certainly, because the U.N. Security Council trying to come up with some kind of strong statement, perhaps even calling for a cessation to the violence. But now what? NASR: Exactly. Now what? That's on the mind of many, many Arab, you know, and Lebanese especially. You know, we're watching, monitoring about six television stations including the Hezbollah television station, Al Manar, and other moderate ones and others -- you know, some extreme some moderate and everything in between.

And really that's the question on everybody's mind. Now what? Because you know, they're even reporting right now that there are some air strikes going on, some in the south, some in the Bekaa valley, and they're reporting that helicopters, Israeli helicopters are hovering over the southern suburb of Beirut. This is where the headquarters of Hezbollah is. So really people are -- they have more questions than answers at this point, Carol.

You know, looking back at today, this tragedy in Qana, what we did here at the Arab desk at CNN, we collected some of the reactions to the events today -- just people, ordinary Lebanese citizens reacting spontaneously to what happened. I think we have that tape ready if we can roll it and share it with our audience.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Twenty five children were killed under the rubble. These are the honor of Lebanon. Beirut is free. Beirut is free. Beirut is free.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (throughout translator): I was there. I was inside the building that was destroyed. I was making tea, and my uncle asked me to go and get two cups at 12:45. Before I even walked out when the air strike hit us, the pressure pushed me outside. I was thrown outside. My uncle was pushed out and hit the wall. I heard the kids and the women crying.

We carried seven of the injuries, and we went to the city asking for help. They told us that they can't do anything because of the air strikes. They asked us to call the Red Cross and the Lebanese internal forces. We were afraid to go and get them because of the air strikes. I lost my sister, my uncle, and his kids and his wife. My other uncle's family too. The kids were 10, 13, and seven.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I can't tell you anything. The bodies can tell you a better story. Look at them. Most of them are kids. Why should I talk? Their pictures speak for them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Even though I'm in the military and I'm not supposed to talk, but today I'll talk. I have to tell you this. This is a message that Israel sent us. They sent us this message to turn us into monsters, but I will respond to them in a different way. Hold it. Do you see this? This is a message that we want to send to the Israeli people. It will not turn us into monsters. We're not going to kill their children and women.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): What can I say? They destroyed Lebanon. They destroyed the south. We had civilians there. They were all kids. They didn't have bread. They were hungry, without food for five days. Look at them. They were kids. They were all killed in their homes. We don't have resistance here. The resistance is at the borders fighting. They will defend us. Nasrallah will defend us. We were not terrorists. These kids were not terrorists. Show them the images of the children. Show these pictures to Bush and Rice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Powerful images. The civilian deaths clearly have been one of the weapons of war playing in the hand of Hezbollah. So Israel says no more air strikes for 48 hours in southern Lebanon, time for civilians to get out. Does this in effect undercut Hezbollah's argument? Because if civilians are killed, Israel can once again say we asked you to leave, we stopped the air strikes.

NASR: Right. But history tells us that civilians do not leave. They stay in their homes. Very few people decide to take on and leave their homes. But as you saw in this, you know attack today, women and children basically, they could be the wives and children of fighters, of Hezbollah fighters.

But these women and children, they don't leave, they stay with their men, they stay with their family, and basically there is a very common saying in Lebanon that goes, you know, what happens to one happens to all of us. So people stay together, they stick together. That warning, most probably -- people are not going to listen to and people will stay in the south.

LIN: Octavia, thank you very much. And thanks to Saad (ph) and Ali (ph) on the Arab desk for all their help in gathering this material.

NASR: Absolutely.

LIN: All right, in the meantime we are going to take a closer look now at the Israeli bombing. A short time ago retired U.S. Brigadier General James Marks told my colleague, Brianna Keilar how the Israeli military finds its targets and why this attack may have gone wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS (RET.): The process works this way, the unmanned aerial vehicle, the drone, takes video of targets that it sees. It looks at very specific spots on the ground and it sees what Hezbollah is doing. It has very good locational data, very precise, down to the tenth digit. That's inches on the ground of where that activity is taking place.

Instantaneously, that is relayed back to an attack platform; in this case it was an air force aircraft, an Israeli air force aircraft. It then launches a bomb off its rails and that bomb is satellite- guided, so it's got satellite accuracy into the target and it hits where it is aiming, very specifically. There are a couple of other options... BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: General Marks, I want to interrupt you real quick just to say that this video that we're looking at right now is not video of the attack. This is video that the Israeli military has released of a similar situation where Hezbollah, they say, is near a civilian location, and that they're launching their attacks. Pardon me, but continue on.

MARKS: You know, what that really demonstrates -- let's put in context, as we get into the details, the larger context is, this is how Hezbollah fights. It tucks up against civilian populations and civilian dwellings, wherever they are and it launches its rockets from those locations knowing that Israel has this capability to come right after it precisely. So Hezbollah understands how it's fighting. So what happens is Israel launches a bomb in this particular instance from an air force aircraft and it's guided into the target very, very precisely. It hits within inches of where it is aimed.

KEILAR: So then in this case, obviously something went wrong. Israel saying that it made a mistake. What could they have done?

MARKS: Brianna, here's what happened probably is that this target was so close to a civilian population center. It was so close to a building and it had civilians inside that when the bomb hit the target, the blast effects of that bomb then caused collateral damage to the building.

So one of two things, during the clearance of fire process that Israel went through, one of two things went through the determination. How close is the target to building and what's the size of the bomb, what's the blast of that bomb once it hits its target and then probably what Israel did not know is that this building was populated and it had a lot of civilians inside. They could have assumed that and absent knowing that that would have been one of the decisions that they had to make.

KEILAR: Should they have known this? Should they have known there were civilians in the building nearby?

MARKS: The point is if you don't know, then you have to assume the worst and that you make a determination, you either decrease the size of the blast or you make the call we're not going go for it because it's too close to that building.

KEILAR: So you see this as a mistake, then?

MARKS: Obviously it's a mistake. Israel has acknowledged that it's a mistake and it's one of the those parts that goes into this very complex and nuanced call for fire and clearance for fire process and there is a human element in this and there's a human involved that could have said no, we're not going to make this call.

KEILAR: So Israel is obviously as we said admitting that this is a mistake, but also saying that it has leafleted these areas so that civilians know that there will be attacks urging civilians to leave. Is it realistic for Israel to expect those civilians to leave? MARKS: Of course not. You can't assume that a leaflet by it self is simply clearance to something that is going to cause the death of civilians and it's as if you can't blame the victim for the crime. In this particular case, warning civilian populations and civilian centers that they need -- that people need to vacate is insufficient.

You still have to make a determination before you make the call for fire what the results you have to estimate as best you can what those results will be. Both good and bad in this particular case, you could not determine how many folks were in that building and you could not determine whether that building was loaded with a bunch of eggs from market or a bunch of human beings and sadly, it was filled with human beings.

KEILAR: General Marks, thank you so much for taking the time to talk us to today.

MARKS: Sure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: The attack in Qana put the United Nations council -- the Security Council on the world stage again today. But does the U.N. really have the power to make a difference in the Middle East? The story when this special edition of CNN LIVE SUNDAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: The U.N. is calling for Israel and Hezbollah to knock off the violence. But its own observation force is refusing an Israeli request to evacuate civilians in south Lebanon. UNIFIL, the acronym, says it is unable to carry out the mission, making some question the U.N.'s role in the conflict. Here's Gary Nurenberg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The secretary- general says he wants to end civilian deaths in the fight between Hezbollah and Israel.

ANNAN: Action is needed now, before many more children, women, and men become casualties of a conflict over which they have no control.

NURENBERG: But Annan said the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL has rejected an Israeli request to help evacuate civilians from two southern Lebanon towns.

ANNAN: UNIFIL has refused to evacuate the villages, indicating that they do not have the capacity and these requests often have come when the assistance is required from the government of Lebanon.

NURENBERG: UNIFIL itself, a force of about 2,000, lost four soldiers last week when an Israeli shell hit their observation post in an area where Lebanese security forces say Hezbollah had previously fired missiles. UNIFIL was first dispatched to southern Lebanon in 1978 to monitor the Israeli-Lebanon border. But it is not a fighting force.

MARKS: UNIFIL has no capability, zero, none, in terms of getting in between Hezbollah or anyone else and the IDF. But it's not their mission.

NURENBERG: Israel calls UNIFIL ineffective.

BRIG. GEN. MICHAEL HERZOG, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: They couldn't do anything against Hezbollah. They couldn't do anything and wouldn't do anything to stop them. And in many cases Hezbollah was just all over UNIFIL's position.

NURENBERG: But UNIFIL says its mission is to patrol, observe, and report. Now there is talk of a new international force with a distinctly different mission -- to impose or keep peace along the border.

MARKS: It's going to have to have combat power, and it's going to have to have the ability to make peace. Making peace means you've got to be able to get into combat. You've got to be able to engage forces. You've got to be able to kill people.

NURENBERG: All things that might be required to help civilians evacuate a fire zone. All things UNIFIL is now unable to do. Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Mel Gibson arrested. That is news enough, but there is more. Did he really hurl sexist and anti-semitic remarks? That's next on CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: In news across America, two more people have died of injuries suffered in yesterday's small plane crash outside St. Louis. Four people were dead at the scene and two others are still alive. Investigators are looking into possible engine failure.

And no arrests yet in New Orleans after six people were shot to death in 24 hours. The latest body was found in the middle of the street yesterday. And the heat killed at least 140 people in California. And now it's headed for the Midwest. Forecasters say temperatures in the hundreds are expected for the next few days. The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states are next.

And did you hear about what happened to Mel Gibson? The star says he is sorry, not just for allegedly driving under the influence but for acting out of control as officers took him to jail on Friday. Brooke Anderson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Belligerent and out of control", that's how Mel Gibson in statement is describing his behavior when he was arrested early Friday morning for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol in Malibu, California.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says his blood alcohol level was .12. The legal limit in California is .08.

The Oscar-winning director is apologizing and admitting a problem with alcoholism via a lengthy statement he released through his publicist. In it, Gibson says he's ashamed of how he acted when he was arrested.

"I did a number of things that were very wrong. I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I apologize to anyone who I have offended. I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior. And for that, I am truly sorry."

This statement comes as the entertainment news Web site tmz.com alleges Gibson launched into a tirade when he was arrested, swearing uncontrollably and hurling anti-Semitic and sexist remarks.

In his statement, 50-year-old Gibson didn't directly address the allegations, but apologized to the deputies involved. He also said, "I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse. I have already taken necessary steps to ensure my return to health."

Gibson has been accused of fueling anti-Semitism before. He produced, co-wrote, and directed the controversial 2004 film "The Passion of the Christ." The Jewish Antidefamation League called the movie's portrayals of Jews "problematic" and so negative that it warned the film could incite anti-Semitic violence.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has responded by neither confirming nor denying reports of Gibson's tirade, saying they intend to release something soon. Brooke Anderson, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: The crisis in the Middle East has dominated the headlines for weeks. Next on "THIS WEEK AT WAR," CNN's John Roberts takes a look at the stories behind the headlines. And then at 7:00, John and I will be back with more of CNN LIVE SUNDAY. Stay tuned for "THIS WEEK AT WAR," right after a short break.

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