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Prism

The Fall of the Berlin Wall; Netanyahu Visit

Aired November 09, 2009 - 12:00   ET

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

GRANT: An historic moment that changed the world. The fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. A meeting between two allies that don`t see eye to eye. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is in Washington as the battle over settlement expansion continues. And today`s Prism segment, films from Israel which show the morale dilemmas of soldiers during wartime. Some in Lebanon think the films have a narrow point of view.

On CNN in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. This is Prism, where we take a story, put it under the Prism and look at it from multiple perspectives. I`m Stan Grant.

First the news of the day, and the big story, maybe the biggest story of the last two decades. The Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago today. The anniversary is being marked in a number of ways, from the symbolic like the toppling of dominoes, signifying the ripple effect the reunification of German has had on the rest of the iron curtain countries, to the very real presence the number of world leaders past and present. German Chancellor Angela Merkel started things off with a walk through the first border crossing that was open. One that she, herself walked through 20 years ago.

When out for an eyewitness look at the activities marking the 20th Anniversary, let`s go to our Frederick Pleitgen in Berlin. And Fred, obviously a time of celebration and reflection as well.

PLEITGEN: Absolutely they have celebrations and commemorations here in Berlin and as you just said, they have been going on throughout the entire day. It started off this morning with a church memorial service that was also attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Gethsemane church which was a very, very important institution in Eastern German, which really kicked off a lot of the opposition movement there in that country. So certainly that started off this morning. And then you just mentioned Angela Merkel went through the first border crossing that was opened between east and west at the Bornholm Strasse and certainly the celebrations are going to be going on throughout the day. Now, we were able to speak to Angela Merkel about her feelings about all of this, about this day of celebration, let`s listen to what she had to say.

MERKEL: [TRANSLATOR] Where joy as freedom came, many people suffered. And if there is one thing that I find regrettable in the last 20 years, it is that it took us so long to, to recognize this form of injustice and to make up for it. It is very easy to give back private socialized country, but all those lives and all the fear, and all those lives lost and to recognize the families were thrown in jail, this is extremely difficult.

PLEITGEN: Now Stan, as you can hear from the German Chancellor there, apparently Germany, she believes, still has a long way to go until it is truly unified, or truly feels unified. She believes that there still is a lot of healing to be done between East and West that of course is, really not mucho f a wonder seeing that the country`s were separated for 30 years. The Berlin Wall itself, of course stood here in this city for 28 years. Today however, as we said is a day of big celebration. And I can tell you that you know, this is really one of the most important days German`s feel in their history, of the 20th Century because it is the day that people were able to break down that barrier and do that peacefully. Stan?

GRANT: Yes Fred, and as you said, Angela Merkel looking at the work that is still needed to be done since the fall of the Wall. We`ve seen increased info nationalism we`ve seen increased religious tensions, of course Germany part of the war in Afghanistan as well. Take us through some of the challenges still facing Germany as it continues to build this reunified country.

PLEITGEN: Well there`s very big challenges that actually still lie ahead. You know, as I mentioned many German`s still don`t feel that this country is truly unified. If you look at the bare facts if you will, that certainly in many places is still the case. If you look at the economy in the eastern part of Germany, it still lies way far behind the economy in the west of Germany. Unemployment is much higher in the east than it is in the west. People get paid less for doing the same job in the east that they do in the west. So certainly from that perspective I think a lot of people still feel that there is a lot of catching up to do. And I mean, 40 years of separation have obviously taken their toll on this country as well. On the other hand, Germany of course has found a new role, and you mentioned one of the things that of course is so very important, is the role of German foreign policy where they are taking part in operations like the one in Afghanistan. Deploying troupes to foreign countries, something that was absolutely unthinkable 20 years ago. So certainly Germany, I would say had become more of a major player on the international stage. However here, inside the country there are still divisions that still loom, even though you can sort of see those start to fade away as time progresses. Stan?

GRANT: Fred, thank you for that. Fred Pleitgen, joining us there from Berlin, 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The first barriers that became part of the war went up on August 13th 1961, eventually the wall encircled the city of West Berlin and stretched 155 kilometers. The wall between East and West Berlin was 45 kilometers long. More than 3 and a half meters high, and of course heavily guarded. Between 1965 and 1989 more than 100,000 people tried to escape over the wall. About 200 people were killed, many were shot by guards. But only 5 to 10,000 people actually made it. And it was November 9th, 1989 when the Wall finally came down. Tonight Connect the World will be live from Berlin. Vicky Anderson will be at the Brandenburg Gate with extensive coverage as Germany marks their 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. That`s tonight, 21:00 in London, 22:00 in Central Europe, right here on CNN. Now to the fall of another wall of sorts, this one in the West Bank. Cheering Palestinians pulled down part of this controversial Israeli built barrier. It`s a symbolic move, meant to coincide with the events in Germany. The Israeli army later used tear gas to scatter the demonstrators. Palestinians in the West Bank are growing increasingly angry out of the lack of progress in freezing Israeli settlements. Now last week, the U.S. Secretary of State, while in the Middle East, urged Palestinian and Israeli leaders to put aside their differences. That didn`t` work out so well. Now it`s the U.S. President`s turn. He`s meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister today in Washington. And White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us now with the details. And with this ongoing tension over the settlement issue, Suzanne, not likely to be the most comfortable of meetings.

MALVEAUX: Well certainly not, I mean they have their differences on a number of issues and that certainly has been a sticking point with these two leaders. The one thing that`s happening here, and kind of to give you a little bit of the back-story, how they`re coming together about 7:00 this evening. It was the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is here in town, he is addressing the Jewish Federations of North America. This is the same organization that President Obama was supposed to address tomorrow, instead his chief of staff Ron Emanuel will address them. He is going to go to the memorial for the massacre that happened at the Fort Hood Army base. But having said that, it really would have been somewhat seen as a slight or a snub if you had the Israeli Prime Minister here in the President`s backyard if you will. The two of them did at least sit face to face and decided they were going to go ahead and talk about some of these issues.

But it`s clear from talking with White House Officials Stan, that they don`t expect any significant breakthroughs happen from this meeting. We know that what is really the most contentious issue at this time is whether or not Israel would be willing to freeze those Israeli settlements in the West Bank. President Obama has made it clear that he believed that that was necessary to move negotiations forward. Then he kind of backpedaled a little bit, and said well why don`t you two, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Netanyahu, when he was here at the White House, all three of them together, why don`t` you move forward anyway with these talks, these peace talks, not let the settlement issue derail those talks. That has not been received very well from the Palestinians. And since then, we`ve heard from the Prime Minister Netanyahu as saying that perhaps a partial freeze, but certainly not what President Obama`s looking for, is going to happen.

I did get a chance to speak with a Senior Administration official. He put it this way, in terms of what is the goal of this meeting. He said in terms of Middle East peace, they`re going to discuss how can we relaunch the Israeli/Palestinian negotiations as soon as possible and the steps all sides should take to assure these negotiations can succeed.

Stan it`s far from clear, however, that there`s going to be any significant breakthrough when these two sit down and talk. What does seem to be telling is that it is behind closed doors, it`s not a big oval office fanfare, not going to be open to the media. Clearly these are two leaders that have to sit down and see if they have a meeting of the minds without a lot of expectations. Stan?

GRANT: Suzanne you also mentioned Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, well he of course says he is not going to contest elections in January. In Washington what is the sense there about how that changes the framework here?

MALVEAUX: Well it certainly, kind of, raises a question. There`s an unknown here in the equation. I mean, clearly they`ve been looking to Mahmoud Abbas for leadership. There have been times when this White House and the previous White House, quite frankly have been disappointed in his leadership, so there is an opportunity perhaps to see a new leader emerge, but at the same time it really just kind of gives an unknown, yet another unknown in this Palestinian/Israeli peace process and the talks moving forward and that is a little disconcerting here. There are so many questions and so many moving parts, they don`t know how this is going to play out Stan and so this is something that they have been looking at quite closely but they still believe that he is at least a viable player right now to try to work with Netanyahu.

STAN GRANT HOST, PRISM CNN: Suzanne thank you for that. Suzanne Malveaux joining us live there from the White House. Now there`s wide spread suffering in the Central American nation of El Salvador. Three days of torrential rain turned mountain sides into mud slides over the weekend. Officials say 130 people were killed when villagers were inundated with flood driven mud and rocks. There`s fear that the death toll could rise as dozens of people remain missing. The countries president has declared a national state of emergency. And authorities say the disaster has left some 7,000 people homeless. Coming up Murray Ramos will have more on that deadly flood and he`ll tell us what`s in store for the area plus a general look at the global weather picture. And in tonights Prism segment movie audiences watch war through the eyes of Isreali soldiers but some say the films are self serving instead of artistic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRANT: Welcome back, a new trend and debate are emerging in Israeli cinema three critically acclaimed films that depict the devestating effect of war on Israeli soldiers. In tonights Prism segment we look at the role of film as art and as a tool for propaganda. We`ll get the response from Lebanon in just a moment but first we go to Jeruselem as CNN`s Bureau Chief, Kevin Flower.

KEVIN FLOWER CNN: War as seen through the narrow prism of a tank`s gun. For a group of Israeli soldiers as depicted in the new film Lebanon the horrors of battle are experienced in the dank and claustrophobic confines of a tank. Lebanon writer and director Samuel Maoz was tank gunner at the start of Israel`s war in Lebanon in 1982. The film he says is in part a way of chronicling the agonizing moral dilemmas of young soldiers forced to make life and death decisions in an instant.

Samuel Maoz: In the film you will see that I feel into a no way out situation! But in the end I was there, my finger was on the trigger and you could say I was the hangman. I was 20 and I was the hangman.

FLOWERS: Lebanon is the most recent of a trio of Israeli films that cast an introspective eye on the actions of Israeli soldiers during the country`s 18 year occupation of its northern neighbor. Animated feature "Waltz with Bashir" examine the psychological fall out for soldiers connected to the massacre of Palestinian civilians at (Soubren Shatelia)ph

DIRECTOR: "I thought that the films was kind of through a poetic process that I was going through. That while making the film I was recovering lost pieces of my memory".

FLOWERS: In "Both War" film maker Joseph Cedar recounts the painful tale of an Israeli military withdrawal from an ancient mountain fortress in the last days of the war. He says that it is no coincidence that these critical looks at the war are now being put to film.

JOSEPH CEDAR: If in a certain period of time there are a number of films that speak about the vulnerability of Israeli soldier loss of direction, inability to carry out missions, self criticism, and more than that is affecting it`s telling us about the reality that exists anyway.

FLOWER: It`s a reality filled with complexities that some critics say the introspective nature of these films does not properly address.

DIRECTOR: The main victims of this war were the Israeli soldiers who fought in it. And that`s what all three films are saying in some way. This goes with the general Israeli way of always looking at ourselves as victims, no matter what.

FLOWERS: But for all the directors the grinding and unsparing reality of war is a common thread.

JOSEPH CEDAR, DIRECTOR: What happened once will happen again and there is something inevitable and tragic about -- about realizing that there is no closure ever! It`s just going to repeat its self over and over again.

FLOWERS: Perhaps a universal truth that no amount of self reflection can change. Kevin Flowers CNN Jerusalem.

GRANT: You`ve just seen how those films are playing to an Israeli audience but just across the border in Lebanon they like all Israeli films are banned. Cal Perry is in Beirut he joins us now and Cal despite that banned I understand they are still being viewed. By whom? What`s the reaction?

CAL PERRY CNN NEWS BERUIT: Well Stan, here in Beirut is really in many ways a cultural center in the Middle East you have a large number of young successful Lebonese living in this city. There is a great number of students that live here from around the region, there is a number of universities that are well respected. These are the types of people that will get their hands on these movies. You can go to just about any DVD store here in Beirut and parts of Beirut and find these films and these films are watched by those indivuals because they really do want to take a look at Kevin`s at what Kevin got in his package. That sort of introspective look that Israeli society is taking looks at mistakes that were made. That`s what they`re interested mainly in watching in these films Stan.

GRANT: Cal what set of emotions does it -- does it bring out. What attitudes does it reinforce? Does it reinforce bitterness, hatred, resentments?

PERRY: All of those things. You have to keep in mind while Lebanon is a progressive place and --and people will watch these movies this is something that people lived through. People my age in their early 30`s, they grew up here with a civil war going on with the Israeli occupation the -- the memories of the 2006 war are fresh in everyone`s mind. So the criticism that you`ll hear about these films is well the Israelis are clearly taking a look at mistakes that were made and there are some scenes in these movies that are shocking I think to many Lebanese where there are these political debates that are going on in these Israeli films about the meaning of the occupation in the 80`s, the meaning of these wars that took place across Lebanon, while people certainly respect that, their memories are so fresh of the violence, of the loss of life, the massacres at (INAUDIBLE) for example. So while these movies may be screened secretly and -- and people will blog about them here in Lebanon certainly this is a wound that runs incredibly deep. And by in large when you talk to Lebanese people whether it`s here in Beirut or in the south where Hezballah is in great control. Many people here believe that there will be another conflict with Israel.

GRANT: You raised something interesting there, Cal. You talk about the therapeutic nature of these films certainly for Israelis themselves. And we heard that in Kevin`s piece. I`m wondering -- does it not then create an argument for these films to be legalized so that people could go and see them -- perhaps build bridges when they see some of these films take a very often harsh and often critical look at Israeli society?

PERRY: Well, I think the government has to maintain a very strict line when it comes to these types of decisions -- when it comes to these types of policies, especially with Israel.

This is a country, again, that`s filled with a great deal of bitterness. This is a country right now that`s in the middle of forming a government. And when you speak to the next prime minister of Lebanon, Saad Hariri, he will tell you, and he told CNN a few months ago, "Lebanon will be the last Arab nation to make peace with Israel."

And that`s something very important for this government to make as a statement. We`re talking about a western backed, led government. But of course, with undertones of an opposition -- a very powerful opposition, led by Hezbollah, seen as the defenders of this country. So when these movies are released, even though people go and they buy them on the Black Market if you like, the government still wants to maintain that line that this is a country that saw a great deal of bloodshed at the hands of Israeli soldiers.

GRANT: Cal, thank you for that. Cal Perry joining us live via -- from Beirut, and obviously touching on the issue of how these films very much shape identities of nations and individuals.

So now we want to know what you think. If films aren`t for art`s sake, or are they tools of propaganda? Send your thoughts to my (inaudible) account. That`s Stan Grant, CNN.

Torrential rains cause some very heavy damage in El Salvador. We`ll have that story, and all the world`s weather when Prism continues.

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GRANT: OK. We`re keeping an eye on events unfolding in Berlin as the German capital celebrates the 20 years since the Wall`s fall. World leaders have been arriving at the Pariser Platz for further festivities. The German Chancellor, the French President, and British Prime Minister among those attending, as well as the Russian President and U.S. Secretary of State.

Flooding and mudslides have killed 130 people in El Salvador, and tropical storm Ida is tracking right now towards the American Gulf Coast.

Mari Ramos is at the scene and World Weather Center tracking both weather developments.

Mari?

RAMOS: Yes. These are two big stories. Let`s go ahead and start on El Salvador first of all.

This is just such a tragedy. They got some very heavy rain. Three days of rain in a row on this side here of Central America, bringing some just torrential downpours across the region. I want to zoom in a little bit and show you some of the areas that we`re talking about.

El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America. It has about seven million people here. So you know, it is fairly crowded for an area this size. Well you can see that there`s a lot of small towns in this region. Verapaz, one of the hardest hit areas. And this is the volcano in question. The side of the mountain just came down and buried almost completely that entire town.

But you can see there`s other areas here. And all of this region had some very heavy rain. This is just one of the pictures, Stan. And you can see these huge boulders that are in the middle of the road, and sometimes by half way up through the homes. So they have quite a task of clean up, and to look for missing loved ones in this region.

At least it`s dry now. Hot but dry across Central America. We had a hurricane that moved through here, remember? Moving across the Yucatan over the weekend. Well now that is tropical storm Ida. It has weakened as you mentioned, and is expected to make landfall possibly between Mississippi and Alabama overnight tonight -- early into Tuesday morning.

Winds right now close to 110 kilometers per hour. Could weaken a little bit. The main concern now is really the rain. You can see the rain already starting to fall across parts here of the -- of southeastern portion of the U.S., Stan. Some of this rain will be very heavy, and that`s why they have already those flash flood warnings that extend way to the north.

We`ll keep you posted on this developing story. Back to you.

GRANT: Mari, thank you for that. And that`s it from me, Stan Grant, in Abu Dhabi.

A CNN documentary special, "Autumn of Chang -- the Wall" is coming up next, just after we update the headlines.

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