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At This Hour
Israeli, Gaza Cease-Fire in Tatters; U.S. to Help Return Israeli Soldier; Arab States Turn Against Hamas; Children Victims in Gaza.
Aired August 01, 2014 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news @THISHOUR, the Middle East cease-fire in tatters, an Israeli soldier now in the hands of Hamas. The dramatic escalation started 90 minutes into what was supposed to be a 72-hour cease-fire. Israel's military says a Hamas suicide bomber attacked Israeli troops trying to destroy a tunnel. Two Israeli soldiers were killed and one captured. Shelling and rocket fire erupted between the two sides. Health officials in Gaza say an Israeli attack in Rafah killed 40 people and injured more than 250. They expect that death toll to rise as more bodies are pulled from the rubble.
This was supposed to be a 72-hour cease-fire, a cease-fire broker by the United Nations and the United States, Secretary of State John Kerry, who had been working hard to achieve some kind of cease-fire.
I want to go now to Elise Labott in our Washington bureau who coverers the State Department for us.
Elise, not only is there no cease-fire but the situation could be much more than when the cease-fire began. What are we hearing from Secretary Kerry now?
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John, and in the days leading up to the cease-fire, you kind of heard the U.S. putting the pressure on Israel about the civilian deaths and casualties, but today an unequivocal statement by the United States and Secretary of State Kerry, saying, "The United States condemns the strongest possible terms of today's attack which led to the killing of two Israeli soldiers and the apparent abduction of another. It was an outrageous violation of the cease-fire negotiated over the past several days and of the assurances given by the United States and the United Nations. Hamas, which has security control over the Gaza Strip must immediately and unconditionally release the missing Israeli soldier."
John, the United States is bracing for what they expect to be a very heavy handed Israeli response. In his statement, the secretary also says, "It would be a tragedy if this outrageous attack leads to more suffering and loss of life on both sides of this conflict."
And I think that the United States is not publicly calling on Israel to exercise restraint, given what's happened in this violation of the cease-fire, but clearly the U.N. bracing for a very heavy handed response from the Israelis -- John?
BERMAN: There had been a lot of pressure from the United States to bring Israel to the table. Given, when Israel did agree, 90 minutes later, if you believe their story, one of their soldiers was captured, two others killed. Does this perhaps reduce the influence the U.S. will have going forward in trying to get Israel to talk peace?
LABOTT: It's my understanding from talking to my sources that Secretary Kerry was extremely tough with Prime Minister Netanyahu in the last 48 hours or so, trying to get him to accept the cease-fire. I do think there's always been this question, how much influence does the U.S. have on Israel at various stages of the conflict. Over the last several years, you've seen that influence wane. And I think right now the Israelis are going to take care of business in the way that they see fit and U.S. influence is probably not going to really have much to say at this point-- John?
BERMAN: That's a fascinating point.
Elise Labott in Washington for us.
We're going to take up that point ahead, @THISHOUR, with Middle East tensions remaining high and perhaps getting higher than they have ever been, has the U.S. lost whatever influence it had in the region? We'll discuss next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: The United States says it would like to help facilitate the safe return of captured Israeli soldier, Hadar Goldin. Listen to White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We certainly will be working with our partners, U.N., and other interested parties who have been a part of trying to broker this agreement about what the next steps are. There should be no mistake that the Israeli soldier who has been taken captive should be return unharmed and immediately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: I want to bring in David Tafuri, a former Obama campaign policy adviser, and a former U.N. and State Department official as well.
David, thanks for being with us.
Secretary Kerry he worked hard what was supposed to be a 72-hour cease-fire, yet when the Israelis finally agreed to this, 90 minutes in, they had a soldier captured. So does this hurt U.S. credibility with the Israelis now, make it harder perhaps for the U.S. to exert any pressure?
DAVID TAFURI, FORMER U.N. AND STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL & OBAMA CAMPAIGN POLICY ADVISOR: This isn't the U.S.'s fault. In fact, the U.S. really achieved a major success here. Nobody thought Kerry could achieve a cease-fire this quickly, so it was an important success, but unfortunately it only lasted 90 days, the two sides have managed to seize war from the jaws of peace is unfortunate. The real question, really have the authority and ability to control the militants in Gaza? If there's no loyalty, no hierarchy anymore to the militants and the leaders condition speak on their behalf, they really can't enter into a lasting cease-fire.
BERMAN: David, you know, I think we all applaud any efforts toward peace but if this is success at this point, you know, a cease-fire blown up 90 minutes in it, an Israeli soldier captured, more bombing with more than 1,300 Palestinians killed - at this point, if that's success, that's a serious problem going forward and I want to talk about the parameters of this deal, because I've been listening to both sides arguing that the Israelis violated the cease-fire by going into the tunnels and the Israelis say not at all. That the parameters of this deal allowed us to be in these tunnels. Without getting into who was right and who was wrong because we weren't there, does the mere fact that this disagreement exists suggests that there was too much ambiguity in the deal to begin with?
TAFURI: Well, of course, there has to be some ambiguity because the battlefield is very complicated. The tunnels were part of the agreement. Israel did have the right to continue to destroy the tunnels but obviously had the obligation not to harm civilians to the extent it could do so, and the tunnels are a provocation, specifically the tunnels that go into Israel and violate Israeli Israel's sovereignty. The cease-fire is difficult to maintain. But the fact that the parties agreed to one is an accomplish. The real problem is the people on the ground are not following the leadership.
BERMAN: What do you expect the United States to do next? Do you expect the United States to perhaps back off on some of the pressure it had been exerting on Israel to get to the table, give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more leeway to gather out the mission the way he has been?
TAFURI: I think there has to be some more clarity on this soldier who was captured. We need more details on that. The U.S. is waiting to find out more information. Unfortunately, if an Israeli soldier has been captured, Hamas will probably think it has more leverage. Israel will not view the situation that way. So that's a key thing. But after we figure out those details, my expectation is the State Department led by Secretary Kerry will continue to put pressures on both sides and try and to get to a cease-fire as quickly as possible, again.
BERMAN: David Tafuri, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate your insight on this.
TAFURI: Thank you.
BERMAN: Coming up for us, in some cases, the Arab nations in the region have been silent or much more silent than usual in the conflict in Gaza. Will this new round of fresh escalating violence help them find their voice? That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Whatever cease-fire there was between Israel and Hamas is over. There were to be peace discussions in Cairo sponsored by Egypt. Chances for that now appear gone. It's interesting. This Egyptian government is seen as no friend of Hamas. In fact, they are quite wary of Hamas. In some ways, Hamas is getting little public support from other key Arab nations.
Our Brian Todd takes a look at the reasons behind this silence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just two years ago, Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, embraces the Egypt President Mohamed Morsey, a powerful symbol for Meshaal and Hamas, a deeply concerning image for Israel.
ROBERT BAER, FORMER CIA AGENT: That has now fallen apart. The Muslim Brotherhood, the leadership is in jail.
TODD: After tossing Morsey out, Egypt's authoritarian government has turned against Hamas. Egypt's not alone. Across the world, the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates are look the other way, leaving Hamas alone.
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA, GPA: Their eyes on, we don't want these kinds of guys to win. If Israel beats them up, well and good.
TODD: None of those Arab leaders would ever publicly support Israel but none are defending Hamas in this battle. Our efforts to get their comments from their representatives in Washington and in the regions, met with stoned silence.
But Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief, writing in an Arab newspaper says, "Hamas' readiness to cause a great deal of suffering clearly showing Hamas is irresponsible."
And on Egyptian TV commentators don't holdback in blasting Hamas.
UNIDENTIFIED EGYPTIAN COMMENTATOR (through translation): People are revolted by you. Get lost. You make us nauseous. The whole world goes to hell because of you.
TODD: Hamas is seen by many in the Arab world as an extension of the Muslim Brotherhood, a huge Islamist political group, which the leaders of Egypt, the UAE, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have been battling against for years.
BAER: If the Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas succeeds in Gaza, the question will be, why can't they take over the Gulf States or Egypt.
TODD: What those regimes really fear is democracy. Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood won power in actual elections.
KHALED ELGINDY, FORMER ADVISOR TO PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: They have been part of these uprisings, revolts, all around the region in Egypt, in Tunisia and elsewhere, for Democratic reform. And they certainly don't want to see that kind of reform happen in their own countries, because they're worried about maintaining their own regimes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Brian Todd is with us now from Washington.
Brian, almost on cue, seconds before we ran your peace, we did get a statement from the king of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, who was condemning the violence and the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza. He called it crimes against humanity. But among other things, he blames state-sponsored terrorism, and certainly gave no word of support for Hamas. It would be very interesting to see what we hear from some of these Arab nations, now that this cease-fire was broken.
TODD: That's right, John. In the coming days, we're going to be watching that closely. If there's an escalation of this, analysts are telling me, if the Israelis large a mass incursion into Gaza, and this really escalates, maybe if there's a singular Israeli strike that causes mass civilian casualties, you're going to see even stronger protests from those Arab powers. Now, there is a distinguished, there is a distinction being made between -- with analysts who say these powers really don't like Hamas but they do -- they do express solidarity with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause. But it's Hamas that they don't like. So the Saudi king in that statement, as you mentioned, he didn't really say anything about Hamas, but he is expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people. That may be, John, how they make that distinction in the coming days.
BERMAN: Walking a very fine line.
Brian Todd, thank you so much.
Ahead for us @THISHOUR, they are the smallest victims of the violence in Gaza, the children and they're fighting for their lives as the race to treat their wounds begins. That's next.
But first, the biggest surge in undocumented children crossing into the United States is coming from Central America, including Guatemala. This week's "CNN Hero" is a Guatemalan who is tackling crime and helping kids find hope at home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUAN PABLO HOMERO FUENTES, CNN HERO: My country's violent history has created a very violent present. Gangs are everywhere. Kids are exposed to drugs, to violence and to the lack of opportunities for them to improve their lives.
I was a teacher in the same community where I grew up. My students were dealing with the same problems that I was dealing 20 years ago. I wanted to change that. The best thing for me to do is open my house doors and bring them
here.
Eight years later, I'm still running the program in my family house.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(SHOUTING)
FUENTES: We provide classes so they can find their own passions. We give them a decent plate of food.
(LAUGHTER)
(SHOUTING)
(APPLAUSE)
FUENTES: Children are powerful. It's just they don't know that yet. So I created a safe place for them to realize that they are slowly can change their aspects in their lives and their community.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(APPLAUSE)
FUENTES: In a violent country, the only weapon we can have, it's love. I still believe we can change this country. I see potential in kids' dreams and ideas. They are the ones in charge of writing the new history in Guatemala.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Youngest victims in this Gaza conflict are children fighting for their lives as their families try to get them to a hospital.
Our Martin Savidge reports from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 3-year-old Rhonda al Shara (ph) has burns over 50 percent of her body. She doesn't know her mother, brother, and grandfather are dead, killed in the same Israeli air strike that wounded her. Yet Rhonda (ph), is considered lucky. She's out of Gaza.
(CRYING)
SAVIDGE: The images of dead and wounded children in Gaza have shocked many. These images get far less attention. Victims Israel has allowed out of Gaza to be treated in Israeli and Palestinian hospitals where the care and their chances for survival are better.
(CROSSTALK) SAVIDGE: But to get here, the wounded risk their lives a second time in a dangerous ambulance ride across the front lines.
(on camera): As you can see, this is a very busy place. There are over a dozen children being treated here and more keep arriving.
(voice-over): But those numbers are far lower than expected.
LRAFIQ HUSSEINI, DIRECTOR, MUHUASEF HOSPITAL (ph): We expected hundreds of cases but we only got a couple dozen cases.
(SHOUTING)
SAVIDGE: To understand why, you have to understand a process that is bewildering even for those involved, how children are chosen.
First, they are selected by doctors in Gaza, approved by the Palestinian Authority, and coordinated with the International Red Cross. But none can come without Israel's final say.
This 14-year-old lies in a coma after her bedroom was struck. In the complicated process, only she was to come. Her fearful family in Gaza gets updates other the phone.
1-month-old Abdel-Rahman needs possible heart surgery. The infant was allowed, but not his mother. Her paperwork was out of date. The boy's aunt believes Israel only granted permission for the child out of guilt. Abdel's brother was one of four boys killed on a Gaza Beach by Israeli artillery.
TACHRID BAKR, VICTIM'S AUNT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
SAVIDGE: "They gave him life because they took a life," she says.
(SHOUTING)
SAVIDGE: Despite more than 8,000 wounded in Gaza, only 60 have come to Israel. Each side blames the other for the pitifully low number. And for a bureaucracy so badly twisted by war, only it can consider a badly burned, motherless 3-year-old lucky.
Martin Savidge, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
