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CNN Live Saturday
Fighting Between Israel and Hezbollah Continues; U.S. Secretary of State Returns to Middle East; American Muslim Goes on Shooting Rampage at Seattle Jewish Center; The Origin of the Katyusha; Background on Pictures of Condoleezza Rice
Aired July 29, 2006 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Here's what we know on the crisis in the Middle East. Condoleezza Rice has been meeting tonight with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. She's said to be pursuing a deal to eventually end the fighting and insert international troops along the Lebanese border. Hezbollah's leader is threatening rocket attacks against more Israeli cities. Hassan Nasrallah read his televised statement from an undisclosed location. And Israel's mounted more air attacks on targets in Lebanon. Lebanese security forces say a woman and six children were killed in one strike near the border.
And this is the 18th day of all-out fighting and the second trip to the region by Secretary Rice. This time around she's under mounting pressure to try to halt the bloodshed. CNN's John King is in Jerusalem with more.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, hello to you from Jerusalem. Secretary Rice this evening having dinner with Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, that's the first stop on her second mission as you noted, here in the Middle East. She returned here from Asia a short time ago several hours ago, expressing some confidence that there's been some progress at least in the spirit of the conversations between her deputies and Israeli and Lebanese officials, other international officials trying to bring about a cease-fire, but the United States continues to resist calls for an immediate cease- fire saying their conditions are not in place for that.
Secretary Rice is trying to put together a very complicated puzzle, seeking some assurances from Israel that it might be ready to give back some disputed land to Lebanon. That it might be ready to release some Hezbollah prisoners if a cease-fire deal includes the return of those two kidnapped Israeli soldiers. So she's meeting with Prime Minister Olmert tonight, more conversations here in Israel tomorrow. Then it's on to Lebanon, where she's trying to look into a new proposal put forward by the Lebanese government. Secretary Rice on the way here said she thought it was a positive proposal. It does call for deploying the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon. It called on Hezbollah to disarm although Hezbollah has not accepted that part of the plan.
So Secretary Rice trying to put together a very complicated diplomatic puzzle. She says she hopes, she hopes that an agreement can be reached soon. She won't put a timeline on it but aides privately talk about trying to do this within a week. She'll be here in the Middle East through Sunday night, then it's back to Washington and then up to the United Nations in the middle of the week, and that is where they're trying to put together that new international force that they envision going in to southern Lebanon. But Brianna, a lot of pressure on the United States. Many say why not call for an immediate cease-fire, Secretary Rice says no, but she's hoping, again hoping, to put together that deal over the next two days here.
KEILAR: So John, are we expecting to see anything really comprehensive come out of this?
KING: Well, it will be interesting what she says tomorrow. No, nothing at all tonight. No statements, we're told not even to expect a readout from her dinner with Prime Minister Olmert, that's because everything is so sensitive. So we may not know until the last minute. We'll know much more when the United Nations Security Council starts debating the resolution. The debate will start Monday, but the foreign ministers meeting Secretary Rice and her counterparts, won't have that conversation until Thursday. Because this involves so many tough decisions by the Israelis, so many tough decisions by the Lebanese government, they're trying to be very quiet about it because it is so sensitive. One thing said in public can derail something that's already been sealed in private. Will they get there? Again, she came here a bit more hopeful. But this is the Middle East and the rule of the Middle East often is, one step forward, two steps back. Brianna?
KEILAR: John, thanks for that report. John King live for us from Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the leader of Hezbollah threatened deeper rocket attacks into Israel today. The statement by Hassan Nasrallah followed the farthest strike yet on to Israeli soil. And joining us now to talk more about this statement Octavia Nasr, CNN's Senior Editor on Arab Affairs. So tell us what was the main message of the statement today?
OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, ARAB AFFAIRS: The main message basically you saw a tired Hassan Nasrallah, definitely feeling the pressure of the last 18 days. Tired, yes, you know, he's saying that he wants all of Lebanon to stand with him, Christians and Muslims. But also as you mentioned, he is threatening more attacks on Israel unless, as he calls it, the Israeli aggression on Lebanon stops. Let's take a listen to a portion of that statement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRANSLATION OF NASRALLAH: When, my brother and sisters, will the history of the Arab, Israeli conflict, two million Israelis were forced to stay in shelters for 12 days or more. And this will increase and as we reach the stage beyond Haifa and we reach a full and we reach its military base, it's the beginning of this stage and there are many cities it will be within the circle of being targeted and beyond Haifa stage.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NASR: So obviously, he's talking about a stage beyond Haifa. You remember a couple of days ago he spoke about that stage beyond Haifa. And the answer came yesterday. In that attack on Afullah, as we discussed earlier, 10 kilometers away from Haifa. So basically here is Hassan Nasrallah sending out another message saying that he wants Israel to stop the raids on Lebanon, otherwise he is ready to move beyond Afullah at this point.
KEILAR: And Octavia you've been following the Arab media reports on what's been going on. What has the response been?
NASR: Interesting response in the sense that many people in Lebanon have been wondering when this whole position by Hezbollah is going to end. You know, many people, the majority of the Lebanese do not support the attack on Israel and the kidnapping of the two Israeli soldiers. As a matter of fact, the prime minister of Lebanon himself said that he had no knowledge about the attack and he did not support it and his government didn't support it. The majority of the Lebanese were sort of upset with Hezbollah for starting this whole crisis for them.
So basically, they were waiting on the moment that they got today. You listen to experts on Lebanese television and Arab television basically saying that this is a positive move that Hassan Nasrallah is calling on all Lebanese to get together. And one very important thing in his speech today. He recognized the authority of the prime minister and the government. This is the first time since the beginning of the crisis back on July 12th that Hassan Nasrallah speaks of a government and says that he -- because he is part of the government. He has ministers and he has also members of parliament in parliament and in the government. So basically positive reaction. But I have to tell you, people are saying this all sounds good, but they're not too sure that this is going to translate into peace on the ground.
KEILAR: Of course we'll be watching for that. Thanks for that insight, Octavia. Octavia Nasr, the senior editor for Arab affairs for CNN. Thank you very much.
Meanwhile, more Americans are now out of harms way, they evacuated Lebanon and arrived in the U.S. today on board a flight to Atlanta. And CNN's Melissa Long was there. She joins us with details of their difficult and emotional journeys. Melissa?
MELISSA LONG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Brianna. And it was not only a difficult journey but a long journey. For one woman in particular I spoke with, she eventually hopped on board a boat in order to take her to destination unknown. She eventually arrived in Turkey and then hopped on board that flight from Turkey, then traveling on to Ireland for a layover, and then eventually to Atlanta. And this is not her final destination. She has to travel on once again to Cleveland. Many of the passengers on board that flight that arrived about 12:30 today were actually en route to their final destination. Their final home. About 15 percent of the passengers did stay in the Atlanta area, but the Atlanta airport was used because it has so many possible connections and also because of its repatriation center. What is a repatriation center? Well we talked to the Red Cross spokesman to explain what it is. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBEN BROWN, RED CROSS SPOKESMAN: They've been through a very stressful situation, very traumatic situation, we want to make sure that their re-entry into the United States is as dignified and painless as possible.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: Now again, that one flight touched down about 12:30 today. Another flight touched down just about 20 minutes ago. There were expected to be flights coming in starting last night at 9:00 p.m. and throughout the day, but there has been quite a bit of confusion not only for the passengers but also for airport personnel. Very much on a stand-by basis. And still we received word of possibly two more flights coming in tomorrow. Again, Atlanta was chosen by the government, by Department of Health and Human Services because of that possibility to take people all around the country, because it is of course one of the most busiest travel airports in the country and also because of that repatriation center. So we'll be standing by waiting to talk to additional people getting off the flight here in Atlanta as well. Brianna?
KEILAR: Melissa, and I was at BWI about a week and a half ago when the first flight came in, and it was as well very fluid. Are they giving you any answers to why they're sort of on stand-by, why they don't always know when these flights are coming in?
LONG: No, no answers. In fact, many of the passengers, the evacuees are really happy to just be back home, but they did say it was pretty chaotic just getting to the airport and just trying to get their bags. They said again they're happy to be home, but they really didn't understand why there was such a stand-by process.
KEILAR: Melissa Long, thank you so much for that report.
They're calling it a hate crime. A Muslim man charged with murder and attempted murder in Seattle, Washington. Police say the man of Pakistani descent opened fire at a Jewish center killing one woman and wounding five. Mimi Jung from affiliate KING has more on the shootings.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIMI JUNG, KING REPORTER: He came armed with a handgun, a motive and a target. A Pakistani man walked into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and started shooting. Minutes later victims were being wheeled out of the building one by one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody down, all the way down to the end.
JUNG: Police swarmed the building at third and Lenora with guns drawn not knowing where the suspect was hiding.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're just telling all of us, get out of the street, just get out of the street, we have a sniper. That was it.
JUNG: The busy intersection went into lockdown. Police fearing innocent bystanders were in the line of fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a gunman that shot several people. They didn't know if there was more than one gunman so, they just kept us locked in there about an hour.
JUNG: Police say the suspect talked to a 911 dispatcher before surrendering peacefully. His vehicle found in a nearby parking garage. S.W.A.T. teams searched his truck for explosives before hauling it away.
CIEF R. GIL KERLIKOWSKE, SEATTLE POLICE: He was able to get inside the building through trying to get into the front door.
JUNG: A woman who works at the Jewish Federation says the suspect waited until an employee punched in her security code and forced his way in. She says, "He said, "I am a Muslim American angry at Israel", before opening fire on everyone. He was randomly shooting at everyone."
MAYOR GREG NICKELS, SEATTLE: This was a purposeful, hateful act, as far as we know by an individual acting alone.
JUNG: Tonight the mayor and the police chief say there were no specific threats made against the Jewish Federation, no warnings that a man would take out his anger like this.
KERLIKOWSKE: But there is nothing to indicate to the Seattle Police Department or I would think to the FBI, that a crime of this magnitude or this intensity would occur.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: And that was Mimi Jung from KING in Seattle.
About 3700 American troops are being transferred into Baghdad to crack down on sectarian warfare. Today the military announced the 172nd striker brigade will redeploy from northern Iraq to the capital. In a separate statement the military announced the deaths of three more American troops.
And in Baghdad today, two explosions wounded 18 people. A grenade went off near a line of day laborers and a roadside bomb hit an Iraqi police patrol.
Meanwhile in the north of the country, a car bombing left four people dead. The blast went off in a residential section of Kirkuk.
And coming up, the Lebanese capital, a city divided by war and by world view. Nic Robertson tells the tale of two Beiruts.
And the scorch of summer comes with deadly consequences. Is there an end in sight to the deadly heat wave enveloping much of the west? We'll take a look as will meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. (WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
KEILAR: And coming up, a divided city. Beirut's two main communities and how they're affected by the violence. That's coming up.
Rockets continue to rain down on northern Israel and we'll take a close look at the type favored by Hezbollah, the Katyusha.
And death takes no holiday in Lebanon with scenes like this. Scores of dead buried in mass graves. And this may only be the beginning. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Just in, two Islamic jihad militants were killed by Israeli Defense Forces today in the West Bank. One of them, the head of the military wing of the group. That's according to Palestinian sources telling CNN that. The IDF would only confirm -- that's the Israeli Forces -- only confirming that a gunman was killed in an exchange of fire near Nablus. Now on to the war Israel is fighting on another front in Lebanon. Beirut is a city divided. Lebanese residents want the shelling to stop, but not on Israel's terms. They're not all backing Hezbollah either. Covering the conflict is growing more complicated. Here's our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): In Beirut, a relative lull in bombing is allowing repairs to roads. And amid a new round of U.S.-led diplomacy, a hardening of attitudes against America.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Israel has the hand of America. Israel is the hand of America only. Why, why did they did that? Why? (INAUDIBLE) no water in whole area.
ROBERTSON (on camera): This is where the damage begins, the southern suburbs are up here, the roads are much quieter. That's where we're going to go now, but quite often when we get up there we're not given permission to film and see what's going on.
(voice-over): Driving through, the streets are almost deserted. Then a car horn, a militia pulling us over, telling us to stop filming. Our troubles are only just beginning.
(on camera): Right now I'm just sitting here waiting to get permission to film in this grocery store. One faction came by and gave us permission, now we're waiting for another faction to give us their permission. It's getting complicated to do anything around here. (voice-over): Eventually we get permission. Most people have left the area. The store is not as busy as before the bombing. Mohammed, the owner, says he wants the war to end soon, but on Hezbollah's terms. "The resistance will win. Israel can't last five days" he says. "Hezbollah can last years and they will win." But only a few miles from these empty streets, Beirut could not be more different.
(on camera): You've got top of the line Porsches, you've got Mercedes, all jostling for parking position. And down here you've got a predominantly Christian neighborhood where it appears life is going on almost as normal. I'm standing outside of the restaurant here and I'm looking across the road and it looks like the situation is normal. Is it normal?
HODA BAROUDI, HER FAMILY LEFT BEIRUT: Well, you should know better. It's not normal at all actually.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Hoda Baroudi, a designer, tells me she moved her family out of Beirut to the mountains for safety.
BAROUDI: I lived in Beirut throughout the whole war years, until '89 and I've had enough. I don't want to hear anything. I don't want to know anything and I want to be out of all this.
ROBERTSON: Many in this affluent cafe have their own businesses. Jad Khourny was doing well.
JAD KHOURNY, BEIRUT RESIDENT: I'm pissed off because we've always been building, trying to build a future in this country. And something happens every few years that destroys it all.
ROBERTSON: Jad's company made the massive banners for the U.S. supported anti-Syria (INAUDIBLE) revolution rallies last year. Most of the rallies thought America was supporting democracy. Now they think the U.S. backs Israel at their expense.
ASMA ANDROS, BEIRUT RESIDENT: I think the United States, especially this administration, has a very superficial understanding of the mechanisms of this part of the world.
ROBERTSON: Asma and Jad have been friends for years. Listening to them, their frustrations are clear.
ANDROS: I'm not particularly aligned with Lebanon. The Lebanon they fight for or the ideology they fight under is not mine. But today we stand united and I think we have proved that we will not be divided.
ROBERTSON: Reality is in this cafe, most accept Hezbollah will ultimately have to be disarmed. On the other side of the city, that's not such a popular view.
(on camera): This is where Beirut's old front line used to be, the so-called green line with Muslims on one side, Christians on the other. Today the bombing in the southern suburbs is over here and the busy cafe society is in this direction. This building has been left to help people remember just how bad the civil war was. Right now it's a stark reminder of how bad divisions could become again. Nic Robertson, CNN, Beirut.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: It was 23 years ago when a suicide bomber killed 241 American marines in Beirut.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
My first conscious thought after the bombing was waking up on the ground with a couple of pieces of concrete sort of in a lean to position above me.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Up next, a look back at the attack that changed U.S. Mideast policy.
Also as the death toll mounts in Tyre, Lebanon, local officials bury the dead in mass graves. We have a report from the scene.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: It's almost midnight in Beirut and Jerusalem. Day 18 of the crisis in the Middle East. And here's what we know now. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is back in Jerusalem. She's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says Rice's visit is part of an American plan to impose its will on the Middle East. Nasrallah says his militiamen are denying victory to Israeli soldiers and more Israeli cities are at risk of coming under rocket fire. This as Israeli air strikes continue to take a toll on Lebanon and its people. A woman and five children were reportedly killed in an air raid on a Bhatia in central Lebanon.
Dozens of Hezbollah rockets have hit northern Israel today. Some of them are reported to be the more powerful and longer range Khaybar rockets. For more, CNN's Matthew Chance joins us live now from the Israeli Lebanese border. Matthew?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna thanks very much. There's a lot of military activity still under way here in this front line border area. Over the course of the past several hours, it's been an angst (ph) by the Israeli military that their ground forces have actually left the town, the Hezbollah strong hold of Bint Jbeil, where there have been very ferocious clashes under way for the past several days between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah fighters. Ground forces are not already there.
Israeli officials saying that's not a withdrawal of their forces or an end of the operation as such. Indeed, over the course of the past several hours, it has been a ferocious artillery barrage pounding areas around Bint Jbeil. And so, according to the Israeli military, the operations around there are still continuing, albeit in a different form. At the same time, coming in the other direction, Israel has been struck, according to Israeli defense officials again, by more than 90 missiles from South Lebanon, fired by Hezbollah.
So it seems that even though there are these ferocious air strikes still continuing across Lebanon, certainly in areas of the south, even though there is a big artillery barrage that's been under way for the past several hours as well, Hezbollah still seems able to strike at will across the towns and cities of northern Israel, Brianna.
KEILAR: So Matthew, can you tell us a little bit about these Khyber rockets. If you're Israeli and you hear this word Khyber. This isn't just a word for you, right?
CHANCE: Right. It's a name that's been given, I believe it means Kadiz (ph) and it is a name that's been given by these rockets by Hezbollah, these kind of medium rage rockets, certainly by Hezbollah standards. They are not the most powerful rockets that Hezbollah is believed to have, but they represent the medium level power and range that Hezbollah is believed to be capable of.
What Israeli officials tell us is that they believe, from their analysis of the fragments of these missiles that they've managed to collect over Israel, they believe the rockets were Syrian made. And indeed, that may be one of the reasons why within the last few hours we've seen Israeli war planes bomb a main artery road between Lebanon and Syria, because they believe it's a road that's used to bring in these rockets from Syria. What Israeli senior foreign ministry sources tell me is that what Israel is now looking for is a cease- fire, but a cease-fire that denies Hezbollah the ability to re-arm.
They say the key to stopping Hezbollah, the disarming, rearming, rather, is to put diplomatic pressure on Syria, first of all, to try and stop them from exporting their weapons to Lebanon and to Hezbollah, but also to reinforce the Lebanese army along the Syrian border, possibly with an elements of that multinational force that's being discussed, to try and intercept any weapons that come into Lebanon, destined for Hezbollah. So that's something that the diplomats, as Condoleezza Rice is in town now, will undoubtedly be discussing, Brianna.
KEILAR: Matthew Chance, live for us from the Israeli/Lebanese border. Thanks for that report.
And Lebanese internal security forces say more than 420 people, mostly civilian, have been killed since the attacks began 18 days ago. Many of the dead have been buried in mass graves. CNN's Karl Penhaul reports from Tyre, Lebanon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Most of the dead have names. Jawad Salama (ph), Fatima Majid (ph), Hyda Maqdad (ph), Ibrahim (ph) and the list goes on. But this baby was killed before his mother even had time to give him a name. The note on the coffin says he died when he was just a day old. Fatwa Horan (ph) is weeping for her 15-year-old grand daughter Maryam, killed by an Israeli warplane. Horani says she tried to flee to safety. She was on the road from Bint Jbeil and suddenly a bomb fell. She was on a motorcycle, she tells me. Her grand daughter's coffin is number 84.
The corpses were unloaded close to the burial ground. The names on the body bags are matched to the names on the coffins. All that's left for the doctors to do is nail down the lids. Eighty seven victims were buried a week ago, 34 more are being buried today. Doctors say all are civilians killed by Israeli bombardments. Tyre's mayor says many more lie where they fell. It's still too dangerous to recover the remains. There are 13 villages with people still under the ruins and the dogs are eating the bodies. What can we do? He says. Lebanese army soldiers form the honor guard. Muslim clerics offer final prayer.
(on camera): This grave may only, in fact, be temporary. City officials have said that when relatives who have fled return, the victims may be re-buried in their own villages.
(voice-over): But no one knows when it may finally be safe enough for the living to reclaim the dead. Karl Penhaul, CNN, Tyre, South Lebanon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Later tonight, John Roberts hosts a "CNN PRESENTS" special on the 1983 bombings of the U.S. marines barracks in Lebanon. Two hundred forty one American servicemen died in that blast that changed U.S. foreign policy in the Mideast. Here's an excerpt from tonight's "CNN PRESENTS" the marines barracks bombing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The massive four story structure, considered to be one of the safest in Beirut, was reduced to a one story mass of rubble. A tomb for hundreds of marines, sailors and soldiers.
SGT. RANDY GADDO, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET): We grabbed cots and stretchers and whatever we could find and we went down and started extricating the wounded and the dead.
ROBERTS: Remarkably Corporal Jack Anderson slept through the explosion, a three story fall. And survived.
JACK ANDERSON, MARINE BARRACKS BOMBING SURVIVOR: My first conscious thought after the bombing was waking up on the ground with a couple of pieces of concrete sort of in a lean-to position above me.
ROBERTS: That delicate balance saved Anderson's life. Had either slab landed on him, he would have been crushed to death.
ANDERSON: I was sort of in delirium and shock. Obviously probably took a pretty severe blow to the head if you fall three floors and land on the asphalt. So I sort of made my way, crawled out through the concrete and got out and, you know, sort of looked around. The building was completely devastated. There were bodies laying around. There were body parts laying around. All my buddies just got killed. You know, my best friend was one floor below me in the same room. Didn't make it. That took a long time to, it took a long time to get over that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: You can see the entire documentary "CNN PRESENTS," the marines barracks bombing tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Her father was assassinated by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad in the 1950s. Who is she? She wrote the book "Now They Call Me an Infidel." She's our guest in just two minutes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ever wish you could do a key word search through all of your memories to find that name, number or other piece of essential information? Well, Sunil Vemuri is busy turning that dream into a reality.
SUNIL VEMURI, CO-FOUNDER, QTECH, INC: What I have is a portable device that I carry around with me at all times and which allows me to record anything that happens in my life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The audio is then converted in to text by using a sophisticated computer program. The resulting files are then searchable, similar to what you do when searching the Internet.
VEMURI: The eventual goal of all this is to help people with everyday memory problems.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But don't expect to see this device on the market any time soon. Still to be worked out, issues with privacy laws and how to protect these memory recordings from being subpoenaed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Fatalities in the Middle East mount. Lebanese security forces say at least 421 people have died in Israeli air strikes. More than 1,600 have been wounded. And Israel says 52 Israelis have been killed in Hezbollah attacks and more than 1,200 have been hurt. There are strong opinions on both sides of the crisis, and this is one voiced loud and clear in New York. About 500 people marched across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan today to protest Israel's attacks on Lebanon in Gaza.
Same sentiment but much rowdier crowd in Australia, pro-Lebanon protesters attacked Prime Minister John Howard's car as he left a political conference. Mr. Howard has blamed Hezbollah for the crisis and supports Israel's defense. Police rustled several protesters off his car and at least two were arrested. More outrage in France. Thousands of people took to the streets of Paris today denouncing Israel's attacks in Lebanon. They demanded an immediate cease-fire. Activists also blasted President Bush for supporting Israel's past actions.
And now, a much different perspective. Today we meet a woman who was raised to hate Jews. In fact, in the Arab world, her father was considered a Shahid, a martyr killed in battle. In the 1950s he led a militant group that was a forerunner to Hezbollah and other factions. And since then Nonie Darwish's life has taken a totally different direction. She talks about it in her new book "Now They Call Me Infidel, Why I Renounced Jihad For America, Israel and the War on Terror." Nonie Darwish joins us now from Los Angeles. So Nonie, first off, I want to ask you what were you taught about Jewish people when you were a child?
NONIE DARWISH, AUTHOR "NOW THEY CALL ME INFIDEL: I went to Gaza Elementary Schools and we learned that Jews were monsters. They wanted to kill Arab children. They wanted to kill Arab pregnant women just for fun, to just know if it's a boy or a girl. I was told that not to take candy from strangers because it could be a Jew trying to poison me. And we believed it. We never saw a Jew in our lives living in Gaza or in Cairo. So whatever they told us about Jews we believed it.
KEILAR: And Nonie, you said that anti-Israel sentiment is getting stronger. It is not only hurting Israel, but you say that it's also hurting Arabs. Can you explain that and also tell us how does that relate to the current crisis between Lebanon and Israel?
DARWISH: I believe that the threat of Israel is over-exaggerated in the Middle East. This is 5 million Jews and the modern world is 1.2 billion. The hatred is so intense and the anti-semitism is so intense that all the areas around Israel are being destroyed. We claim that the land is very sacred and that the issue and the problem is really land, but is it land? The hatred towards Jews is the motivating factor.
KEILAR: And you were raised with this hatred, Nonie. Can you tell us what changed for you?
DARWISH: The truth. I grew up in the Middle East until age 30. I lived under dictatorships, police states, and then I moved into America in 1978. And then I realized that when I met Jewish people for the first time, I realized that they're not the monsters we learned they are. And I tried to learn more things for myself. For example, they rescued my brother's life in Hadassah Hospital (ph). The son of a Shahid, who fought Israel. His life was saved by Hadassah. I discovered that the doctors and nurses of Hadassah and the Israeli government chose to treat Arabs and do the right thing, and I realized that there's another face for Israel that the Arabs don't know about.
KEILAR: So Nonie, do you think that your experience, your changing how you felt about Jewish people and about Israel, that that could have some sort of implication for maybe what could happen in the Middle East?
DARWISH: I call on all the Muslim moderates and the Arab moderate voices to start really look at Israel in a different light. Five million people cannot be a threat. And actually, Israel can be an asset in the region and not a threat. The Israeli people have been living under boycott, terror and war, and we have sacrificed so many generations of Arab people and Arab men. If you see what's happening in Lebanon right now, it's very much they are sacrificing the whole country called Lebanon for Jihad against Israel.
KEILAR: Nonie --
DARWISH: Yes.
KEILAR: Sorry Nonie Darwish thank you so much for joining us from Los Angeles. We really appreciate you taking the time to speak with us.
DARWISH: Thank you very much.
KEILAR: And light and highly mobile, that's the Katyusha rockets that can be carried on a donkey. For weeks now they've been raining down across northern Israel. Once a staple of the Russian military, they're among the favorite artillery of Hezbollah. Our Gary Nuremberg looks at the rocket's infamous history.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY NUREMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Blasted in World War II by missiles fired from German multiple rocket launchers, Soviet military counter-punched with its own version.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rocket guns, Katyusha, the Russians call them.
NUREMBERG: The Katyusha or Little Katie from a popular song at the time about a Russian girl longing for a boyfriend away at war.
GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RET): The Soviets understood that before they were going to get into battle, they wanted to soften up their enemy as much as they could. And so they had incredible reliance throughout their organizations on artillery and rocket fire.
NUREMBERG: In its current use, the term Katyusha loosely refers to the variety of relatively crude rockets that Hezbollah has been firing into Israel.
GEN. MIKE HERZOG, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: They're very light, they're mobile. You can move them easily in a car or riding a donkey and so on. Just fire them and get away.
NUREMBERG: Which makes it difficult for defending forces to find those responsible. The Katyushas have no guidance system.
MARKS: It's going in the direction you point it. It is not precise. It goes where it wants to go. That's the thing. It's going to come after your children. It's going to hit that school. It's going to plop down in the middle of the market. What would be the intended military value of hitting this particular target other than to terrorize everybody and let them know you're not safe anywhere you go.
NUREMBERG: Because of their limited range, they're in the air for a short period of time, making missile defense virtually impossible.
HERZOG: There's no operational system that knows how to intercept these rockets.
NUREMBERG: Although research using lasers as a deterrent has begun, an effective shield could be years away.
HERZOG: In the mean time the best you can do is, based on intelligence and air power, just spot them on the ground and destroy them as they launch themselves.
NUREMBERG: The Israeli Defense Forces have tried to do that, but Katyushas continue to fall on Israel every day. Gary Nuremberg, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: And Carol Lin is here now to tell us what's coming up at 5:00 Eastern.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Brianna, we want to hear from our viewers on a very important question as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Israel right now. This is her second visit to the region in less than a week. So our question to the viewers, will Secretary Rice's second trip to the Middle East be a success? A lot at stake. So, we're going to hear more about that trip as well as our reporters are on the front lines there, covering that meeting.
And also at 6:00, Dr. Sanjay Gupta's package, report. He was on the front lines, in an Israeli hospital, as the ambulances were coming in. He ends up in the operating room. You know, firsthand reporting from our CNN doctor on what it's like to be in a war zone and what kinds of injuries are being sustained. A remarkable report. You're just going to be riveted.
KEILAR: It is amazing. Definitely something worth staying tuned for. Thank you very much, Carol.
And this photo of Condoleezza Rice has been seen and misinterpreted around the world. What was really happening the moment it was taken? We're going to tell you when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is back in the Middle East for more diplomacy and she's under intense scrutiny on these trips. But picture this, sometimes there's still more than meets the eye. Jeanne Moos reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the smiling Condi Rice we're used to which made this seem all the more striking.
(on camera): This was the other day when the talks were not going well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She has a headache doesn't she?
MOOS (voice-over): The photo matched the grim headlines. Condi seemed worn down by a roomful of diplomats pushing for an immediate cease-fire that the U.S. resisted. "New York times" front paged the photo. It ran in conservative newspapers as well and on CNN's website. It ran everywhere. A picture worth a thousand jokes.
JOHN STEWART, THE DAILY SHOW: Let's see how it went. Oh.
STEVEN COLBERT, THE COLBERT REPORT: I think probably what's happening here is that she just lost a spelling bee.
MOOS: There was only one way to interpret it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Frustration.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Discouraged.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exasperated and exhausted.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she's saying oh, no.
MOOS: Oh yes, well look at this. Seconds after answering a reporter's question, Condi brushed her hand across her forehead, a minute later, assuming attention is turned at the Lebanese prime minister, who's speaking, she seems to brush her hair from her face. We'll see the flash bulbs go off. When we showed the video to folks, it changed their mind about the photo.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now I feel very manipulated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Deceived.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A hundred percent unfair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not oh my god, it's I'm getting the hair out of my face.
MOOS: The flash bulbs pop even when Condi scratches. Any slight motion will be a trigger for a barrage of photographers firing their cameras say the Associated Press, one of many agencies to send out this picture. It's up to the subscriber how they choose to use the image.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The press being sneaky? Wow, that's unusual.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot of things the press does that are sneaky. This is not one of them.
MOOS: The "New York Times" said photographers always look for a moment of drama. CNN.com said it's representative of the event and we chose that one and others. The last time there was a Condi photo curfuffle it was when "USA Today" brightened a photo that was too dark, especially around the eyes. Critics said it demonized her.
(on camera): The moral of the story, if you're secretary of state don't scratch, or primp, and don't you dare run your fingers through your hair or you'll end up looking like this and raising eyebrows. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: And coming up, CNN's Wolf Blitzer in Jerusalem joins Carol Lin for a special edition of CNN LIVE SATURDAY.
Plus a Muslim man shoots up a Jewish center in Seattle. Is it the crisis in the Middle East spilling over? That and much more right after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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