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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Ariel Sharon Offers Timetable for Military Withdrawal; New Osama bin Laden Tape Surfaces

Aired April 15, 2002 - 22:00   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening from Washington.

Today, we saw yet another video of a suicide bomber. A last will and testament from someone driven by hate out to, quote, "deliver a message that the time of oppression and enslavement is over, a message written in blood." The man on the tape was not a Palestinian. His target was not Israel. He is thought to be one of the hijackers aboard United Flight 93 brought down on September the 11th.

The video was shown today on the Al-Jazeera network along with a clip of Osama bin Laden. The crisis in Israel has spiraled into a shocking cycle of violence, so shocking that it has taken the spotlight away from what happened September 11. This video today brought it all rushing back. And so did the deaths of four American soldiers in Afghanistan, while they were trying to disarm some rockets only because of what happened September the 11th.

And we'll get another reminder later in the week when the families of those killed on United 93 get to hear the cockpit voice recorder. Hard to imagine what it was like for them today to hear one of their killers try to justify the horror of that morning.

And so we move on with "The Whip" around the world, beginning with our Wolf Blitzer who broke some news today during his interview with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Wolf, the headline.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Judy, during that interview, the prime minister did something he's refused to do until now, spell out a specific timetable for Israeli military withdrawal from those positions on the West Bank the Israeli military recently reoccupied. We'll have complete details -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Thanks, Wolf. And we'll see you in just a moment.

Videotapes we have not seen before, one showing Osama bin Laden. Mike Boettcher following that story tonight. Mike, the headline.

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, two new videotapes, as you said, from al Qaeda, one from the top leadership. Another, a voice from the grave. What does it all mean? We'll have details coming up -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Mike Boettcher. The latest now on the abuse scandal involving priests in the Catholic church. Charles Feldman is covering that for us tonight. Charles, the headline.

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Judy, as a pedophilia scandal engulfs the Catholic church here in the United States, the Pope has summoned U.S. cardinals to Rome for what promises to be an extraordinary meeting -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right, Charles. And we'll be talking to you in just a little while as well.

Well, much of the program on the Middle East tonight. We will talk with former senator George Mitchell, who drew up the Mitchell Plan for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Also, Michael Tarazi, legal adviser to the PLO, and Josh Hammer. He's the Jerusalem bureau chief for "Newsweek." He's just back from the Jenin refugee camp.

And we'll close tonight with something that has nothing to do with the crisis in Israel, the latest of our "Rants and Raves." His wife calls him "Serpent Head." You might know him as the "Ragin' Cajun" or as one of the guys duking it out only the new "CROSSFIRE." Tonight, you will see James Carville as short-order cook, sharpening his knife and, as always, his tongue.

All that is to come, but we begin with pieces of news in the Middle East, and there were several of them: a timetable for an Israeli withdrawal, the possibility of a regional peace conference, Secretary Powell's visit to Lebanon and Syria, the arrest of a Palestinian leader. All of them important developments today, but they also come with a caution. Developments are not the same as progress, especially in the Middle East.

CNN's Andrea Koppel begins our coverage with Secretary Powell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Secretary Powell arrived back in Israel, so too did news the U.S. is considering the possibility of a Middle East peace conference, one without Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Powell told reporters Arafat could send a senior envoy for meetings with other ministers from Israel and the Arab world. In his interview with CNN, Israel's prime minister, who has already ruled out meeting with Arafat, said this would work for him.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: It would be a foreign minister meeting, which will be the leaders meeting, that is not the problem. The problem is how to try and talk to Arab leaders, and I prefer then to -- I was ready to go to Beirut, which was (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

KOPPEL: It's sure to come up during Secretary Powell's second meeting with Arafat this week. And chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat signaled it's a possibility.

SAEB EREKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: Once we know the substance of this conference, once we agree on the terms of reference for this conference, once we know that it's not going to be the idea of just more talking about talking.

KOPPEL: But Arab leaders have told Powell any plans by Israel to circumvents Arafat's authority would scuttle any regional meeting. And during Powell's latest swing through the region to Beirut and Damascus, he was warned of another deal breaker: Israel's refusal to withdraw completely from West Bank towns and cities.

RAFIQ HARIRI, LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER: We believe strongly that security is important, very important, but it is not a replacement of the peaceful agreement. And we think with the experience we had here in Lebanon, that cease-fire without a political solution will not take off.

KOPPEL: For his part, Powell pressed leaders in Lebanon and Syria to use their influence with Hezbollah guerrillas to end recently stepped up cross-border attacks into Israel, attacks which Israel warns may force it to retaliate.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: There's a very real danger of the situation along the border widening the conflict throughout the region.

KOPPEL: Another head ache for Secretary Powell: Israel's arrest of Marwan Barghouti, a leader of Arafat's Fatah movement, accused by Israel of directing scores of terrorist attacks.

(on camera): More than a week after Secretary Powell arrived in the region, more hurdles and little sign of progress. In fact, the only sign of any forward movement at all is that more meetings are scheduled.

Andrea Koppel, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: And just before air time, we got word of Israeli forces moving back into the West Bank city of Tulkarem. Military sources calling it a limited operation to arrest Palestinian militants and not a reoccupation. But where that fits into the bigger scheme of things, we don't yet know.

As for what Ariel Sharon says he wants to accomplish, a withdrawal from most cities on the West Bank and soon, we turn again to CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Prime Minister Sharon insisted the Israeli army was preparing to withdraw from those areas of the West Bank it recently reoccupied. SHARON: All together, we are on our way out and that is what happening. That is exactly what I have said. When I was asked in the past, I said where we have accomplished we'll be leaving.

BLITZER: Within a week, he says Israeli troops will be out of the West Bank towns of Jenin, Nablus and other areas, but he says they won't leave Bethlehem and Ramallah until wanted Palestinian gunmen surrender. And he rejected Palestinian accusations of an Israeli massacre of hundreds of Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp.

SHARON: You already know that this story is a lie. It's a lie. What happened there, it was a very hard battle there.

BLITZER: He also insisted Yasser Arafat was no longer worthy of representing the Palestinians.

(on camera): If you are not going to sit down and negotiate with him, who will represent the Palestinians?

SHARON: First the problem with Mr. Arafat is that you cannot reach peace with him. There is no doubt that he was involved in the strategy, first of all, he adopted strategy of terror. Second, he formed a coalition of terror, formed those terrorist organizations, including some of his own organizations, like the Tanzim, the Fatah and the president's guard.

BLITZER: Sharon's tough talk was immediately rejected by Palestinians.

MAHDI ABDUL HADI, PALESTINIAN ACADEMIC SOCIETY: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) There is no occupation, there is no massacre, there is no siege, and he still wants to stay in the occupied territories and not accepting to withdraw and to end military presence and incursions.

BLITZER: Sharon insisted Secretary of State Colin Powell had made a mistake in agreeing to meet with Arafat, whom Sharon branded a terrorist. But Israeli analysts say Sharon has managed to limit any serious damage to U.S./Israeli relations.

GERALD STEINBERG, BAR-ILLAN UNIVERSITY: The message of working closely with the United States was repeated a lot because of the tension that came up over the statements by the president saying get out, get out immediately. And certainly, that created the sense of a crisis with the U.S. and Israel. That crisis since has been dampened.

BLITZER: But a former U.S. ambassador to Israel says Sharon's stance will undermine the Bush administration's strategy of seeking to achieve an Israeli/Palestinian cease-fire.

NED WALKER, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: It's certainly not going to accomplish what the president said, which was a rapid withdrawal. Sharon has made it pretty clear that he's going to persist in this effort to deal with the Palestinian areas of the West Bank.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER (on camera): Sharon aides privately acknowledged some serious strains with Washington. Despite that, they insist the relationship will continue as it has in the past. They also maintain that they will continue to try to keep striking against Palestinian targets as well trying to isolate Arafat -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Wolf, you are touching on something that I wanted to ask you about, and that is to what extent are Sharon and the people around him aware that they are making things, at this level, more difficult for Secretary Powell and the Americans?

BLITZER: They are fully aware of that. They are very sensitive to Secretary of State Powell and to President Bush. They consider them to be strong supporters of Israel, good friends. They are reluctant to get into some sort of confrontation with the Bush administration.

Having said that, they are even more reluctant continue to work with Arafat. They think Arafat has lost all credibility. They don't trust him whatsoever. There's determination here to fight what they call these terrorists. As a result, as much as they are concerned about their relationship with the Bush administration, they are more concerned about the potential for additional suicide bombing attacks against Israel.

WOODRUFF: And, Wolf, you have now been there several days. Is there any sense of any sort of improvement simply because Colin Powell is still there, still on the ground, still working at it?

BLITZER: If there is any improvement whatsoever, Judy, I certainly have not seen it. If anything, I have seen a deterioration and I'm sure that some of the most recent Israeli actions, for example, the arrest today of Marwan Barghouti, a top Palestinian official, that secretary general of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, that has deeply irritated the Palestinians and it's probably going to make Secretary Powell's efforts here, if he had a chance at all, it is going to make it even more difficult for the secretary of state. So if there has been any improvement, Judy, I certainly haven't seen it.

WOODRUFF: All right. Well, on that discouraging note, let's thank Wolf. Wolf, we especially appreciate your being with us tonight because we know you have been up all day and all night. So we hope you get a little bit of rest. Thank you.

We have heard now from the Israeli prime minister and now we'd like to get some reaction from the other side. Joining me, Michael Tarazi. He's a Palestinian-American. He is the legal adviser to the PLO. He too comes to us from Jerusalem. Michael Tarazi, thank you also for getting up so early and welcome to NEWSNIGHT.

We heard Prime Minister Sharon just now say in that interview he did with Wolf some hours ago that Israeli troops are going to be out of most of the towns in the West Bank with the exception of Ramallah and Bethlehem, and he said they are special cases. Isn't this progress? MICHAEL TARAZI, PLO LEGAL ADVISOR: Unfortunately, it's not. It is far too little, far too late. This is a very common Israeli strategy of removing obstacles that Israel itself put in the way and then claiming them as huge concessions and huge progress. The Palestinians don't put obstacles in the way, and so therefore, we don't have any obstacles to move out and to offer in terms of concession.

What we have to remain focused on is not Israel baby withdrawals from various areas that it never should have been in the first place, but an entire Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied in 1967. That's the root cause of this conflict and it's the root cause that needs to be addressed if we are going to be serious about addressing the violence that emanates from that occupation.

WOODRUFF: So you are saying even if the Israelis were to pull out all of these towns in the West Bank, there's no guarantee that there will be any sort of breakthrough?

TARAZI: Well, not at all. There can never be a guarantee. And this is only taking us back to where we were two weeks ago. If that was acceptable, then this never would have happened to begin with. We have to stop focusing on the micro steps. We have to start looking at the big picture. The bomb line is that Israel's lack of security is directly linked to the Palestinian lack of freedom.

Unless we can come up with a process that is going to address both parties' concerns, it's going to be very difficult to address either party's concerns. What Ariel Sharon has done over the last two weeks has not fought terrorism. It's created many more terrorists and I think we are going to see that in the days to come.

WOODRUFF: But you know, Mr. Tarazi, the Israelis' top concern is that as soon as they loose their grip on these towns, more suicide bombers will be out there killing more civilians.

TARAZI: Well, that's exactly what Sharon has assured the Israeli people, that by going in and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, starving them, denying them water, health care, putting them in their homes afraid to come out, shooting civilians in Jenin, we're hearing reports of entire families killed, I think he's pretty much guaranteed the Israeli people that there will be more suicide bombers. That's exactly how you create suicide bombers.

WOODRUFF: Well, can you guarantee there would not be if they pulled out of all these towns in the West Bank?

TARAZI: Well, not at all. You have to remember that our security limitations -- we have, this a common misperception in the United States, we live on the equivalent of, the Middle-Eastern equivalent of Native American Indian reservations, 13 separate non- contiguous territories. Our security forces can't get from one town to the other without Israeli permission. It's a bit like telling the Boston Police Department you can't leave Boston, but you are responsible for any attacks that happen in Philadelphia. It's absurd to expect the Palestinians who don't have a state, who no longer have a security infrastructure and who live under the occupation of Israel, to guarantee to Israel that there will be no resistance against the illegal occupation of our country. That is the kind of warped logic that has got us into this situation. We have to abandon that logic and get back to the big questions. How do we end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory?

WOODRUFF: Just quickly, Mr. Tarazi, do you believe the Palestinians will be willing to go along with a proposal that excludes Yasser Arafat, that has negotiations at the foreign minister level or some other lower level official group of officials meeting?

TARAZI: I think Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat hit the nail on the head. It's not a question of who meets with whom. It's a question of what is the substance of that meeting. Is this simply a show to delay getting back to the big issues the way Shamir did with the Madrid conference did in 1991, or is this a serious effort to address the underlying causes? Is Israel really prepared to end its occupation of Palestinian territory once and for all, which is now in its 35th year, or is Israel simply trying to use this process to delay getting back to the big issues? And that's what really we have to focus on.

WOODRUFF: All right. Michael Tarazi, who is a legal representative for the PLO. We thank you very much for joining us.

Just ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the latest bin Laden tape and the 9/11 hijacker who appears on it.

And next, George Mitchell joins to us talk peace and what it will take to achieve it in the Middle East.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: A reminder of how deep emotions run in this country about what goes on in the Middle East.

Demonstrators today rallied on the steps of the Capitol to show their solidarity with Israel. Estimates put the crowd in the tens of thousands, making this the biggest pro-Israel rally in recent memory. People came from more than a dozen states and Canada. They cheered when Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz delivered a message of support from President Bush. But cheers quickly turned to boos when he added that Israelis are not the only victims in the Middle East.

Well, it's just that notion. So many people on both sides claiming a monopoly on victimhood that seems to make progress so hard to come about by. Something to talk about among many other things tonight with former senator George Mitchell, who joins us from New York.

Senator, I just was speaking with Wolf Blitzer and I said is just the fact that Colin Powell is still there a promising sign. He said from his perspective things looked discouraging, that if anything, the two sides are hardening. How do you see it? SEN. GEORGE MITCHELL, FORMER SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Well, both of those statements could be true, that positions are hardening. But you expect that at the beginning of any negotiation. In fact, if it didn't occur, it would be surprising. I think it is hopeful that he is still there, still working away, still considering a variety of mechanisms to try to bring an end to the violence and get the parties back to negotiation.

WOODRUFF: And you said it could also be the other as well. Are there discouraging signs to you? I mean, we had Prime Minister Sharon saying they may pull out of most of the towns in the West Bank, but they are not going to pull out of Ramallah and Bethlehem.

MITCHELL: Well, one thing there's no shortage of, it's discouraging signs in the Middle East. But I don't think that we, the United States, or the secretary specifically representing our country can or should be deterred by that. The making of peace is a very difficult, painstaking effort. It's not for the timid or the tentative. It requires patience and perseverance. And I hope the secretary stays with it. I'm confident that he will, and I think he will be able to bring the parties to some level of agreement for simultaneous action to reduce the violence and get back to negotiation.

WOODRUFF: Prime Minister Sharon repeated today again that there cannot be peace made with Yasser Arafat. How much of an obstacle is that attitude in and of itself?

MITCHELL: Well, obviously, it's a huge obstacle but it need not be a fatal one. The United States government, as you know, has taken the opposite position, indeed as has the foreign minister of Israel.

Mr. Perry said yesterday right here on CNN that there is no one else to deal with and he asked the rhetorical question those who say we shouldn't deal with Arafat, what is their alternative. So there's a division of opinion in the government of Israel. And the United States, of course, has taken the opposite position as demonstrated by Secretary Powell's meetings.

I think the important thing is the substance of what is discussed, not the personnel. It's not likely at all in any event that there would be a meeting between Prime Minister Sharon and Arafat. And it's not essential that there be a meeting between them to be able to discuss the issues. And so, hopefully, there will be discussions separately with them and together with officials at other levels to discuss the crucial facts in trying to get some kind of reasonable, simultaneous action to bring the violence down and get back to negotiation.

WOODRUFF: Well, speaking of that, how promising do you think it is, this discussion and consideration of this idea of having a meeting of just lower-level officials and not the top people?

MITCHELL: Well, in every negotiation I have been involved with or that I even knew about, there were multi-levels of negotiations. No negotiating process begins at the very top and reaches an agreement at the very beginning. So there's nothing surprising about suggesting meetings at different levels. The real key is whether they will be substantive meetings, whether they will in fact enable the parties to move toward the outcome that I have just suggested.

I think what Secretary Powell has wisely done is to say that everything is on the table, and he's not ruling anything out, obviously searching for a mechanism, whatever it is, to try to get them together and to try to begin this movement, and I commend him for that. I don't know whether this particular suggestion will be the one that is the key that unlocks the door. But it's a possibility.

WOODRUFF: Finally, can there be any agreement as long as the Israelis are occupying any of the West Bank?

MITCHELL: Oh, I think that there can be an agreement with some degree of occupation of the West Bank. As you know, many of the proposals discussed at Camp David and at Tabaa provided for a withdrawal from live portions of the West Bank and then some kind of agreed swap of land that would permit the Israelis to retain some core settlements. Those were widely discussed, given a lot of public attention.

I think the immediate key is the withdrawal from the cities that they are now in, that they have recently gone into. I think it would be very difficult to get negotiations under way under current circumstances. But as you yourself have just reported, the prime minister has now, in effect, set a time limit on that, so you can expect that to be part of the ongoing discussion.

WOODRUFF: With the exception of Ramallah and Bethlehem, and that's to be worked on -- to be continued to be worked on. Former Senator George Mitchell, we thank you very much.

MITCHELL: Thank you, Judy.

WOODRUFF: Good to see you. We thank you for dropping by.

We'll have a look at the devastation in Jenin when we come back. We will speak to a correspondent who was there for some of the worst. This is NEWSNIGHT from Washington on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: Israeli forces today allowed cameras into the refugee camp of Jenin. The pictures are grim, rubble where homes once stood, decomposing bodies, people wandering around in shock. They show enormous devastation but they can not settle the dispute about what really happened there.

The Palestinians say it was a massacre. They claim hundreds of civilians were killed, many of them buried alive in their homes. The Israeli government takes a different view, saying the majority of the dead, totalling about 100, they say, were gunmen who refused to surrender when tanks rolled in two weeks ago.

Joining me now, someone who was there. He is Josh Hammer and he is "Newsweek" magazine's Jerusalem bureau chief. He spent the better part of last week in Jenin, and he comes to us tonight from Jerusalem. Josh Hammer, you got into Jenin. You were just telling me last Wednesday, were you there for the better part of, what, three or four days?

JOSH HAMMER, JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF, "NEWSWEEK": Four days, yes. It was a cat and mouse game with...

WOODRUFF: This was before the Israeli -- I just wanted to ask you how you got in because I know the -- go ahead.

HAMMER: Basically, it was a cat and mouse game, as I was saying. There are numerable ways into Jenin. And it lies in a flat valley with a lot of tiny roads, footpaths, et cetera. So, we basically were able to find ways in almost every day, every day that the Israeli army was unaware of. And there were always -- then we would end up leaving through the main road that goes by the military checkpoints. So, invariably, we were met with these sort of astonished looks. How did you get in? This is a closed military zone. But a lot of people are able to do it.

You have resourceful Palestinian fixtures or people who know the area and you just kind of find your way in and manage. The problem is you could get into Jenin city. The problem was getting into the camp itself, which was truly cordoned off by the Israeli army.

WOODRUFF: Did you get into the camp? And whether you did or you didn't, what were you able to see and learn?

HAMMER: A couple of different -- a couple of days, we got to an overlook, five-minute walk from the camp, which a couple of your correspondents like Ben Wedeman also found. And you could see the smoke. It was not easy to see inside the camp. You could certainly see fighting going on. I mean, through helicopter gunships, you could see lots of smoke rising over various parts of the camp. It was not possible from that vantage point to actually look down and see the devastation that you are now, people are now able to see.

Another day, we got within -- we walked through the entire city, devastated center of the city, and got to within 100 yards of the camp, and were informed by local Palestinians there, journalists, in fact, that the Israelis were at that point shooting anything they saw, at anything they saw. A kid had been shot there that morning. So we -- it was very dangerous still at that point, and we, I think, wisely decided not to attempt to get into the either the hospital next to the camp or the camp itself. But there was enough to learn simply from being that close.

WOODRUFF: Based on what you saw, Josh Hammer, how much -- whom do you believe? Is it possible at this point to piece enough information to lean one way or another?

HAMMER: Yes. As often is the case I have discovered in these episodes where you have two utterly conflicting views of reality between Palestinians and Israelis, the truth appears to lie somewhere in the middle. I don't believe that it was a civilian massacre at the comparisons being made by people like Saeb Erekat to Sabra and Shatila, a bit (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I think, nor do I believe that it was a clean operation like the Israelis present it, where simply fighters were killed.

You have to understand what Jenin refugee camp was and just how condensed it was, how many thousands of people were living in such a small area. It would have been impossible for the Israeli army to conduct that kind of a battle and to reap the kind of devastation they did without killing a fair number of civilians I think, because many were stuck there throughout the battle. So we have heard stories of people bulldozed in their homes.

I heard personally a very credible story from someone, an eyewitness survivor, who told me of an execution involving a man who was strip-searched and happened to be wearing an elastic belt around his -- back support, which a panicky Israeli soldier believed was a suicide belt and shot him and his two sons. He gave me the names. He described it in detail. These were -- this was the kind of story that had a ring of credibility simply because it was so specific. Many of the other stories I heard were based on hearsay, seemed somewhat inconsistent, somewhat unbelievable. So, effectively, I do believe that a lot of civilians were killed as well as a lot of fighters, but I don't think that it was a massacre, premeditated massacre.

WOODRUFF: All right, Josh Hammer, "Newsweek" magazine, thank you for telling us what you saw and what you heard, which is all we can ask of any reporter. Thank you very much. We appreciate you getting up so early.

HAMMER: You are welcome.

WOODRUFF: And coming up on NEWSNIGHT, their news today in the Arab world. Newly released video of Osama bin Laden and someone thought to be a September 11 hijacker.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: Now the segment we call "Their News", how the news is being covered in a place where the news is being made. It helps give us a window into how the big story of the day is being filtered and interpreted for everyday viewers.

Earlier, you heard some of Wolf Blitzer's interview with Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon. Now you will hear how it was portrayed today by the Al-Jazeera Arab television network. You will also see a bit of that newly released video of Osama bin Laden. After that, we'll take our own look at that tape. "Their News" today from Al- Jazeera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED AL-JAZEERA ANCHOR (through translator): The prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, has said that there is no peace with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. He added that the American administration agrees that Arafat is not qualified to lead the Palestinian people.

In an interview with CNN, Sharon accused Arafat of adopting a strategy of terror. He also said that others can replace him. Israel said that its attack on the West Bank is to dismantle the infrastructure of terror.

Pictures received by Al-Jazeera in the refugee camp of Jenin have indicated that the Israeli forces have committed atrocities in the camp. Bodies are still littered in the streets, and that is a warning of health hazards. These pictures also indicate that buildings have collapsed and medical authorities in the camp said that they can not control the spread of disease. Conditions in the refugee camp are miserable following the Israeli bombardment of the refugee camp.

Al-Jazeera has required a videotape which shows one of the attackers on September 11 on New York and Washington. The tape indicated that the man was a member of al Qaeda network. Al-Jazeera has verified the identity of the man on the tape as Ahmed Ibrahim Al Haznawi. His picture matches that published on the FBI Web site as one of the 19 people who took part in the September 11 attack. The tape revealed the man had recorded the message six months before the September attack. The tape also included a statement by Ayman Al- Zawahiri, the right hand man of Osama bin Laden, who welcomes the attacks on the 11th of September, describing them as victory.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: That's "Their News" today from Al-Jazeera.

Well, we think the newly discovered video is important enough to look at and analyze ourselves. Mike Boettcher fills in the details tonight from Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The two video clips are part of a longer documentary released by a reportedly pro- al-Qaeda production company, titled "The Wills of the New York and Washington Battle Martyrs", the tape was received a week ago by the Arabic language Al-Jazeera network.

In one segment, Osama bin Laden and his top advisor, Ayman al- Zawahiri, appear relaxed, seated before a picturesque outdoor setting. An examination of the videotape by CNN indicates the two al Qaeda leaders were likely electronically super-imposed over the background in an effort to hide their true location. In the segment shown by Al Jazeera, only Al Zawahiri speaks. He makes the most explicit claim of credit yet for the September 11 attacks by al Qaeda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AIMEN AL ZAWAHIRI (through translator): This great victory that was achieved is only thanks to God. It is not because of our skill or tricks or excellence. All because of God. Our 19 brothers gave the lives for God. God chose them for this great victory that we are living now. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BOETTCHER: The date of the videotaping is unknown, however terrorism experts suspect it was done before the U.S. counter attack in Afghanistan because a previously released videotape of bin Laden believed recorded after the U.S. military campaign began seems to show bin Laden under stress.

Another segment of the documentary is identified by Al Jazeera as the videotaped last will and testament of Ahmed Ibrahim al Hasnawi, one of the 19 September 11 hijackers. U.S. investigators say he was on board United Flight 93 that crashed in a Pennsylvania field. Al Jazeera reports that the videotape was made in Kandahar, Afghanistan about six months before the September 11 attacks. The man in the videotape matches the photograph of al Hasnawi distributed by the FBI.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We left our people to deliver a message that written in blood so it can reach the entire world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOETTCHER: If it is Hasnawi, the him, the picture of the burning World Trade Center had to have been super-imposed behind him long after he taped the statement. There is at least one edit apparent in the video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our message is to say that in the time of oppression and enslavement is over. It's time to call the Americans and their own soil among their own sons and next to their soldiers, intelligence agencies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOETTCHER: It's not clear whether the Al Jazeera network has more of the al Qaeda documentary to broadcast or whether there are more interviews from hijackers to be broadcast by Al Jazeera as well. What is clear is that al Qaeda has become very accomplished using of the tools of television magic just as accomplished of using the tools of terrorism -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Indeed. It looks that way. Mike Boettcher, thanks very much.

A grim reminder today that the war on terrorism is still a dangerous one for U.S. servicemen and women. In Afghanistan today four U.S. soldiers were killed and one was wounded near Kandahar. Some enemy rockets they were trying to destroy accidentally detonated. The incident came after a weekend of firefights between U.S. troops and enemy forces in eastern Afghanistan. No one there was injured. Ahead on NEWSNIGHT; what one theologian is calling a trip to the wood shed for Catholic cardinals. A summons from the pope

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: Now the latest on the abuse scandal plaguing the Catholic church. There has been so much anger over how the church has handled the situation with certain priests or how the church hasn't handled it. Many critics say the Vatican has been slow to take action or comment on the scandal, but today there was a dramatic move by the Vatican: a summons from the pope to all the U.S. cardinals.

The story tonight from Charles Feldman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cardinals have been summoned to roam before by various popes. But the subject matter of this gathering is unprecedented: the problem of priests who molest children.

This scandal has already shaken archdiocese across the U.S. In Boston some are even calling for the cardinal there to step down for allegedly shielding abusive priests. So far Cardinal Bernard Law says he will not. Law is one of 13 U.S. cardinals, cardinals from around the world elect the pope and act as key advisers. News of the extraordinary meeting in Rome was welcomed by some Catholics.

JOE GALLAGHER, COALITION OF CONCERNED CATHOLICS: Well, I'm somewhat surprised because I think that what we have felt is that the Vatican has had little or no interest in this topic.

FELDMAN: There are eight cardinals in the U.S. who head archdiocese. They will all presumably go to the Vatican next week. Three U.S. cardinals are currently stationed in Rome. That leaves two more U.S. cardinals, one is retired. The other is teaching. Neither has apparently been summoned according to a church official, in the U.S.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Now we simply don't know whether there have been any private messages on the subject between the pope and the U.S. cardinals. What we do know is this: by calling them to the Vatican, the pope is now on record publicly that the pedophilia scandal rocking the church in the U.S. can no longer be swept under the rock -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right, Charles Feldman reporting. Thank you, Charles. And more now on that planned meeting at the Vatican and what it might mean. John Allen, Vatican correspondent for the "National Catholic Reporter" in Chicago tonight.

John Allen, one U.S. theologian called this a trip to the woodshed for the U.S. Catholic church, U.S. cardinals. Could that be what this is? JOHN ALLEN JR., VATICAN CORRESPONDENT, "NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER": Well, I think it could be what it is. Of course we don't know because the Vatican hasn't given us an agenda yet. But I think that's not how I would read it. I would read it in two ways. I think the first is, the pope and the people around the pope in the Vatican are well aware that the buzz in the American Catholic church has been that the pope, either because of his physical limits or just out of disinterest has not been engaged on this question.

I think this is a very clear message to the American Catholic church that the pope gets it. This is a serious problem and that something dramatic has to be done about it. And I think the second level is this is a chance for the senior officials, the pope's most trusted advisers in the American church to bring him up to speed on what is going on and talkout possible solutions.

I think the one thing I would not expect out of this meeting is a dramatic policy statement at the end. I think the pope and the Vatican has said consistently that the fix to this problem is going to have to come locally. It's going have to come from the American church and I don't see any change in that position in this announcement.

WOODRUFF: John Allen, what turned the Vatican around? We were being told right up until today that the Vatican was staying out of all this. All the statements in the Vatican were very brief. There was very much an air of non-involvement. What do you think turned them around?

ALLEN: Well, I think fundamentally what turned them around was public opinion. You don't have to look very far in the American press or don't have to spend very much time in the Catholic American parishes to recognize that the sense of papal disengagement was making people angry.

I'm in the middle of a cross country tour, meeting with American Catholics in the various parts of the country and this is the message that has come through to me loud and clear, that people are frustrated that the leader at the top of the Catholic hierarchy has not spoken to directly to this crisis and has not done anything that would indicate a sort of direct personal engagement with it. So I would read...

(CROSSTALK)

WOODRUFF: But that message has been coming out, hasn't it? I was just going to say that message has been there for some days now. What turned it around today?

ALLEN: Well Judy, this is the Vatican we are talking about. They don't respond quickly. The sort of institutional ethos is to watch and wait. But I think it has become clear, realization has crystallized in Rome that this problem is not going to go away on its own accord. It will take some kind of dramatic overture to communicate to American Catholics that their leaders are engaged and that's how I would read the decision to bring the cardinals to Rome.

WOODRUFF: You said a moment ago you don't expect anything dramatic out of this. If so what difference could it make, if any?

ALLEN: I think the real danger for the Vatican and for the American Catholic hierarchy is this could backfire. People are now pinning an awful lot of energy and hopes on this session. I think at the end if they have very little to show for it I think that might augment, rather than reduce the frustration level the Catholics are facing, and frankly I think that is realistically what is likely to happen.

As you say, the Vatican has said consistently, I see no change in this position. But they think this is something for the American Catholic Church, because of the uniqueness of the cultural and legal situation to address. So I'm not expecting a new edict or a new policy, and I think in the absence of a really dramatic statement, lots of Catholics are going to conclude that once again the church is failing to really take seriously the depth of the crisis that they're facing.

WOODRUFF: John Allen with "The National Catholic Reporter." This is one we are all going to be watching next week. Thanks very much.

ALLEN: Thank you, Judy.

WOODRUFF: When we come back, a Democrat with sharp words for fellow Democrats and fellow chefs. A kitchen rant from James Carville, next on NEWSNIGHT from Washington.

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WOODRUFF: And finally tonight, the latest in a series of profiles from our friends at the political newsletter "The Hotline." The recipe is simple, a Washington insider with something to say, a camera and no script. Tonight, James Carville, the arch-nemesis of conservatives everywhere, except of course the one he married. He's the liberal half of Washington's most curious power couple, and a new host of CNN's "CROSSFIRE," which played absolutely no part in our decision to run this profile. But the knife did.

We caught up with James Carville and his knife at his restaurant in Georgetown.

JAMES CARVILLE, POLITICAL STRATEGIST, CNN HOST: We are talking about knives today. First thing to remember is that the NRA says guns don't kill people, people kill people. When it comes to knives, sharp knives don't cut people, dull knives cut people. So if you want a safe knife, you want to have a sharp knife. Now in the history of the world there have been some very defining great inventions; one of them is the wheel, the other is the cotton gin, the other is the computer. Right up there with that is a chef's knife, that is what we are looking at right here.

When you get a chef knife, there's a couple things you want to look for. You want the steel to go all the way through here, just like this one. You want to have a lot of balance. Now there's a couple things in the world that really tick me off. Dull knives being one of them, dull Democrats being another. The problem with the Democratic party today is our knife is too dull. Every time we have a sharp knife and we cut Republicans we do better. But right now we are just hacking away. So dull Democrats really tick me off.

Another thing that tick me off is people that cut an onion across the equator. Never cut an onion across the equator. Cut it pole to pole. And then when you slice an onion, all you have to do is cut right through here, couple, three times, see, with a sharp knife. You don't have to worry. Make a couple little dents right there. No big deal. And just sit here -- voila! Sliced onions. Perfect. That fast. You don't need any of that stuff they sell on TV. All you need is a sharp knife.

Democrats, you don't need all this crazy stuff. What you need is a sharp message. A pointed message, just like the end of this knife. You don't want a knife with a dull point, or a dull blade. So I'm just sitting here telling you folks, you see what happens to this onion. That's the same thing can happen to these Republicans in this election cycle. They can be minced up, chopped up just like that and that fast. To go out with a dull knife, you are not going to chop the onion. You go out with a dull message, you are not going to chop up Republicans.

Time is tough enough. Sharpen the knife, sharpen the message. Get right with America. That's my message right here. Carville and his knife. Look at that onion.

WOODRUFF: Two thoughts: Just think what James could do if he took off the sun glasses in the kitchen. And second of all, keep the knife in the kitchen, James.

That's it for NEWSNIGHT, I'm Judy Woodruff in Washington. Aaron is back tomorrow night. Now it is on to "CROSSFIRE."

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