Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Israeli Planes Attack Palestinian Targets For Second Straight Day

Aired May 19, 2001 - 17:01   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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Israel is facing strong worldwide condemnation for its latest military offensive. For a second straight day, Israeli planes and helicopters attacked Palestinian targets in retaliation for Friday's deadly suicide bombing at an Israeli shopping mall. Dozens of people are dead, scores more injured.

As Sheila MacVicar reports from Jerusalem, calls are growing for the U.S. to do more to help end the fighting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They were burying the dead in Nablus, 11 Palestinian policemen killed Friday when their police station was attacked with rockets fired from Israeli warplanes. Nablus is a very angry city.

Tens of thousands came out to march behind the funeral procession as it wound its way through the streets. People chanted, "Revenge, revenge." Some went to throw stones at Israeli soldiers, and one more Palestinian died.

There were more Israeli attacks, helicopter gunships this time. The targets: Palestinian security force headquarters in two towns on the West Bank. In Tulkarem, 30 people were wounded, many of them civilians.

AHMED QOREI, SPEAKER OF PALESTINIAN COUNCIL: It's a crime. What they are doing, it's a big crime.

MACVICAR: Israelis say they are fighting against Palestinian terrorism, the kind of terrorism that saw five Israelis killed Friday by a Palestinian suicide bomber in the coastal city of Netanya.

REUVAN RIVLIN, ISRAELI CABINET MINISTER: Israel has to retaliate. We have to have some kind of initiative in this war.

MACVICAR: But as security officers in Gaza were picking up the pieces of the Palestinian Coast Guard station blown apart by missiles fired from Israeli jets, Israel is coming under increasing international pressure.

(on camera): The U.N. secretary general called Israel's use of warplanes, quote, "Excessive." Russia's president says it was an improper use of military force that is impossible to justify. Egypt's foreign minister says it was, quote, "an act of war."

(voice-over): And U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has called for an immediate and unconditional end to all violence.

RIVLIN: We understand our friends, the Americans, and sometimes friends have to understand that we have a different sense of opinion and we agree not to agree. They are asking us as if we are to be held responsible for the things, for the situation that is going on now.

QOREI: The United States is the cosponsor of this peace process. I think it is not fair for the United States to wait while the Israelis continue their crime and their plan against the Palestinian people.

MACVICAR: But without stronger intervention from the United States, say Palestinian leaders, they fear the violence, the killing, this deadly spiral, will continue.

Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat says despite the escalation of the conflict, Palestinians won't be intimidated by Israeli warplanes. Arafat made that declaration in Cairo, where he met with foreign ministers of the Arab League.

The ministers today urged member nations to sever ties with Israel over the attacks. The league's secretary-general also called on the international community to intervene. Meanwhile, the Islamic resistance group Hamas is warning it will continue its suicide bombing campaign against Israeli targets.

With the conflict in the Middle East escalating, and some warning of an all-out war, the Bush administration is calling on both sides to stop the fighting. But critics say that is not enough.

CNN's Kelly Wallace now on what the White House is considering.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More Israeli retaliatory attacks, more bitterness as Palestinians mourn their dead, and more fallout, as Arab nations recommend suspending political ties with Israel. Back in Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell calls for an end to the violence, and planned to work the phones this weekend.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: If there was any solution that I could come up with, any conference or meeting that could be held right away that might move us in such a direction, I would leap at it.

WALLACE: Powell, aides say, is looking at the release Monday of a U.S.-sponsored commission report as a possible starting point to reduce tensions. That commission, chaired by former Democratic Senator George Mitchell, finds fault on both sides for the eight- month-old conflict, and recommends an immediate halt to the violence, and measures to rebuild confidence, including a freeze on any new Israeli settlements, which Israel vigorously opposes.

Meantime, U.S. lawmakers continue to urge the White House to become more active in the Middle East.

REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: I hope they will do that because without our leadership, I don't think the violence is going to stop anytime soon.

WALLACE: The administration says it is actively engaged publicly and privately, but there is still a perception in the region, observers say, that the Bush White House is taking a hands-off approach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a consequence, the administration is going to have to be visibly involved in some way, whether it is sending people to the region, inviting leaders to the U.S.

WALLACE: What is also needed is a major U.S. action plan, says the former Middle East envoy during the Clinton administration.

DENNIS ROSS, FRM. MIDDLE EAST ENVOY: Working on their own, with some help from us, is not working. If you're going to transform the situation, I think there's going to have to be some kind of more intensive initiative.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And another diplomatic move still under consideration is a meeting abroad between Powell and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. One senior U.S. official saying it depends on whether such a meeting is possible and whether it would be useful. The violence in the region, no doubt, likely to play a decisive role -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Kelly, we already heard condemnation coming from the United Nations and other members of the international body. What is the White House reaction to the escalation in Israel?

WALLACE: Well, as you see, we did not see the administration come out and criticize the Israeli response as excessive or disproportion, as we heard from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. U.S. officials saying that they made a judgment not to say that really at this point in time, saying their focus continues to be on how to end the violence, not on statements back and forth of how to end the violence.

So, you had a very impassioned plea, probably the strongest one yet, from Secretary of State Colin Powell last night, calling for an immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities; the White House saying that that is really their focus. Again, the secretary working the phones, talking to both sides, trying to get that message through -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Well, as we have already heard, this perception of perhaps the Bush administration sitting on the sidelines, is there a danger politically to carry on this way?

WALLACE: Well, you know, the White House seems to be a little frustrated that that perception is out there, again, trying to say that it is actively involved publicly and privately, saying the president is involved, Secretary of State Colin Powell heavily engaged.

But again, as observers have noted, they are saying that a lot of this activity is going on behind the scenes. The secretary of state meeting with officials, U.S. ambassadors meeting with officials, and you see some of observers saying that the U.S. may need to have a more visible role and that might mean going there, sending a high-level diplomat to the region or inviting some Israelis or Palestinians here to Washington just to sort of send the message that it is more involved than maybe some people think.

So, again -- observers also, though, do say that the U.S. just by becoming more visible will not exactly change the situation, but that it may change the perception and that in and of itself could help the two sides maybe get back to the peace table -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Kelly Wallace at the White House, thanks very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com