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CNN Live Saturday

Mideast Violence Continues to Escalate

Aired March 30, 2002 - 12:02   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: More now on our top story. The U.N. Security Council wants Israel to pull back from the Palestinian territories, but how likely is that to happen?

CNN's John Vause joins us now from Jerusalem with the latest there.

Good day, John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.

Well yes, Israel coming under growing international pressure to withdraw from Ramallah, pull those tanks and troops back. But that just certainly isn't happening today. Earlier we saw those armored vehicles roll into Hebron. We know that Hebron, in fact, is a divided city, divided into Palestinian-controlled areas as well as Israeli- controlled areas, about 400 Jewish settlers there alongside 120,000 Palestinians.

We know those armored personnel vehicles were there for about an hour. Some shots were fired, a number of homes were hit. But we are told that there were, in fact, no injuries.

Earlier this week in Hebron, we know that two observers from the temporary international presence in Hebron, they're an unarmed international group which monitors truce violations in that area, in that town, well, two of those observers were killed while driving along a road not far from Hebron. A third observer says that it was a Palestinian gunman in a Palestinian police uniform who opened fire.

And as we say, the -- this military offensive by the Israelis continue -- continues. Earlier today in the Palestinian town of Bet Jala, tanks rolled in there. There was firing as well there in that city for about an hour or so. It's a Palestinian city. But then they also withdrew after that. They say they're on a search mission.

We know that that move also was in response to attacks by Palestinians, according to the Israeli Defense Force, a Palestinian mortar attack on the Israeli settlement of Gilaut, not far from Bethlehem.

Now, as we say, growing international pressure for Israel to stand down. That certainly isn't happening. The tanks are still in place outside Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah. And from those headquarters in Ramallah, Yasser Arafat has in fact given a television interview. And in that interview, he appealed to help from the international community to try and end this crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YASSER ARAFAT, PRESIDENT, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: I am appealing to the whole international world to stop this aggression against our people. This military escalation (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this killing, this -- even what our women had faced in -- who had been prevented to go to the hospitals. And they were obliged to deliver their sons, some of them in the head -- in the checkpoints.

Can you believe it? Would it had been done (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yasser Arafat giving that interview there by candlelight because the Israelis have cut off electricity to the compound. At least that's what the Palestinians are saying. And by the evidence on that videotape, it certainly looks like it is the case.

The Palestinians say there is also no water going into that compound, and the telephone lines have been cut. We're told that Yasser Arafat is using a cell phone to try and get his message out, but that's got a very limited battery life, so that's limiting the number -- the amount of contact which Yasser Arafat can have with the outside world.

We're also told by the Palestinians that that headquarters has been badly damaged, as we've seen by the videotape. And the Palestinians are telling us that seven buildings have been badly damaged so far in that campaign.

As we say, those Israeli tanks are still there, the Israelis not standing down. They're saying that this is a military operation which will run its course. It's in the self-defense of Israel. They say they are dismantling a terrorist network. And for now, they're not listening to those calls, especially not the call from the United Nations Security Council to withdraw and pull out of those cities -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much, John Vause from Jerusalem.

And of course, later on tonight from Jerusalem we will have "LIVE FROM JERUSALEM," brought to you by Bill Hemmer. And that's at 8:00 Eastern time tonight.

Now, the Middle East conflict spread to other areas today, but the focus remained on the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, as John just told us, where CNN's Michael Holmes is covering this story right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is still shooting in Ramallah tonight, but not as much as before. Still, there are the sounds now of children playing in the streets. It's an odd mixture to hear after what has been a very eventful day here.

(voice-over): Sounds of Ramallah at dawn, birds and gunfire.

Throughout the night, there had been the sound of battle. At dawn, both sounds continued. An ambulance siren competes with the guns. The scene of the fighting, a building in the heart of Ramallah. Inside, a group of Palestinian gunmen, also civilians.

(on camera): The battle raged for hours. Tank shells and heavy machine gun fire from the Israeli side, return shooting from inside the building.

And then a fire broke out.

(voice-over): Smoke could be seen across the city, but it didn't consume the building. Eventually a dramatic surrender. Israeli troops taking no chances confusing the innocent with the fighter. Everyone who came out told to kneel and lay down amid the refuse of battle -- glass, bullet casings, used tear-gas canisters.

Another routine precaution, forced to lift their shirts in case they were wearing explosive belts. None of them were.

There were the injured too, numbers difficult to ascertain. This man not wounded but traumatized. This man also.

Inside the building had been hard-core fighters. The building housed offices, among them the media office of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, and a senior official of that movement was inside.

UNIDENTIFIED SENIOR FATAH OFFICIAL: They start shooting, the fighters can shoot.

HOLMES: Some prisoners were taken back to the scene of the fighting. We heard a soldier say to one of them, "This is what we did. Now show us what you have here."

Adjacent to Ramallah in the city of Al Beera (ph), all males between the ages of 15 and 45 ordered by loudspeaker to assemble at a local mosque. Under tight Israeli security, the men were told to remove their jackets and were taken into a local school.

Women relations of some of these men ordered to go home. Some of the men were later allowed to leave. How long the others will stay is unclear.

At the Palestinian Authority headquarters, Israeli troops in complete control, although early in the day we heard several gunshots from inside. Dr. Joha Sayev (ph) spent 24 hours inside the compound under siege before being allowed to leave. Dr. Sayev says he treated six wounded Palestinian security officers. One of them died this morning.

He told of having to crawl to the wounded under what he called "a rain of bullets."

DR. JOHA SAYEV: When you are going, somebody is screaming that he is wounded, and you go there into -- while they were shooting into you.

HOLMES (on camera): So Israeli tanks and troops still very firmly entrenched inside the Palestinian Authority headquarters, Yasser Arafat still in an office with nowhere to go.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Ramallah, in the West Bank.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All eyes are on the Middle East, and developments are being closely watched from a ranch in Texas, where President Bush is spending the Easter weekend.

CNN's White House correspondent Major Garrett joins us now from Crawford, Texas, with the latest there.

Good afternoon, Major.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Fredricka.

President Bush had intended to spend this Easter weekend relaxing, vacationing. Those plans have been severely interrupted by the turmoil in the Middle East. And just moments ago, White House officials here in Crawford said the president will make a statement on camera about the situation in the Middle East at 1:30 p.m. Eastern time from his Texas ranch. CNN will bring that statement to you as soon as it's made available to us here at the Crawford Western White House workspace.

The statement is a byproduct of several phone calls the president made this morning from his Crawford ranch to leaders throughout the world assessing the situation in the Middle East. Among those with whom the president spoke, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan's King Abdullah, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Abdullah, Spain's president, Jose Maria Afnar (ph), and the secretary general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan.

President's also been in close contact with the secretary of state, Colin Powell, his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice. And clearly, the Bush administration is feeling pressure from the international community for appearing to be somewhat passive about the Israeli incursion into Ramallah. That passivity ended very early this morning when the United States supported a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for Israel to withdraw from Ramallah.

That resolution was the byproduct of intense behind-the-scenes negotiations with the United States working with the Norwegians to sponsor that resolution to make sure it also included references to an immediate and implementable cease-fire and at least some condemnation of Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.

Once those two factors were achieved, the U.S. decided to agree to a resolution calling for Israel to withdraw from Ramallah -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Major, the Bush administration has made it very clear that they want General Zinni to stay in the region. At the same time, are there serious talks going on this afternoon about possibly sending Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region, given that he has had some successes with talking directly with Arafat in recent days?

GARRETT: Well, there is no indication here at the Western White House that that is under active consideration. It's worth pointing out, however, Secretary of State Powell, when asked yesterday would he go to the region, said all options remain open. But he also said neither he nor anyone else of a more senior level than the president's personal envoy, Anthony Zinni, will return to the region unless there is an express purpose to do so.

And also, it's worth pointing out, Fredricka, that up until Wednesday, the Bush administration was encouraged by progress toward achieving a cease-fire between the Israelis and the Palestinians, progress the Bush administration says was shattered by the suicide attacks of the Passover massacre in Netanya and the extra -- the additional suicide attack yesterday in Jerusalem.

Bush administration says it is these acts of terrorism more than anything else that undermine any progress toward a cease-fire, a cease-fire which, of course, the Bush administration has long argued is the first step toward any sort of dialogue about a political resolution between the Israelis and the Palestinians -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Major, is it your expectation that perhaps President Bush might be elaborating on the U.S. involvement with Norway in which to come about this resolution that has now been agreed upon by the U.N.?

GARRETT: I think that's a very fair inference to draw, Fredricka. The international community has been very, very critical of Israel's incursion into Ramallah. It was criticized by the European Union, by the Russian Federation, by Arab leaders throughout the region.

The United States knows that it was more or less standing alone yesterday in giving a low-level sort of -- We understand why Israel is going in, we encourage them to not stay too long, we want to make sure they don't harm Yasser Arafat. That sort of reaction did not pass muster with the larger international community, many of whom are members of the U.S.-led coalition against global terrorism.

And so it is pretty fair to say that the president will have to talk about Israel's incursion into Ramallah, because he said nothing about it yesterday, and that was perceived, at least in some quarter of the world, as a bit of passivity from the Bush administration and a change of tone on that front, I think, is something we can all look forward to seeing -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much, Major Garrett reporting from Crawford, Texas, this afternoon.

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