Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Another Dies From Yesterday's Suicide Bombing in Jerusalem
Aired August 10, 2001 - 07:18 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.
VINCE CELLINI, CNN ANCHOR: Another person has died this morning following the Palestinian suicide attack in Jerusalem. This brings the death toll to 16, including the suicide bomber.
In retaliation, Israel is making both military and political moves today, even as funerals begin for the victims.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Buried together, the funeral for five members of the same Israeli family killed by the suicide bomber in the downtown Jerusalem pizza parlor. Among the 15 dead are five children, three of them of the single family, whose parents were also killed.
They had emigrated from Holland. Two of their other young children, who were with the family for a day's outing in Jerusalem from their home in a West Bank settlement, survived.
Israeli jets leveled a Palestinian police headquarters in the West Bank. The building had been evacuated, and no one was hurt. Visually (ph), the most spectacular aspect of a three-pronged response decided by a majority within Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's security cabinet.
"These Israeli attacks are a big escalation," Yasser Arafat said, as he inspected the ruined building. "Everybody has to understand we are stronger, harder and believe even more after the Israeli attack."
But the most potent and politically explosive elements of the Israeli response here the takeover by police of Palestinian officers in Jerusalem and what is described as the command centers of the Palestinian authority security forces in the village of Abu Dis on the city's outskirts.
The Israeli flag flying now instead of the Palestinian flag over Orient House, the unofficial Palestinian headquarters in East Jerusalem and symbol of Palestinian sovereignty aspirations in the city.
Israel says the move in the wake of the suicide bombing has calculated security and political goals. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These attacks have one common thread. They are being used to achieve Palestinian political ends. Violence is being used to achieve political ends. What the government of Israel decided to do last night was to deny those Palestinian political goals by its actions. Israel, Jerusalem will be much safer with the springboards for attack having been removed in Abu Dis and other areas.
KESSEL: Palestinians called the Israeli moves provocative and counterproductive to attempts to halt the two-way violence and revert to negotiations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This aggression of this occupation of the Orient House is to Judaism Jerusalem. We have only one (INAUDIBLE) on our hands, our intifada, our resistance. We will continue our resistance against the Israeli occupation.
KESSEL: Israeli troops are now entrenched in this critical spot on Jerusalem's outskirts, where the Palestinian authority had been entrenching. And outside the close Orient House compound, Israeli police walled off a small pro-Palestinian demonstration.
(on camera): The assault on Jerusalem in the form of the deadly suicide bombing by an Islamic militant, and now the counter-Israeli political move here, could bury lingering hope of stopping the escalating bloodshed and of restoring any form of negotiations, at least for the time being.
Jerrold Kessel, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCEDWARDS: And that deadly attack in Jerusalem has touched many lives, as you can imagine. Among the 16 dead from that explosion is a pregnant schoolteacher from New Jersey; 31-year old Shoshana Greenbaum. Her father said she was in Israel to get a Master's Degree in Jewish education, and he says he hopes President Bush will support Israel's efforts to defend itself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAN HAYMAN, VICTIM'S FATHER: She was our only child, and this could have been our first grandchild. Israel must act to preserve the lives of its citizens, and we hope that President Bush will support Israel's efforts to defend itself and its own people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCEDWARDS: Well, the Bush administration -- administration rather -- condemns the bombing and says that responsibility for peace rests with both Israelis and Palestinians.
In a statement, President Bush says the United States stands ready to assist the parties in this effort as it has in the past.
Well, what is ahead for U.S. involvement in the Middle East situation?
Let's get some more on this right now from Dennis Ross. He joins us from Washington. He played a leading role in shaping Middle East policy during both the Bush and the Clinton administrations -- having been an envoy to the region.
Dennis, thanks very much for being here this morning.
DENNIS ROSS, FORMER U.S. MIDEAST ENVOY: Pleasure.
MCEDWARDS: Let's start with the retaliation. Ariel Sharon, under incredible international pressure not to retaliate, but explain what the thinking is. Why he continues to show that, he believes at least, this is his only course of action?
ROSS: Well, first of all, I think it's almost impossible for any leader of a Democratic state to withstand the kind of pressure to do something in response to this kind of an attack on his citizens. If you look at what the Israelis did in response, I think it was probably the minimum that was possible. He was certainly under far greater pressure to do much more than he did.
MCEDWARDS: Well, what do you make of the choice of Orient House? You know, it's a symbol of the Palestinian desire for its own state.
ROSS: Well, I think the reason for picking that is that this is a message that if you think you're going to gain by carrying out suicide bombings in Jerusalem, of all places, you are actually going to lose. Here was a symbol for the Palestinians of what they hoped for in the future with regard to Jerusalem. And the Israeli response is to say, you're not going to get it by violence. And this is a statement by the Israelis.
The fact of the matter is what the Israelis did is something that is reversible if you ever get back to a peace process. We are in a war process right now. We are not in a peace process. What the Hamas did yesterday is designed to ensure there never is a peace process.
MCEDWARDS: Dennis Ross, you know that Ariel Sharon has been insisting on a seven-day quiet period -- a period of quiet before any negotiations -- any more of the peace process can unfold. Some members of his own government have, you know, recently been starting to challenge that.
What are your thoughts on that? Is it time that he give up any notion that there can be a period of calm? And that he commit to just doing something -- anything to get talks back on track?
ROSS: Well, I think the first point to be made is that negotiations and violence do not go hand in hand. To think that negotiations can ever work in an environment of violence is an illusion. So the notion of seven days of calm, I think, is a legitimate notion. The question is how you define it.
To say that there can be no acts of violence whatsoever during that period might be a desirable goal, but it's probably unrealistic. I think the most important thing is that one sees on the Palestinian side a 100-percent effort to fight this kind of terror. And we have not seen that.
There has been a tolerance of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They have been allowed to operate, in a sense, freely in the areas that the Palestinian authority controls. As long as that goes on, the pursuit of peace will not be possible.
MCEDWARDS: Well, you bring me to my next question. And that is what should Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat do about that? He is under pressure to make some arrests of some of the more militant leaders. He knows how they are.
ROSS: Well, I think you have to do that. Either Hamas represents the cause of the Palestinians or Chairman Arafat represents the cause of the Palestinians. If it is Hamas, then as I said, there is no possible peace process. If it is Chairman Arafat, then he has to act responsibility. With leadership goes responsibility. It's more important to be a leader than just a symbol.
MCEDWARDS: All right. Dennis Ross, we have to leave it there. Thanks very much for your thoughts this morning.
ROSS: You are welcome.
MCEDWARDS: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
