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CNN Live At Daybreak
Israel Hits Several Palestinian Targets After Bus Ambush
Aired December 13, 2001 - 06:20 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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Moving on now to Israel. It has struck back hard after a bus ambush by Palestinian gunmen left 10 people dead. The latest Israeli attacks come as the Israeli Cabinet delivers a stinging review to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.
CNN's Chris Burns joining us now from Jerusalem with the very latest -- Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Catherine, it's really tanks having rolled into the West Bank and Gaza Strip in their crackdown -- in their crackdown that they announced overnight in which the Israeli Cabinet said that they consider Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat irrelevant and that they will go ahead with their own crackdown against Palestinian militants who have been waging terror attacks on and off and killing a number of Israelis, especially in the last few days. The one overnight was the last straw for the Israelis. They said that they had to act on their own.
Of course there were air strikes as well overnight that struck at Palestinian positions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including radio and radar installations, Palestinian security installations, and the Palestinians are calling this a declaration -- some of them, anyway, are calling this a declaration of war. They say that these attacks tie their hands, make them unable to be able to crack down on those militants. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said overnight that he was going to close the offices of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, those being the two the terrorist organizations that have been claiming these terrorist attacks, also condemned by the U.S. and the Europeans. However, that was not enough for the Israelis they -- so they proceeded with this crackdown.
What does this do to the diplomatic process? The U.S. envoy -- special envoy Anthony Zinni has been trying to salvage his mediation effort to bring about some kind of a cease-fire. He meets today with one of the Palestinian leaders, a chief negotiator among the Palestinians, Saeb Erakat, and this is what Mr. Erakat had to say about the Israeli crackdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: Israel is dismantling this Palestinian Authority, and what's next? You know the slimy (ph) tactics of Sharon, you know, not shaking hands with Arafat, dismissing Arafat, Arafat's associated with terror and now irrelevant, what's next? Is it his objective to kill Yasser Arafat? I believe that's what he is doing. I believe he is dismantling the Palestinian Authority, I believe he is destroying the peace process and he's undermining everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: Erakat, of course, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who has cracked down with his Cabinet against the Palestinians. A tough -- a tough job for General Zinni to try to bring the two sides together. It appears that any security talks right now are mute -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: It does. It does seem that way, Chris, and all this coming right now at the end of Ramadan, which is going to end on Sunday.
BURNS: Absolutely, that is what has heightened tensions. And in fact, the security here on the Israeli side, they have been very attentive toward any kind of new terrorist attacks on their soil. You can see all over the streets there are searches -- constant searches, the blue lights of police vehicles and army vehicles. Extremely tense as they await and see if there are any new responses to the Israeli crackdown -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: And, Chris, what about the list of the so-called suspected terrorists that the Israelis were hoping that Arafat would make those arrests? He made it somewhat halfway through that list. What now will the Israelis do concerning that?
BURNS: Well the Israelis are saying that they're going to go ahead after those people themselves. In fact, they say that that bus ambush overnight against the -- against the Jewish settlers on the West Bank that sparked this crackdown, some of the attackers, they say, were on that list of 33 and that was apparently what the last straw was, Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right. Chris Burns reporting live from Jerusalem. Thank you, Chris.
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