Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Two Israeli Women Die; Hamas Declares War on Israel

Aired January 23, 2002 - 05:30   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Two Israeli women are dead after the latest round of violence in the Middle East.

CNN's Jerrold Kessel is in Jerusalem with the story -- Jerrold, it just keeps on happening.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Carol, and by all accounts, it looks like it will go on happening unless something dramatic changes direction.

But this morning, the scene in Jerusalem is very much one of bracing for more after the radical Islamic group, Hamas, declared that it was in a state of all-out war with Israel, and the Israelis have tightened their security after the attack in the center of West Jerusalem yesterday by a Palestinian gunman belonging to an offshoot of the Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. And two women were killed. They had actually been wounded and died overnight, one aged 78, the other 56. More than 30 people were wounded; 14 still in the hospital this morning, 2 reported in serious condition.

But the Israelis, as they take these defensive measures, are certainly not only sitting by passively, but they have been on the offensive with some very aggressive actions of their own. The latest was yesterday, when their forces went into the West Bank town of Nablus in a pre-emptive move, Israel says, against what was described as a Hamas bomb factory. The Israelis have been showing off the material that was used for making and preparing bombs there. And in the clash that evolved there, according to the Israeli military, four Palestinians belonging to the radical Islamic group were killed in that incident in Nablus. And the Israelis are also, of course, keeping up their relentless pressure on Yasser Arafat with Ariel Sharon's tanks literally within eyesight of the Palestinian leader's headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

The Palestinians -- the Israeli -- the talk now in the top echelons of Israel's political and military circles is not only of what Mr. Sharon has described Yasser Arafat as being irrelevant, but there is also serious calls from serious people in the military and in the political establishment that Yasser Arafat could be permanently exiled, his Palestinian Authority to be capped down.

That on the Israeli side, but Yasser Arafat isn't simply sitting idly by himself, though he is seriously isolated in his headquarters in Ramallah. He has been speaking defiantly, saying that the tanks around him remind him of the situation back in Lebanon some 20 years ago when Israeli tanks were surrounding him there and look -- Mr. Arafat says, "Look what has happened. We are here, and we are heading towards Jerusalem and towards our Palestinian state."

So in the midst of this very volatile standoff, very volatile, what we have is the United States standing by apparently still making up its mind whether Yasser Arafat is part of the problem or part of the solution. And also possibly whether the stringent and strong actions by Israel's prime minister a part of the solution or part of the problem. And while that is happening, the common word on the lips of everyone on all three sides, American, Palestinian and Israeli, is similar. One word: escalation.

COSTELLO: Oh, geez, awful. Thank you -- Jerrold Kessel reporting live for us from Israel this morning.

If you'd like the full story on the Jerusalem attack, you can visit our Web site for a wealth of background in the in-depth special, "Mideast Struggle for Peace," go to CNN.com, AOL keyword, CNN, and you can find out all you want to know.

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