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CNN Live At Daybreak

More Violence in Middle East; Arrest of Assassination Suspect

Aired February 21, 2002 - 06:02   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: OK, we want to go live to the Middle East first off this morning. It was a long time coming, but the Palestinians may have finally arrested a suspect wanted by Israel in the assassination of its government's tourism minister. There was also more violence in the region today.

Our Jerrold Kessel is following the developments and joins us live now from Jerusalem.

Good morning.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Carol. Indeed, fast evolving events here and ever more volatile and that significant development within the last hour and a half or so. The announcement by the Palestinian authority that its security officials have arrested, detained three men who are suspected of involvement in the November killing of an Israeli Cabinet minister and that is a significant development.

The Israelis also confirming that they believe they have the three men have indeed been picked up. The reason why this is significant is because the demand for the arrest of those involved in the assassination of the right-wing tourism minister Rechavam Ze'evi in November was that Israel was saying that unless the Palestinians did arrest those responsible, Yasser Arafat would remain pinned up and literally a prisoner in his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Now that these men have been detained, there is the possibility, of course, that the first step is being taken towards relieving that siege of Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, has been taken by the Palestinian authority. It's welcomed, incidentally, by the United States with the -- an embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv saying that the United States has been saying that Yasser Arafat must do more to crack down on terror and if indeed the Palestinians have arrested these men, this would be a positive development, that the U.S. position and clearly the Israelis would still be demanding the arrest of all those and not only the arrest, but putting on trial of all those, that's the Israeli demand, responsible for the assassination of the Cabinet minister.

But if it does head in that direction, it does look as if that pressure on Yasser Arafat may be working in that respect, and we could have a new development with regard to Mr. Arafat's status in Ramallah. But while this has been going on from the Palestinian point of view, Israel has been continuing for the second successive of night and into this morning pummeling air actions and from the ground against Palestinian security installations in Ramallah attacking that compound where Yasser Arafat is.

He himself was not hurt nor the building he was in, but a building next door was hit by Israeli helicopters. Also down in Gaza there were a number of airstrikes and in that ground action that you mentioned, indeed Israeli tanks penetrating into the city of Gaza for the first time in the year and a half of this bloody confrontation, blowing up their television and radio transmitter and the tower there, and also the bloodiest of the confrontations today down in the town of Rafah in southern Gaza where five Palestinians who engaged in a series of gunfights with the Israeli tanks that had gone in there to try to stop arm smuggling. They say the Israeli's position from Egypt into Gaza, those firefights leaving five Palestinians dead.

There was also an attempt to attack on a checkpoint similar to that where the Israelis had lost six men in an attack on one of their checkpoints in the West Bank. This one on the border between the West Bank in Israel early today. The Palestinian militant who would come into that checkpoint, one of them was shot. The search is on for another man, a bystander, and Palestinian-Israeli citizen was also killed in that exchange.

So ongoing violence, but perhaps a new shift to a political development with the arrest of these men by the Palestinian authority -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Jerrold Kessel reporting live for us from Jerusalem this morning. Thank you.

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