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Jerusalem: Israeli Troops Storm Arafat Compound; Suicide Bomber Strikes Israeli Supermarket
Aired March 29, 2002 - 20:00 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.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, HOST: I'm Christiane Amanpour.
Israel brands Yasser Arafat the enemy and sends in columns of tanks first to lay siege to his headquarters in Ramallah. They are in control of everything there except the office he is in.
The United States reminds Israel that Arafat is the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people and urges restraint, also calls on Arafat to rein in terror.
Tonight, LIVE FROM JERUSALEM.
ANNOUNCER: Battleground, Ramallah. Israeli forces blast their way into Yasser Arafat's West Bank compound.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YASSER ARAFAT, PRESIDENT, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: The Palestinian leader remains defiant.
In the line of fire, a TV camera crew gets caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In Jerusalem, a visit to a supermarket turns into a trip to a war zone. The suicide bomber, a Palestinian teenage girl.
From both sides, a war of words accompanies the fighting in the streets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The result, Chairman Arafat is an enemy.
SAEB EREKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: What is happening by the devastation of the attack of the Israelis is really an attack on the peace plan.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ANNOUNCER: Washington condemns the terror and lays blame.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have spoken up clearly and do so again now. Chairman Arafat to act, act against those responsible...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: What can America do to stop the violence?
LIVE FROM JERUSALEM, Christiane Amanpour.
AMANPOUR: From the Israelis -- Tonight we are a nation bleeding that has to defend our citizens from terror. From the Palestinians -- We have to get through Sharon's thick head that this will not be solved at the barrel of the gun. From the Israelis -- Arafat is the enemy, but we won't harm him. From Palestinians -- When you name somebody an enemy, that is a license to kill.
All of this today in Jerusalem as the war heats up between Israel and the Palestinians. In Ramallah, the Israeli forces say they are almost in total control of Yasser Arafat's headquarters, although they haven't yet knocked on the door of the building where he and his aides are holed up.
CNN's Michael Holmes has been in Ramallah since the Israeli armored column began its invasion.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christiane, yes, I can report to you that as we stand here on a cool and misty night in Ramallah, there is a heavy gunfight going on about 300 yards from where we are. It's in the streets of Ramallah, not in the -- around the compound.
Our latest information is that the compound, it's pretty much still the same, all pretty much a standoff, if you like, between Yasser Arafat's security forces, Yasser Arafat still in his office upstairs, Israeli tanks at the bottom of the stairs.
It has been a day of shooting, a day of gunfire, and a day of casualties.
Let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Dozens of Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers entered Ramallah in the early hours of Friday, heading straight for Yasser Arafat's compound.
(on camera): By 6:30 a.m., Israeli tanks were well in place, literally at Yasser Arafat's front door. There are repeated gunshots being fired in the streets around here. We've seen both armed Palestinians and also Israeli soldiers on foot.
(voice-over): Not far from the compound, armed Palestinians tell us to stop and turn around. It's too dangerous, they say.
The fighting wasn't just as Yasser Arafat's compound, there was street-to-street fighting too, and there were casualties. Initially, ambulances unable to reach the injured because of the fighting.
In the center of Ramallah, more tanks, more armored personnel carriers, more evidence that Israel was hitting hard at the Palestinian Authority. Apart from men with guns, the streets deserted.
At the compound itself, perimeter walls were crushed by Israeli bulldozers, and then the impact of what appeared to have been a rocket. Later, smoke from a small fire and more casualties.
From inside his besieged headquarters, Yasser Arafat spoke by telephone with the Arabic-language television station Al Jazeera.
ARAFAT (voice of translator): They either want to kill me or capture me or expel me. But I say no. I will be a martyr. I hope I'll be a martyr in the Holy Land. I have chosen this path, and if I fall, one day a Palestinian child will raise the Palestinian flag above our mosques and churches.
HOLMES: Later, it went a step further. Palestinian sources saying that Israeli troops had actually entered the compound along with a tank firing on Yasser Arafat's own office, his security personnel responding in kind.
At a local hospital, meanwhile, some of the victims, a man who didn't yet know the tanks were in the city, shot 100 meters from his home as he walked to a store early in the morning.
Also here, security officers from inside that compound, this man paralyzed by a bullet, this man shot in the face, he told doctors by an Israeli sniper.
Throughout the day, more sporadic shooting, cars pushed aside, and the occasional sound of a tank shell. Anthony Zinni's hoped-for cease-fire seemed a long way away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And Christiane, I can tell you that of the casualty list, it varies between six and seven dead, well over 40 injured so far, most of those security personnel on the Palestinian side.
There have been civilian casualties too. A woman driving with her husband and 5-month-old child yesterday trying to get away from the shooting was herself shot dead, her baby sitting in the back seat of that vehicle. Also a television cameraman yesterday shot in the face not far from where we are now.
And as I said, we open these windows behind me just a short time ago, and I heard silence for a few seconds and thought maybe things had quieted down. That wasn't the case. Almost immediately there was a sustained burst of machine-gun fire just up the road from us here. There are still firefights going on in the streets of Ramallah.
Christiane?
AMANPOUR: Michael, give us an idea, we've been speaking and focusing on the firefights and the tanks and the soldiers around Yasser Arafat and inside Yasser Arafat's compound. Where are tanks elsewhere in Ramallah? And also, we've heard that some people are being pulled out of their houses and arrested as soldiers go door to door.
What can you tell us about that?
HOLMES: Yes, I can tell you the tanks are not just around the compound, anything but. We are probably at the moment standing about a mile or so from the compound. We have seen armored personnel carriers and tanks driving past our position throughout the day, and also as we have driven around Ramallah, tanks are in the center of Ramallah. They are just outside the center of Ramallah -- of Ramallah, the city center, that is, and they are spaced around the city.
They're also moving around the city. Not too long ago, we had tanks going past here changing positions. We have also seen -- this is a few hours ago now, but we have seen Israeli troops on the ground outside -- well outside the compound.
We know that Israeli troops have taken over several buildings in the city. Yesterday we were driving past and we were going to film a taxicab that had been driven over by a tank. And two Israeli soldiers came out of a private house there and said, "Move on, move on." They had taken over that house as an observation post. They were obviously heavily armed and said to us, "Get out of here."
So Israeli troops certainly have evicted people from their homes to take over those homes, and set up position to observe.
As for arrests, we do know that there have been several people taken into custody. Yesterday morning, in fact, we saw a patrol of some 20 or so Israeli soldiers moving along a street, and as they crossed the street in front of us and told us to stop while they did so, we saw about eight Palestinians, their hands cuffed behind their back being led across too in civilian clothing, obviously prisoners.
Christiane?
AMANPOUR: Michael, thank you very much.
And Michael referred to that cameraman for the Egyptian television station, Nile Television, who had been wounded. Reports say that his car and the car of one of his colleagues as well was clearly marked with the sign "TV" that most journalists put on their vehicles when they're in these kinds of battle zones. And it came under fire from Israeli gunfire.
Look now and listen to the pictures that his camera took even as he was hit. The cameraman is in the Ramallah hospital listed in moderate condition.
Now, all of this came after suicide bombings here in Israel that claimed the lives of 21 people on the eve of Passover. And even as the tanks started rolling in to the occupied territories on the West Bank and around Yasser Arafat's compound, there was another suicide bombing here in Jerusalem.
CNN's John Vause has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A second Passover suicide attack in Israel. The victims, the last-minute shoppers at a crowded supermarket in the hours before the Jewish Sabbath. The blast ripped apart this store's entrance, killing at least three people, including the female suicide bomber.
More than 20 were injured. Among the dead, the security guard who noticed the woman and tried to stop her from coming into the store.
Police say the destruction could have been worse. The woman was also carrying a mortar shell, which failed to detonate.
Only 18 years old, Ayet Akris (ph) made this videotape before blowing herself up along with Israeli civilians. She condemned Arab leaders for failing to help the Palestinian cause. She was described by her school classmates as reserved, as hard-working. She'd joined the Al Aqsa Martyr Brigade, a military arm of Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization.
But her family in Byonce (ph) say they never knew. While her mother and relatives mourned her death, many others in her home town, a refugee camp near Bethlehem, celebrated as word spread of her suicide bombing.
In Gaza, Palestinians vowed to send hundreds more suicide bombers into Israel if any harm came to Yasser Arafat, besieged at his compound in Ramallah.
UNIDENTIFIED PALESTINIAN: We will continue our struggle. We will continue attacking the murderers (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of the Jews everywhere.
VAUSE: Israel says it has no intention of harming the Palestinian leader, only of isolating him. Dozens of tanks and bulldozers are in position outside Arafat's Ramallah headquarters. Israel's prime minister warning of further action and has called up 20,000 reservists.
SHARON: It will take time. Not short time, it might take long time. But we decided to eliminate the terror and its infrastructure.
VAUSE (on camera): Ariel Sharon has been facing growing pressure here to come down even harder on Yasser Arafat, but so far that strategy has only been followed by more attacks on Israelis.
John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Well, Yasser Arafat, as we say, and as we've been reporting all day, is still confined to those headquarters in Ramallah, now holed up in his small part of the building, his office building, along with a few aides. We told you that the Israeli soldiers say that they are in command now of all of that headquarters there, that buildings have been destroyed around it and that they are everywhere in that compound except at his office door.
Earlier this evening, we had a telephone conversation with Yasser Arafat. We began by asking him the precise conditions that he was in at that moment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARAFAT: It's aggression. Again it's the Palestinian people in all West Bank and Gaza, where they are divided --completely separated. And also the aggression and the attack in Ramallah, against my headquarters and against the Palestinian people in Berah (ph) and Ramallah and all around it. And the same time they are increasing their forces, their military activities to follow up their aggression against many other places, many other towns, many other cities, many other areas in our Palestinian liberated areas.
AMANPOUR: Mr. Arafat, can you tell me please, has your -- the rooms that you're sitting in, have they been attacked? Have any of your rooms been attacked? Are you under direct physical threat right now?
ARAFAT: It seems that you are not following the TVs all over the world. They have destroyed completely seven of our buildings, completely, around my office, and firing my office with all their armament.
What do you expect? An Arafat that -- and they have to understand it is the Palestinian people who are facing this challenge. And we are sure that our people will continue to stick fast (ph) in the face of this terrorism. This is the real terrorists of the occupation.
And especially they are using all the American weapons against us, of F-15s and F-16s and Merkava and rockets and bombs and artilleries and everything.
AMANPOUR: Do you believe, Mr. Arafat, that they are trying to kill you, trying to harm you?
ARAFAT: What do they expect by shelling us continuously in the last 24 hours? What do you think...
AMANPOUR: Mr. Arafat, what about these... ARAFAT: ... it is by chance? They're saying that the Americans said that Arafat would not be harmed. It is a problem of Arafat or is the problem of our people, of our liberty, of our independent Palestinian state, of our peaceful agreement between me and my partner, Rabin, who has paid his life for the peace of the brave which we have signed.
In the sight of God, we are (UNINTELLIGIBLE) continual peace of the brave, which I have signed with my partner, Rabin. But we have to remember...
AMANPOUR: Mr. Arafat...
ARAFAT: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) my partner, Rabin, is now in the power in Israel. We are following this with the peace process, with the majority of the Israeli people.
AMANPOUR: Secretary of State Colin Powell has spoken to you, I understand. He has also spoken publicly and called on you to rein in the violence. What do you make of that statement, and can you and will you rein in that violence?
ARAFAT: Are you asking me why am I under complete siege? You're a wonderful journalist. You have to respect your profession.
AMANPOUR: Mr. Arafat, I'm asking you simply a question.
ARAFAT: No, you have to be...
AMANPOUR: Are you able to rein in the violence?
ARAFAT: You have to be accurately when you are speaking with General Yasser Arafat. Be quiet!
AMANPOUR: Mr. Arafat, what did you make of Colin Powell's statement?
ARAFAT: You are covering with such questions these terrorist activities of the Israeli occupation and the Israeli crimes. Take care (ph) not to make these fatal mistakes.
AMANPOUR: Can I ask...
ARAFAT: Thank you. Bye-bye.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: A very angry Yasser Arafat when asked those few questions at the end there, a very angry and isolated Mr. Arafat now, as we say, U.S. has received assurances that he himself will not be harmed. But obviously he does not think that that's the case, and he's sitting there, we heard machine gun fire during the course of our conversation with him.
We're going to take a short break now, and when we return, we're going to talk to the Israeli government spokesman who says that there is no limit to this current invasion.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up, a message from America to Yasser Arafat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POWELL: ... make clear to the Palestinian people that terror and violence must halt now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: And a request of restraint to Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POWELL: We call on Prime Minister Sharon and his government to carefully consider the consequences of those actions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Washington reacts to the latest violence.
LIVE FROM JERUSALEM is back in two minutes.
But first, what's your opinion? Is Israel's action against Yasser Arafat justified? To take the quick vote, head to cnn.com, the AOL keyword is CNN. A reminder, this poll is not scientific.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: In the last 18 months of violence in the Middle East, more than 1,000 Palestinians and nearly 400 Israelis have been killed.
AMANPOUR: Even before the suicide bombing attack in Netanya in Israel, Israeli military and political officials had been briefing journalists on background that they were preparing for a big, comprehensive, even bigger invasion of the occupied territories than had been done in March.
Even before that happened, and afterwards, of course, Ariel Sharon, the prime minister of Israel, held an all-night extraordinary cabinet session last night. It turned out that it was a war cabinet session. In the morning, he held a press conference, declared Yasser Arafat an enemy, said that he was going to be isolated, said that war was now going to be held with terrorism against the Palestinians.
We are joined now by the Israeli government spokesman, Gideon Meir, who earlier this evening told me that there would be no limit to this current Israeli invasion.
What does that mean, precisely? What does that mean, no limit?
GIDEON MEIR, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY: It means that Israel will stay there, the defense forces will stay there as long as is needed to root out terrorism, as long as it is needed in order to dismantle the terrorist organizations. Actually this was a job of Yasser Arafat. This is a commitment he took upon himself in the agreements which he signed with Israel in 1993, and since he's not doing it, it is our obligation to defend our people.
AMANPOUR: Let me ask you this. After the last incursion in March, many Israeli political and indeed military leaders admitted afterwards that frankly, it hadn't worked. It was pretty much for show. It was trying to do something.
Your government strategy has not worked to tamper down terrorism in the last year. What do you realistically expect that a sudden massive invasion of armored personnel carriers, tanks, attacking Yasser Arafat's compound, is going to achieve?
MEIR: Since March 14, this is a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of the arrival of General Zinni in order to achieve a cease-fire here in the region, Israel really took -- decided to take restraint and to restrain its forces, to pull out from the A (ph) areas, to make it easy for General Zinni to achieve a real and sincere cease-fire here in the region.
And what did we get? The response which we got was a terrible massacre on Passover. What -- the response which we got, an ambulance full of explosives with a mother, her three children, and explosives underneath a stretcher. We got two suicide bombers on the way to a major shopping mall on the eve of our sacred holiday, Passover, blowing themselves up. The names of these two suicide bombers were given to Yasser Arafat just two days before. And he did zero.
So after this restraint, there is no other choice for us.
AMANPOUR: How would you characterize the United States' position when obviously Ariel Sharon has talked to the U.S. government officials? Have they given you the green light to do retaliation?
MEIR: I don't know if there's a green light. I just listened very carefully today to what the secretary of state has to say. I hear the statements from the American administration. We would like very much General Zinni to achieve a cease-fire here. It's in our interest, I think it's also in the interest of the Palestinian people.
I think what Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian leadership is doing is betraying their own people. You know, just watch the demonstrations on the streets of the Palestinians. I see the hatred in their eyes. I see the difference between the funerals of the Palestinians and the Israeli funeral. I see the eyes full of hatred, I see the eyes of the Israelis who are bleeding. We are crying. We are crying about our children who are being killed here, innocent women and children.
AMANPOUR: Mr. Meir, you talk about hatred, but certainly your own prime minister has given vent to his own hatred of Yasser Arafat. He's spoken twice about how he regrets not having killed him back in Lebanon and again having regrets about promising not to harm him in the invasion in March. What is -- what are we meant to make of that, from the leader of a country that expresses regret that he hasn't killed the legitimate elected leader of the Palestinian people?
MEIR: Yasser Arafat is responsible for everything which is happening here. Not this is not just (UNINTELLIGIBLE) not dismantling the terrorist organization. He is the one who actually sending them to Israel in order to penetrate and to do it now. The decision of the Israeli government the other day was not to harm Yasser Arafat. This is a democratically elected government. This is a parliamentarian regime.
And here everything is being done by vote. The Israeli government overwhelmingly voted not to harm Yasser Arafat, and this is what they are doing.
AMANPOUR: Are there still talks going on between the Israeli government and Anthony Zinni? What is the status of any possibility of a cease-fire?
MEIR: We are in the middle of the holiday here, so I assume that immediately after the holiday, we will continue to talk to General Zinni, because we have an interest that his mission will succeed. We will do everything we can in order for him to achieve a sincere cease- fire here in the region. I think it's in the benefit of most people.
We have an interest, the Tenet plan and the Mitchell report will be implemented here as soon as possible.
AMANPOUR: You heard Colin Powell, the secretary of state, today publicly calling on Israel to recognize that Yasser Arafat is the leader of the Palestinian people and that now, he said, his role is even more central to get us out of what he called this tragedy.
MEIR: Israel is recognizing that Arafat is a leader of the Palestinian Authority. This is a reason we were waiting for the past 18 months for him to take real action against those terrorist organizations, an action which he actually agreed, signed with us at Oslo, sent a letter to the Norwegian foreign minister on September 9, 1993. This was the whole thing which led the two nations together into Oslo. This is what convinced the Israeli people to go into the peace process with the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
And here the answer which we got on September -- and last September, 18 months ago, was a massive terror campaign against our people.
AMANPOUR: Palestinians, of course, have a legitimate case that they are under occupation, and much of what they do, they say, is legitimate resistance. My question to you is, do you think that it would be more effective for Israel to identify the terrorist groups, to go in and target those, instead of sweeping in with tanks, armored personnel cars, destroying Yasser Arafat's headquarters, and in many cases, particularly in the last invasion, killing civilians?
MEIR: Civilians are being killed, and it's regrettable. But this is a war...
AMANPOUR: But would it be more...
MEIR: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
AMANPOUR: ... effective?
MEIR: The -- we want -- what we want to do is actually only go after the terrorist organization.
I would like a word about what you said about occupation. Between '48 and '67, there was no occupation, none whatsoever, and still there was a lot of terror. So if they want really to come to a sincere agreement with us, at the end -- I mean, in the end to find -- to create -- establish a Palestinian state, only around the negotiating table.
AMANPOUR: And that's what they say too, they say, and so in fact do many Israeli leaders, that this will not be solved at the barrel of a gun but only through political negotiation.
When we return, we'll hear the response and the reaction from the United States.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah was originally designed as a British prison in the 1930s. It later served as a regional headquarters for the Israeli army. It became Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank in 1994.
AMANPOUR: The Palestinians have reacted with anger at the U.S. position in this case, saying that it is unfair to ask Yasser Arafat to reign in terrorism when he has his hands tied, his compound besieged, tanks outside his door, and metaphorically speaking at least, a gun to his head.
In our conversation with Yasser Arafat a couple of hours ago, in which he was very, very angry at some of the questions we asked, he said, he pointed out that the Israelis are using American made weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARAFAT: They are using American weapons against us, from F-16s and F-15s and Merkava and rockets and bombing and everything.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Certainly in this part of the world, much is made of that imagery every time an F-16 is shown shooting in the Palestinian occupied territories. This causes a great deal of anger in this part of the world. Couple that with what's going on right now outside Ramallah, and it's very, very difficult for the United States at the moment. We go now to CNN's Major Garrett who is in Crawford, Texas along with President Bush. What is going on there? What is the thought and the thinking about what to do next to intervene in this mess, Major?
MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christiane, the first observation I think that's worth making is that today the President of the United States, George W. Bush, was conspicuously absent from public view, devoting much of this Good Friday to his original plan on his Texas ranch, jogging, working the ranch, and playing with his dogs.
But the White House officials here say there is no sense that the President is disengaged from the situation in the Middle East at all. They argue the President is very much involved, receiving hourly updates, and that the President crafted the U.S. response today, emphasizing the U.S. condemnation of Palestinian terrorism against Israeli civilians and not emphasizing any particularly acute U.S. criticism of the Israeli incursion in Ramallah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice over): Infuriated by recent Palestinian terror attacks in Israel, the Bush Administration was in no mood to criticize the Israeli attack on Yasser Arafat's headquarters.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Terrorism that targets innocent civilians has dealt a serious blow to the effort to achieve a cease-fire, and to find a political solution to the crisis in the Middle East.
GARRETT: President Bush dictated the U.S. response from his Texas ranch, dispatching Powell to brief the media after an hour long videoconference with his national security team and numerous calls to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.
Top officials said the Bush team unanimously approved of a hands- off U.S. approach to Israel's assault on Arafat's compound. Even so, administration officials were hard pressed to describe how the assault would change things for the better, and urged Israel to weigh the consequences of its military actions.
POWELL: The President and I are gravely concerned at the situation today in Ramallah. We deplore the killing and wounding of innocent Palestinians there.
GARRETT: Israel tipped off the Bush Administration about its military plans, assuring top Bush advisers it did not intend to harm or kill the Palestinian leader, so the administration did nothing to discourage the Israeli assault.
ALON PINKAS, ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL: We found the American administration to be forthcoming and understanding.
GARRETT: Powell also said Arafat, pictured here in his headquarters as it was under siege, remains a central figure in the cease-fire talks, a rejection of Israel's branding Arafat an enemy of the state.
Powell called Arafat and again urged him to arrest and prosecute Palestinian terrorists some of whom the U.S. believes are members of the Palestinian Authority. But U.S. officials conceded that's difficult while Arafat's compound is under attack, a thought echoed by an adviser to the Palestinians.
EDWARD ABINGTON, ADVISER TO PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: They're saying how can Arafat do more when his security forces can not move around the West Bank to do precisely what the Americans and the Israelis are saying he should do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GARRETT (on camera): The White House argues Arafat can do more, specifically to renounce terrorism as a means of achieving political goals. Powell urged Arafat to do so and do so in Arabic. Instead, Arafat issued his declaration opening the way to a cease-fire, a gesture the administration thought so shallow that on Friday, Secretary of State Powell didn't mention it at all. Major Garrett, CNN, reporting live from Crawford, Texas.
AMANPOUR: Major, thank you very much, and when we come back after a break, how we got to this place, standing here outside the old city of Jerusalem, more clashes that remind everybody of how the intafada started.
ANNOUNCER: Next, how we got here, from here. Our Jerusalem Bureau Chief Mike Hanna takes us down a path of missed opportunities, and death and violence. LIVE FROM JERUSALEM is back in two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: For more on the violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories, head to cnn.com, the AOL keyword is CNN. While there, check out our special interactive section on the struggle for peace in the Middle East.
AMANPOUR: Eighteen months ago, the intifada started. It was here in the old city where it started and in the intervening 18 months, more than a thousand Palestinians have been killed, hundreds have been wounded, and more than 400 Israelis have been killed. Attack and retaliation have simply escalated as the 18 months have dragged on. CNN's Mike Hanna reminds us just how this all began.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE HANNA, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF (voice over): Violence once again erupts in the old city of Jerusalem. Israeli forces storm into the compound Al Aqsa Mosque, as Friday prayers come to an end. Israeli police say the action was directed at Palestinians who were throwing stones at Jews praying at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, the wall right under the Al Aqsa compound.
The scenes were very similar to those exactly 18 months ago when Ariel Sharon paid a controversial visit, insisting he was exercising the right of Israeli sovereignty over all Jerusalem.
The following day, a number of Palestinians were killed while demonstrating against the Sharon visit, and the Palestinian uprising or intifada was underway, the efforts of those attempting to mediate a settlement producing no results.
And this says the Israeli government was the turning point, a suicide attack in Netanya that claimed 20 Israeli lives. The fact that it was carried out at the beginning of the Passover holiday accentuates an Israeli revulsion and anger.
But even more important in terms of determining Israeli reaction is that it was characterized as a strategic attack, and it was part of a wider Palestinian campaign that has as its end the destruction of the State of Israel. Essentially it was seen in Israeli eyes as an act of war and, after a lengthy cabinet meeting, Ariel Sharon emerged to formally declare Yasser Arafat an enemy.
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: We regard Chairman Arafat as an enemy because he decided about strategy of terror and formed a coalition of terror, and therefore, he is going to be isolated.
HANNA: The tanks rumbled into Ramallah and for the first time penetrated into the heart of Yasser Arafat's compound. According to aides with the Palestinian Leader, his movement restricted now to a couple of small rooms.
The action provoking outrage among Palestinians, who say the attack on Arafat is also an attack on the Arab world, which this week approved a Saudi plan for Arab-Israeli peace.
NABIL SHAATH, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: What is happening by the devastation of the attack of the Israelis is really an attack on the peace plan that has been approved by every Arab state and every Arab head of state yesterday. It's a direct hit at the olive branch that was raised by Crown Prince Abdullah and every Arab yesterday, and we are in touch with the Arab leaders in the world to stop the carnage. What is happening really is very, very serious and threatening.
HANNA: The Special U.S. Envoy Anthony Zinni will, at this stage, remain in the region, continuing his efforts to get the two sides to agree to a truce. But now there is every indication that his task is to get a cease-fire in the fullest sense of the word, an end to hostilities now that Israel says its declared war.
Mike Hanna, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: With the Israeli invasion of Ramallah and other parts of the occupied territories well underway, a rise of protests has come from European leaders, urging the Israelis to protect Yasser Arafat and also from Arab leaders. We'll have a report from Beirut, scene of the just concluded Arab Summit when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) AMANPOUR: It's a little difficult to believe that all of this military escalation comes just a day after Arab leaders at their summit in Beirut made a historic declaration. Remember, for the first time in 50 years the Arab states have now said collectively that as a block, they would offer Israel normal relations, end the conflict, recognize Israel's right to exist in exchange for withdrawal to the 1967 borders.
This violence and escalation on both sides here has certainly cast somewhat of a shadow over that. CNN'S Rula Amin joins us from Beirut. Rula, what have the leaders been saying today in view of what's going on in Ramallah and in the occupied territories?
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the leaders have been watching very closely what has been happening. We spoke to Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia today. His aides said that he was up all night. They were up all night, watching what's happening, calling U.S. officials, urging them to do something.
Now all this latest development is also rising the anger and the frustration and disappointment on the Arab streets. It's pressure that the leaders are feeling and have been feeling for a while. Today in Damascus, in Kidal (ph), in Aman, there were demonstrations in support of the intifada, asking the leaders to do something.
Crown Prince Abdullah told us that he had urged the United States to intervene to stop Mr. Sharon. While he was talking to us, he had a phone call from a U.S. official. He would not reveal his name, but he did say he got assurances that Mr. Arafat will not be harmed.
Still, Crown Prince Abdullah said he's still concerned. He was very critical of Mr. Sharon's latest measures. He had the strongest words in describing Mr. Sharon and his actions. He used the word "criminal." He said that "he's drenched in his blood." He said "what is happening is savage, inhuman, and despicable."
The Crown Prince also made it clear that he's very concerned that this would lead to more violence. He said someone should think, why would a 16-year-old girl, referring to this woman who carried out the suicide bombing in Jerusalem today which killed three Israelis, he said one should think why would a 16-year-old girl wrap explosives around her waist. It's humiliation. It's occupation. It's the fact that there's injustice. Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Rula, the Arab leaders generally, while condemning attacks on civilians made precisely those comments that you're making, talking about the justification or the reasons for it.
Also obviously, the Arab Summit, there were mixed messages if you like coming out. On the one hand, we heard this offer of peace. But on the other hand, the public support for the intifada, the pledges of millions of dollars of money for the Palestinians during this intifada.
What kind of message, do you think, the Arab leaders are trying to send to Yasser Arafat and to Israel and to the international community?
AMIN: Well, they're trying to say that there is a way out. Crown Prince Abdullah said the way out is for Israel to accept - to end the occupation, withdraw from the land and then and only then, there's peace and security for Israelis. Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Rula, thank you very much indeed, and when we come back we will have a report from the United Nations, where the Security Council is meeting in a special session called by the Palestinians.
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AMANPOUR: U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan was a special guest at the Arab Summit in Beirut. He has called harshly on both sides to show responsibility right now.
In Beirut he called on Israel to end its occupation and the Palestinians to end, what he called, morally repugnant suicide attacks. He is now back in New York, chairing an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council called to discuss this escalating crisis here, and CNN's Richard Roth is there at the United Nations. Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christiane, the United Nations Security Council is home to the bedrock of resolutions, international law regarding the Middle East. The fact that they haven't exactly been lived up to by all parties over decades, doesn't mean that the Security Council would like some action right now, some members, while others think now's not the time.
Right now inside the Security Council the Algerian Ambassador, who does not sit on the council, is addressing the delegates. He says Israel is committing mindless unbridled violence in its assault on Arafat's compound, similar remarks from other Arab countries. Syria's Ambassador accused Israel of practicing extermination and genocide.
The Israeli Ambassador Yehuda Lancry responded saying that Israel can't walk the aisle of peace alone, that it withheld any reaction to violence by the Palestinians in the last few days, but just now had to respond to the Passover massacre.
Secretary General Annan, as you mentioned, in the room here. He once again said acts of terrorism by Palestinians are morally repugnant, but he also condemned Israel's assault on Arafat's compound.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KOFI ANNAN, SECRETARY-GENERAL, UNITED NATIONS: Terrorism will not bring the Palestinian people closer to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Yet, I have also consistently voiced criticism over Israel's use of disproportionate lethal force, especially in civilian populated areas in response to these attacks. Such use of force will bring neither peace nor security to Israel.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROTH (on camera): The U.S. condemned the Palestinian suicide bombings, urged some caution on the part of Ariel Sharon, but said there shouldn't be a resolution tonight. The speeches should speak for themselves. Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Well, Richard, I was just going to ask you, is the point of this session to pass a resolution on any particular issue, or is it just to debate this crisis?
ROTH: The Palestinian representative in effect demanded an order from the Security Council, calling on Israel to withdraw from Palestinian cities. This call was echoed by others; however, it's extremely unlikely this evening, and it may not be at all this weekend that there will be any action. The U.S. is determined to stop any resolution that calls on Israel for now to withdraw.
AMANPOUR: Richard, thank you very much. And indeed, the last resolution that was passed at the Security Council a few weeks ago called on the Palestinian state to be created.
At this point here, the situation is very, very dangerous and very, very difficult to decide and determine what might happen next, everybody calling on the Israelis to show restraint, to certainly refrain from any harm to Yasser Arafat.
Obviously as well, the Palestinians wondering what is going to happen next, as the Israelis say there will be no limit to this current invasion and this current military operation.
That's all we have time for tonight. I'm Christiane Amanpour. Good night from Jerusalem.
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