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Live From...
Jerusalem: U.S. Steps in During Middle East Crisis; Senseless Death Brings Chance in Life
Aired April 04, 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The world finds itself in a critical moment. I've decided to send Secretary of State Powell to the region next week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Turning up the diplomacy in hopes of cooling down the mayhem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: I'm happy that the U.S. is becoming much more engaged.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Just hours before a crucial meeting, the chances of breaking the cycle of violence.
In the town of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: tanks, troops and bloodshed. And in Bethlehem, a battlefield.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have an indication (UNINTELLIGIBLE) people from here. OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: A senseless death brings a chance at life. A Palestinian woman's transplanted kidney is from a suicide bombing victim who was Jewish.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: LIVE FROM JERUSALEM, Christiane Amanpour. CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A dramatic intervention by President Bush into the Middle East crisis. Arab leaders, Europeans, Israelis and Palestinians are praising his move and his demand to send Secretary of State Colin Powell here.
But Palestinians are saying they welcome President Bush's speech today, although they didn't specifically talk about what he accused them, not confronting terrorism enough. The Israelis also welcomed President Bush's speech today, although they pointedly said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that the invasion of the territories will continue. CNN's Major Garrett has the story from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Virtually alone on the world stage in sympathizing with Israel's anti- terror raids, the president Thursday joined a global chorus calling for an end to the military assault and new talks to obtain a cease- fire.
BUSH: To lay the foundations of future peace, I ask Israel to halt incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas and begin the withdrawal from those cities it has recently occupied.
GARRETT: The president bowed to other pressures, dispatching Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region.
BUSH: The world finds itself at a critical moment. This is a conflict that can widen or an opportunity we can seize.
GARRETT: But top administration officials concede Powell will bring no new ideas and has no firm agenda. What's more, Powell won't arrive until next week, much later than European and Arab critics of the Bush policy have been demanding.
As to when Israel should withdraw, the president offered no specifics. Senior officials said Israel should pull back, quote, "as soon as possible," again, a far cry from immediately, which is the Arab and European standard.
Still, there's a sea change in the administration's Middle East policy. No more tacit support for the Israeli military, and no more waiting for presidential envoy General Zinni to negotiate a cease- fire.
LEE HAMILTON, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: The president has held back too long. He now will energize his administration to tackle these tough problems in the Middle East. He's shifting his position on a number of key issues.
GARRETT: What pushed the White House? Many factors, among them protests like these in Jordan and Egypt, Egypt's breaking almost all government ties with Israel, fears of a wider war, and an Arab oil boycott.
It all adds up to pressure on Israel. But it didn't spell an end to tough talk about Arafat, still under siege in Ramallah. In fact, the president used some of the harshest language to date to condemn Arafat's failure to stop terror attacks in Israel.
BUSH: The situation in which he finds himself today is largely of his own making. He's missed his opportunities, and thereby betrayed the hopes of the people he's supposed to lead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GARRETT (on camera): The White House still considers Arafat the chief Palestinian representative. But that might change. A senior administration official said that while Powell hopes to meet with Arafat, he intends to see other Palestinian officials as well, a clear sign the administration is trying to build bridges in case it has to cope with a post-Arafat era -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Major, while President Bush didn't put a timeline on the demands he made of both sides, he also appeared not to make a condition for Israel having to pull out of those occupied territories and stop the incursions. What realistically does the administration expect will happen here in the next few days ahead of Powell's visit?
GARRETT: Well, the expectation here, Christiane, is that by the time Secretary of State Powell arrives in the region, it was -- the incursions will either be over or very nearly over. The administration's position is that Israel has a right to defend itself but these are operations of a finite time and really finite goals and achievable results.
The administration believes that most of those goals have been met, most of the achievements that are achievable have been met and it's time for Israel to not only begin the withdrawal but make sure it's over at least almost entirely by the time Secretary of State Powell arrives next week.
AMANPOUR: Major, did the administration officials have any reaction to the reaction from here, from the Palestinians who promised unconditional support of President Bush but didn't mention the terrorism accusation, and from Prime Minister Sharon, who bluntly said that Operation Defensive Shield continues?
GARRETT: Well, White House officials expected the Israeli reaction. After all, they had cleared the speech and gave the Israeli government ample warning that it was coming before the president delivered it in the Rose Garden.
As for the Palestinian reaction, the administration understood that what the Palestinians were trying to do was get out in front of the Israeli reaction. You know from the region there, the Palestinians had their official reaction well ahead of the Israelis. And the administration, though very happy the Palestinians have accepted most of what the president said, they are still looking for Yasser Arafat to go on either Palestinian television or Palestinian radio or some type of media outlet and, in Arabic, condemn acts of terrorism as means of obtaining political goals. And they are also looking for Arab leaders in the region, Egypt, Jordan and others, to say these types of suicide bombings simply are not the answer and they cannot be seen as the answer and martyrs cannot continue to be celebrated as a part of trying to achieve political goals with the Israelis.
The administration is absolutely looking for not only those kinds of statements from Mr. Arafat, but also from Arab leaders in the region itself. If they don't obtain those, they concede openly that this would be a very, very tough mission for Secretary of State Powell -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Major, thank you. And perhaps we might get some inclination of which way the Palestinians plan to play this after tomorrow's meeting, later today, Jerusalem time, between Anthony Zinni, the U.S. enjoy and Yasser Arafat still holed up in his compound in Ramallah.
In the meantime, just before President Bush made his speech today from the White House, the Israelis continued Operation Defensive Shield as they call it, moving now into Hebron. This is the latest town and perhaps the last major town that will be occupied by the Israelis. Also, there was action in Netayna with fierce resistance from Palestinian gunmen as -- or rather Nablus as the Israelis moved into there overnight.
And in Bethlehem as well, a standoff continues at the Church of the Nativity, as Israeli troops continue to tighten their cordon around the Church of the Nativity, but they say they are not going to blast their way in or try to get the people out by force. They say they are trying to negotiate a surrender of those armed people inside that church.
In the meantime, for the civilians there, for the rescue workers, trying to tend to the dead and the injured is a very difficult business, as CNN's Ben Wedeman reports now from Bethlehem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A convoy of ambulances ventures into Bethlehem's old city, an ancient city that has become a battlefield.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have an injured person to pick up from here.
WEDEMAN: Before the Palestinian medic is allowed past, soldiers check him for weapons or explosives. The woman they picked up, ill not injured, was one of the lucky ones. Residents tell of others wounded in the fighting who bled to death in the street, ambulances unable to reach them.
GRAHAM LEMAN, RED CROSS: It's very difficult to work. I'll make no excuses. It is difficult to work. I think you can see for yourselves the conditions that everybody has to work in. We ourselves have to work around that as well as best we can.
WEDEMAN: Easier said than done, people here say. All they can do is wait for their ordeal to end.
(on camera): Here in the old city of Bethlehem, it's a scene of complete destruction. There are cars that have been run over, crushed by tanks, bullet holes in the walls, storefronts smashed out and one interesting thing here: armored plating from an Israeli armored personnel carrier.
(voice-over): In this house, bullets smashed the windows. A family of 10 is trying to get by on dwindling supplies. That and fear.
"Yesterday, the children were shivering with terror," says this woman. Nuns and workers prepare to deliver bread and flour to an orphanage, home to dozens of children. This was the last batch of bread these nuns can bake. They've run out of supplies.
Near the Church of the Nativity, Israeli troops patrol warily. "Open the door," the soldier shouts. They have their own fears. The bomb is a canister of cooking gas rigged to explode. The soldiers in the streets as insecure as the people in their homes.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Bethlehem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Next, what Israel wants. Blunt words from the deputy defense minister.
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DALIA RABIN-PELOSSOF, ISRAELI DEPUTY DEFENSE MINISTER: Unless we have some kind of faith that the other side is starting to fight terror, we won't be able to start our withdrawal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: And later, Colin Powell's challenge. High stakes on the world stage, when LIVE FROM JERUSALEM continues.
But first, time for your opinion. Will Colin Powell's presence in the region lead to a cease-fire in the Middle East? To take the quick vote head to CNN.COM. The AOL key word is CNN. A reminder, this poll is not scientific.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNAN: The word today from the White House was encouraging. And I have spoken to the secretary of state and I'm happy that the U.S. is becoming much more engaged.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Events are moving very fast. At the U.N. in New York today, the security council passed an unanimous resolution calling on Israel to withdrawal its forces from Palestinian towns and cities without delay. Now, shortly after President Bush made his statement from the White House several hours later, Palestinian leader cooped up in his Ramallah headquarters, Yasser Arafat, through his spokesman, issued a statement.
He didn't respond specifically to the lambasting, the tongue- lashing he got from President Bush, who accused him of not effectively confronting terrorism, but he did respond to the speech itself and to the intervention of Colin Powell. He said that he accepted all President Bush's statements and speeches without condition.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: President Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian leadership are committed to the peace process and committed to the immediate implementation of security council resolution 1402. And our repeat our commitment to implement the George Tenet understanding and the Mitchell Report, and also the Oslo Accords, which we signed with our late partner, Hak (ph) Rabin.
We are also committed to the statement of President Bush without conditions. President Arafat said that he welcomed Secretary Powell and he's willing to meet with him, and to put the mechanisms to implement all what was specified in President Bush speech, including resolution 1042, the Tenet understanding, the George Mitchell report and the meaningful negotiations that would lead to ending the Israeli occupation and to the establishment of a Palestinian state next to the state of Israel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Now, official reaction from the Israeli side trickled out in different directions. First, the foreign ministry welcomed President Bush's initiative, welcomed Colin Powell's visit here, said that they were very happy that the U.S. was going to try to seek a cease-fire from the Palestinians, and they said he said at the foreign ministry that that serves Israel's interest of pursuing the peace option.
But from the prime minister's office, from Ariel Sharon, a blunt statement that Operation Defensive Shield, as he calls it, will continue. We spoke earlier this evening to Israel's deputy defense minister. And again, she welcomed Secretary Powell's visit here, but said that without a reciprocal gesture from the Palestinians, the withdrawal would not start imimmediately.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RABIN-PELOSSOF: Of course, this will happen when we see change in the attitude of the other side. Unfortunately, for the last year and a half -- and let's focus on the last two weeks, we have General Zinni here as a special messenger of the president of the United States with a suggestion, with the Tenet Plan that the Palestinians, once and again, refuse to accept, refuse to say a total no and escalated violence while we were restraining our forces, while we were seizing our fire, while we were accepting the American offer. AMANPOUR: You appear to be putting some conditionality to what President Bush asked. He did not make any conditions in his speech. He asked for a halt to the incursions and the beginning of a withdrawal. Can you tell me, are you going to do that, when?
RABIN-PELOSSOF: He was also -- the president of the United States was also saying that he's sending his secretary of state to the Middle East and we welcome the mission of Mr. Colin Powell. We will cooperate will him.
But our withdrawal won't be automatic and won't be without any kind of agreement. We have a very bitter experience with one side of withdrawal from southern Lebanon. And if you're talking about us being a conqueror, then withdrawing without the agreement doesn't bring necessarily peace to the region.
AMANPOUR: So, Ms. Rabin, you are saying that the Israeli government will not start any kind of withdrawal until Colin Powell comes here and reaches some kind of agreement? Is that what you're saying?
RABIN-PELOSSOF: We've just met with General Zinni at the ministry of defense, and we understand that he is going to see the Chairman Arafat tomorrow morning. We hope that he will come back with some kind of an answer from the chairman and we'll have to consider our next moves according to that.
AMANPOUR: It's possible that what comes out of the meeting between Zinni and Arafat tomorrow could prompt you to start the withdrawal. Is that correct? Am I reading you correctly?
RABIN-PELOSSOF: I'm not saying that we commit to start our withdrawal. This will depend on the other side's true intentions and starting to act against terror. And now, the situation is very, very complicated and we have to realize that the other side is starting to do actual things in the field. We are -- the Israeli people's lives cannot be unsecure. We have to supply security to the people of Israel. And unless we have some kind of faith that the other side is starting to fight terror, we won't be able to start our withdrawal.
AMANPOUR: Earlier this week, your boss, the defense minister, said to us that he would need about a week, that's about now, to assess the success and the effectiveness of this military operation. You had a special security cabinet meeting last night. Can you tell us how you assessed the success of this operation and whether you think you can begin withdrawing?
RABIN-PELOSSOF: First of all, we found a lot of ammunition in the places that we entered. There was some very important arrests. And this thing with the Gebril (ph) headquarters was successful. The people went out of the headquarters without fighting. Most of the places we entered and there was no fighting back. And so far, thanks God, in spite of the threats, there was no attack today in Israel on Israeli civilians.
AMANPOUR: It was reported in today's Israeli press that a senior intelligence, or rather security official who was at your meeting said that you, the Israeli government, realized that you only had a couple of days, that was his quote, to finish this operation before pressure from the United States to pull out.
RABIN-PELOSSOF: There are some assessments about the time limits and we, so far, we are acting. We are working in the territories, hopefully to achieve as much as possible.
AMANPOUR: Again I just want to ask you finally, the president of the United States, who has loudly defended Israel's right to retaliate, has tonight called on Israel to halt the incursions -- that's very specific -- and to start withdrawing. That's also specific. It wasn't conditional on anything. Can you give us any indication of when you will start to do that?
RABIN-PELOSSOF: I cannot give you an indication right now because the speech of the president of the United States is being dealt with right now. The official response of the prime minister's office was that we go on with the operation until we get some kind of finance from the other side. So far, because the other side refused to take care of terror was active. Arafat itself was supporting the Tanzim (ph) sending them to send a suicidal bombers into Israel. He, himself, was signing the checks, paying the money to the terrorists. Until he himself says in his voice that he is ready to say that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state, we cannot give up and we cannot withdraw our forces yet.
AMANPOUR: So, earlier this week, Prime Minister Sharon denied a direct request from the United States to have Anthony Zinni meet with Yasser Arafat. Are you saying that, again, the prime minister is going to deny a direct request from the United States to hold its incursions and begin withdrawing?
RABIN-PELOSSOF: I don't think Ariel Sharon so far, also let -- he met with General Zinni this afternoon and General Zinni is going to meet with Arafat. And I'm sure that Ariel Sharon will come to terms with the American president and they will discuss it between them and they will come to some kind of an agreement.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: After that interview, an Israeli government official told us that they thought they would have a least a few days or a week before they needed to wrap this operation up.
We'll be back with more after a break.
ANNOUNCER: A suicide bomber took his life and brought a ray of hope. Next, the symbolism of a single transplant.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SHAHARABANI EZRA, SURGEON: It's kind of life here in Israel. We are all mixed together, patients, physicians, victims, all together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: LIVE FROM JERUSALEM is back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: In the last 18 months of violence in the Middle East, more than 1,200 Palestinians and more than 400 Israelis have been killed.
AMANPOUR: Despite the bitterness and the hatred and the fear that exists between Israelis and Palestinians, there are extraordinary examples of how incredibly intertwined the lives of Israelis and Palestinians can be.
In this story, a Palestinian woman has received the kidney of an Israeli victim of a suicide bombing attack, the attack in Netanya on Passover, which sponsored and prompted this latest military intervention in the West Bank. CNN's John Vause has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a cemetery in Tel Aviv, another funeral for one of the victims of Israel's bloody Passover. Ziev (ph) Vider killed by a suicide bomber at a hotel in the seaside town of Netanya. He was buried alongside his daughter, Savan (ph), also killed in the same attack.
His father, brothers and wife still bear the physical scars of the blast which claimed 25 lives. Ziev survived for a week on life support. When he died, his family donated his organs. And last night, Aisha Abu Hadih received one of his kidneys. She waited for this transplant for two years and finally, this Palestinian woman from east Jerusalem was saved by a Jewish victim of a suicide bombing.
AISHA ABU HADIH, TRANSPLANT PATIENT (through translator): He's like my son, all our sons. Don't think I discriminate between a Muslim and a Jew. It's all the same.
VAUSE: Israelis have no say who receives a relative's organs. They're giving on a basis of need.
EZRA: It's kind of life here in Israel. We're all mixed together, patients, physicians, victims, all together.
VAUSE: Ziev's son told me his father would be happy to know that he saved a life, any life.
NIMROD VIDER, DONOR'S SON: Even if it will be to give his organs to one of the families that was connected to the suicide bomber, so I show that he will give it.
VAUSE: From Aisha's son, gratitude and condemnation of the suicide bombers.
SAEED ABU HADIR, PATIENT'S SON (through translator): But the Israeli army won't stop it. The only solution is the table, negotiations, that is the solution.
VAUSE: And from the family, which has lost so much, hope this gift of life will be a symbol for both sides to end the violence.
VIDER: I won't believe it (UNINTELLIGIBLE) suicide bombers. I have a lot of friends who are walking with Arabs. I live around (UNINTELLIGIBLE). My father taught me all the time that (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Any culture, life is life for us. This is what he taught me and this is what I am doing.
VAUSE (on camera): According to his family, Ziev Vider always believed that Israel could exist peacefully with its Arab neighbors and they say now as a part of him still lives on, so too his hopes for Israel. For now, though, two families both finding solace there can be life from so much death.
John Vause, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And when we come back, the disturbing story of an American citizen killed last week at an Israeli checkpoint.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: According to a new CNN/"USA Today" Gallup Poll, 62 percent of the American public feels Palestinian actions are not justified. Americans are more mixed when it comes to Israeli actions; 44 percent say justified, 34 percent say not justified. Only 41 percent say President Bush has a clear Middle East policy, but a majority of Americans, 55 percent, don't want the President to get personally involved in peace negotiations.
AMANPOUR: There is no doubt that the Bush Administration has taken a high stakes gamble, trying to bring some calm to this situation. But there is equally no doubt that when it comes to peace in the Middle East, the United States is the indispensable nation. CNN's Andrea Koppel reports from the State Department.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the stakes sky high, Secretary of State Powell's third trip to the Middle East since the Bush Administration took office will be his most challenging.
His mission is to secure a cease-fire and a rapid Israeli withdrawal from West Bank towns that were reoccupied in recent days, a tall order considering the inflamed passions caused by 18 months of violence and bloodshed, the most recent Palestinian suicide attacks in Israel and the ongoing Israeli military incursion.
JAMES RUBIN, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: I think the best that Secretary Powell can achieve is to come here and return the situation to the status quo ante where it was last week, prior to the Israeli military operation in the West Bank. KOPPEL: Senior U.S. officials tell CNN by the time Powell arrives in the region, they hope he'll be carrying a package of incentives to offer each side to deescalate the situation. The Arab world will be watching closely.
ADEL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: Success is in the eye of the beholder as they say. Anytime you can save lives, you've succeeded. It is crucially important that Secretary Powell be able to convince Prime Minister Sharon that his policy is dangerous and that his policy could lead the region to disaster and catastrophe.
KOPPEL: Also threatening the region with wider conflict, renewed fighting on the Israeli-Lebanon border, Egypt's decision to downgrade its contact with Israel and massive demonstrations throughout the Arab world.
RUBIN: He's going to have a very, very tough time and I suspect there are going to be a lot more mission by Secretary Powell and direct involvement by the President if he's ever going to bridge the big gap.
KOPPEL (on camera): With U.S. credibility and strategic interests on the line, Powell's mission is a gamble. Sure, he can pressure Sharon and Arafat to take steps necessary to achieve a cease- fire, but what if they refuse? U.S. officials say it's a risk the U.S. can't afford not to take. Andrea Koppel, CNN, at the State Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And some Americans have been in danger here during this military incursion over the last week. Last week, on the day that the Israeli invasion of Ramallah started, a woman was killed at a checkpoint. It turns out the woman was an American citizen and so was her father. Her husband is a Palestinian. And, it raises some questions about what's going on here, as CNN's Michael Holmes reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A grieving father, a United States citizen with much of his family still living there, calls upon his government.
FARHAN SALEH, FATHER: But I'm asking the American government, I ask Mr. Bush where is the human rights they are calling for? Where's the human rights?
HOLMES: His son-in-law mourns for his wife.
MURAD ABU GHARBIEH, WIDOWER: I say to my wife, Sarida (ph), Sarida. She is dead.
HOLMES: Last Friday, on the first day of the Israeli incursion into Ramallah, Murad Abu Gharbieh was in his home with his wife Sarida, and baby son Murab (ph). Sarida, born in Washington, D.C. and a U.S. citizen was frightened and made a fateful decision. HOLMES (on camera): There had been shooting in the streets, but not they thought in these streets. Sarida wanted to take her family to her father's house, literally a couple of hundred meters away. They'd done that before when there had been previous incursions. And so, at 4:30 a.m. they set off. There was no curfew. It proved to be a fatal mistake.
SALEH: When they took my street down, right away they find the soldiers are drawn to them and then the soldiers asked them to stop the car. He stopped the car.
GHARBIEH: Someone say in Arabic (inaudible), like stoop. When I stoop, 20 soldiers, they carry M-16. They shoot me and my wife, like raining.
HOLMES (voice over): Raining bullets you mean?
GHARBIEH: Yes. Yes.
HOLMES: Their car, merely 100 meters from their destination shows what happened, shell casings just feet from the car. Bullet holes riddle the vehicle. Neighbors support Murad's story that the soldiers were only steps away from the stopped vehicle when the firing began.
GHARBIEH: When the soldiers shoot, she do like that.
HOLMES: With the baby in her arms?
GHARBIEH: Yes.
HOLMES: Yes.
GHARBIEH: Yes.
HOLMES: To protect the baby?
SALEH: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
GHARBIEH: Yes. Yes. She do like that.
HOLMES: There's little doubt that the drive was a risky, perhaps foolish one, as tanks rolled in and shooting broke out. But this story is as much about what happened after the shooting as before.
GHARBIEH: I opened the door. He said, "don't do anything. He said don't do anything," and he came and put the M-16, the gun, on my head.
HOLMES: Murad, two bullet wounds in the back of his head, three more in his shoulder, says the soldier told him to raise his hands and then his shirt to show he was unarmed.
GHARBIEH: I said, "my wife, my baby, my wife, my baby." He didn't do anything.
HOLMES: Then an extraordinary claim. GHARBIEH: They do like that, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. They see me and see my wife and see the blood. I'm driving.
HOLMES: And you say they laughed?
GHARBIEH: Yes. Yes.
HOLMES: Bleeding profusely, Murad says he grabbed his son and got out of the car, the soldiers still there. Mufsen (ph) incredibly was not only not hurt, but far from comprehended his brush with death.
GHARBIEH: I think my baby, Mufsen, is laughing.
HOLMES: The baby is laughing?
GHARBIEH: Yes. Yes.
HOLMES: The baby.
SALEH: He don't know.
GHARBIEH: He do like that, hey.
HOLMES: Murad staggered up the road, before collapsing near his father-in-law's house.
SALEH: He was bleeding, so bleeding, very bad shape, and we hear the noise. He was crying, "help me. Help me," and the baby crying. The neighbors from across the street were out. We go out. When we saw his face, God knows what the situation we have that time.
HOLMES: For two hours, he lay wounded before it was safe enough for the ambulances to come.
SALEH: She's like flower, already gone.
HOLMES: Sarida was taken to a hospital morgue, which quickly filled with bodies. Tuesday she, and more than two dozen others, were buried in a temporary mass grave in a car park, opposite the hospital. She was buried in one grave with another woman, the men together in a larger grave.
When the shooting here stops, her family says they will give her a proper burial. I asked Murad what he would say to governments around the world.
GHARBIEH: Nothing. They can't do anything. If I want to say it, I want to say it to my God, because he saved me. The government did not save me.
HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN, Ramallah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: We asked the IDS, the Israeli Defense Force spokesman for a comment, for some explanation about this report. They told us they had no information about it at all. We'll be back after a break.
ANNOUNCER: Next, on the outside looking in, with anger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) .
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ANNOUNCER: And later, the Middle East conflict through Egyptian eyes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN STEIN, PROFESSOR, EMORY UNIVERSITY: I think it would be fair to say the tones against Israel are some of the sharpest, accurate, nastiest that one has seen in over 30 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We're back in two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: Despite the peace that some Arab countries, notably Egypt and Jordan, have made with Israel, and despite all the promises under Oslo of trying to pave the way for peace with Israel, one of the things that troubles observers so much and, of course, troubles Israelis is the continued incitement that continued anti-Israeli propaganda that is broadcast in many, many Arab media and on many, many Arab newspapers. Sandy Petrykowski in Cairo reports on what's going on in the press there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANDY PETRYKOWSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, drawn as a devilish caricature, complete with a swastika, common images on the front pages of many Egyptian newspapers, read all over the Arab world.
News footage turned into a music video, graphic images. These popular lyrics chant, "I hate Israel. I love Amre Moussa." Amre Moussa is the secretary general of the Arab League.
The irony is these images appear daily in an Arab country that more than 23 years ago made peace with Israel, and in a country with a history of government controlled media.
(on camera): Even today, with the growing influence of independent Arab satellite channels bucking Middle Eastern tradition, Egypt's president still selects the chief editors of the leading newspapers, and the government still owns the major printing presses, although Egypt's government denies influencing media context.
(voice over): Many Arabs, like cartoonist Amr Okasha who works for one of Egypt's largest daily opposition papers, says portraying Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a butcher or a Nazi is right on target.
AMR OKASHA, CARTOONIST (through translator): It's the truth because I draw what happens in real life. I am not against him personally. It is because of his political decision. If one day I woke up and found that he had put out and signed the peace treaty, then I wouldn't draw him as a devil and a bonfire. Anyway, this is what he deserves.
PETRYKOWSKI: Al-Osboa, one of Egypt's tabloids, is also well known for anti-Israeli stands. Editor Mustafa Bakri says it is the right tone because he has an agenda.
MUSTAFA BAKRI, AL-OSBOA (through translator): The Arab leader hates Israel. Our right is to print to the street what is going on, but also to push this anger forward.
PETRYKOWSKI: The language used to describe Israeli leaders is often harsh, but Bakri says he would like to go further.
BAKRI (through translator): When Sharon becomes a serial killer and sucks the blood of Palestinians, it's not fair to call him a pig, because a pig is nicer than that.
PETRYKOWSKI: Professor Abdullah Schlieffer has studied the Middle East for almost 20 years. He says anti-Israeli sentiment in the media is at an all-time high.
ABDULLAH SCHLIEFFER, JOURNALISM PROFESSOR: One of the problems is That there is an unfortunate tradition of journalism here, which sort of is what I would call advocacy or partisan journalism, in which there is a very little discrimination or difference between reporting and editorializing.
PETRYKOWSKI: Schlieffer says the use of anti-semitic symbols is born out of ignorance and lack of historical background. But he says there are limits to how such attacks may be used.
SCHLIEFFER: Basically, anything is up to criticism except for the head of state and his immediate family.
STEIN: I think it would be fair to say that today the tones against Israel are some of the sharpest, accurate, nastiest that one has seen in over 30 years. I've noticed that the Egyptian government has not restrained the use of language whatsoever. It's sort of giving them their leash and saying, "you go wherever you want with this. We are not going to impose any boundaries upon you to do so."
PETRYKOWSKI: Government officials say the media's message depends on the journalist. They're free to write whatever they want, and many journalists here agree.
BAKRI (through translator): It's exactly the same amount of freedom the American press has. PETRYKOWSKI: But those who oppose the popular point of view can find themselves in hot water. Well-known playwright Ali Salem was recently expelled from the Egyptian Writer's Union for speaking out for normalization of relations with Israel, which happens to be official Egyptian government policy.
ALI SALEM, PLAYWRIGHT: Thinking, writing in the third world is a risky job, and people have to pay the price of what they are doing. You see even in the progressive world, thinking is not safe all the time.
PETRYKOWSKI: Yet, Salem says he writes what he wants.
SALEM: But I assure that, writers are free in Egypt. Nobody asks them to write so and so and so. They write what they see.
PETRYKOWSKI: And what many here believe is that what Israel does is evil and Egypt's media are not subtle about making that point. Sandy Petrykowski for CNN, Cairo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: In a minute, summing up a never-ending story.
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BUSH: America is committed to ending this conflict and beginning an era of peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: The era many have sought and none have yet achieved, when LIVE FROM JERUSALEM continues.
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AMANPOUR: There have been times when hopes have been raised here in Israel and amongst the Palestinians, and so many more times when hopes have been dashed. Indeed, it does seem that it really is sometimes a never-ending cycle. CNN's Garrick Utley reports.
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GARRICK UTLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It is without people, the conflict and carnage we have been witness to, the dead, the wounded, the frightened. And now, as the United States tries to stop the violence, the focus will be on two particular people, the leaders who have fallen short or gone too far.
Yasser Arafat, who George Bush blames for failing to stop the suicide bombings, and Ariel Sharon who, in the words of the President, has gone too far in humiliating the Palestinians.
BUSH: I expect better leadership, and I expect results.
UTLEY (on camera): A sharp rebuke from the President and right on target. For the job of leaders, of course, is to control the passions and the anger of their people, however justified, and lead, to make a bad situation better. Is that asking for too much in the Middle East?
(voice over): We remember this hopeful moment when leaders worked for peace and shook hands, and Nobel prizes were handed out. And there was that earlier image as Israel and Egypt agreed to make peace, but they needed special help from the United States.
Following the Middle East war in 1973 and the Camp David Agreement, a demilitarized Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt and American troops were placed in the middle to guarantee the peace between the two countries. They are still there, more than 20 years later.
Placing American troops between Palestinians and Israelis is the last thing the Bush Administration wants to do, become targets for extremists on both sides. But security for Israelis and Palestinians is now Issue 1. The idea of an international force, including Americans to separate the two sides, is being heard more frequently, if not yet by the President.
BUSH: The world finds itself at a critical moment. This is a conflict that can widen. America is committed to ending this conflict and beginning an era of peace.
UTLEY (on camera): Which raises the question, how committed is the United States to ending the violence between Israelis and Palestinians? How far is George Bush prepared to go with his leadership? Would he commit American troops to guarantee a peace, if both sides agree to it?
(voice over): For decades, that has been the unthinkable. We may be getting to the point where it is the unavoidable.
Garrick Utley, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: We end our program tonight just a few hours before Anthony Zinni, the U.S. Envoy sets out for some first diplomacy in a week, with Yasser Arafat still besieged in his compound in Ramallah. Perhaps what comes out of there may start a cycle of de-escalation.
But an Israeli government official told us tonight that he believes the continued military pressure will go on for a week at least, until Secretary Powell comes here, until he believes Yasser Arafat will be prepared to sign an agreement to stop the violence. I'm Christiane Amanpour, CNN, in Jerusalem.
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