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Jerusalem: Fighting continues in the Middle East; Israel is beginning to withdraw from a couple of towns in the occupied territory; Children are Terrified of the Conflict
Aired April 08, 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sharon gets his message once again in a face-to-face meeting with Anthony Zinni again today, but Israel says its fighting or its very future and will not concede now. That's next, LIVE FROM JERUSALEM.
ANNOUNCER: Fighting continues in the Middle East with battles being fought on a number of fronts. The United States turns up the heat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I spoke to the president earlier this morning and he is expecting action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: The action, a withdrawal by Israel and a crackdown by Yasser Arafat. And tonight, signs that Israel is beginning to withdraw from a couple of towns.
For the children in the region, the conflict is terrifying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAPHNE BEVENISTY, STUDENT: There was once, in our school, this bag that I think the kid - a kid forgot. And then, the -- like the police came and all that stuff and we all got scared.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Student life in a region under fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AARON APPELFELD: After six million Jews have been exterminated in Europe, why still they do hate us?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: On this Israeli National Day of Remembrance, a candid conversation about the Holocaust with author and Holocaust survivor, Aaron Appelfeld. LIVE FROM JERUSALEM, Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: Hello again from Jerusalem. The U.S. once again cranked up the pressure on the Israeli government and in turn, Jerusalem did respond in part. Late word tonight, the Israeli Army telling CNN a partial withdrawal from two West Bank towns has already begun. The two towns involved here, Tulkarem and Qalqilya sitting right along the western edge of the West Bank. By morning, they say, that withdrawal may be complete.
In another strong statement today, President Bush came out with words again directed at both sides. His demands quite clear in the statement made today in Tennessee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I meant what I said to the prime minister of Israel. I expect there to be a withdrawal without delay. And I also meant what I said to the Arab world, that in order for there to be peace, nations must stand up, leaders must stand up and condemn terrorists and terrorist activity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: That was in the U.S. earlier today. Our day today in Israel began in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. Ariel Sharon, another strong statement to his people and his government, saying Israel will not stop now. Jerrold Kessel now, more on the day today in Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Less a deviant Israeli prime minister more Ariel Sharon declaring he has the initiative and he wants to keep it, means to keep it, first and foremost, by allowing the Army to complete its declared anti-terror campaign despite U.S. demands that it wind up without delay.
ARIEL SHARON, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAELI (through translator): The idea will continue with the operation as quickly as possible, until the mission is completed, until Arafat's terror structure is disassembled and until the killers hiding in various places like in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem are captured.
KESSEL: That week-long standoff with one of the Christian world's holiest sites punctuated by a fire set off and exchanged bullets between the besieging Israeli troops and the besieged Palestinian gunmen, only one of the places where the Israeli Army continues its offensive. Mr. Sharon's resolve as to what will come immediately after the mission against terror is over is set to test U.S. resolve.
SHARON (through translator): Our forces will be mobilized in other regions in order to serve as a buffer between the Palestinian territory and our territory, in order to prevent any infiltrations into Israeli territory and terror attacks on the Israeli civilians. KESSEL: With Mr. Sharon labeling Yasser Arafat the leader of a regime of terror, he implied there could no longer be any dealing with Mr. Arafat's Palestinian authority, therefore, no hope of achieving the U.S. goal, a ceasefire.
"It's the occupation, that's the problem," the prime minister was heckled repeatedly by Arab members of parliament. Palestinians accuse the Israeli leader of killing off the Powell mission even before it's begun.
SAEB ERAKAT, PALESTINIAN CABINET MINISTER: To those who believed for a moment and closed their eyes to the reality and believe that Sharon was approaching what he called terror, I think it's obvious that the man's end game all along the way was to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, dismantle the peace process, to resume occupation.
KESSEL: And Palestinians say Sharon is finally unmasking his real intentions. The prime minister says Mr. Powell should look beyond the Palestinian Authority for resolution of the Arab/Israeli conflict, saying he had found positive elements in the Saudi peace initiative.
SHARON (through translator): I intend to discuss with him the ways to lead to the stopping of terror and to push ahead the initiative we are presenting here, permitting with leaders of the region in order to start a process of discussing peace in the Middle East.
KESSEL: As Mr. Sharon lays down the contours he envisions for Israel's future relations with Palestinians in the West Bank, his foreign minister chose to highlight the other urgent imperative in Israeli policy making.
SHIMON PERES, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: The sooner the better, we should try to make a supreme effort not to create a coalition course with the United States.
KESSEL (on-camera): In the wake of his path glazing, Sharon addressed to the Knesset here, the big unanswered question -- is there enough? Indeed, is there anything in his vision on which the United States can build, on which the United States may want to build?
Jerrold Kessel, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: And nowhere else in the Middle East was the fighting more detailed than in the West Bank down of Jenin. CNN crews in that area counted a minimum 19 missiles hitting a specific refugee camp inside that West Bank town earlier today.
Meanwhile, in Nablus, more fighting Monday. Israeli defense forces say 100 Palestinian gunmen did surrender to Israeli troops later. Meanwhile, in Bethlehem, you heard Jerrold Kessel mention a few moments ago, the situation there is still tense and today, residents there took that tension out on each other. Ben Wedeman went back to Bethlehem today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is one man's escape from a city at war. Yusif Battah plays his oud (ph) to forget and there's plenty from the last week he'd like to forget. For 20 years, he made a living playing in Israeli bars.
"Jews and Arabs used to eat and drink together," he says. "And I wish it could be like that again, if only it could." But he need only step out his door to see why, for now, it can't.
Like tourists in hell, journalists crunch down narrow glass- strewn allies, running into Israeli soldiers who don't want the attention. They say they're here looking for terrorists.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Come on, come on, go now. Go now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Go now, don't come back or your tapes will be taken.
WEDEMAN: Much of the time, the streets of the old city are deserted, but inside these ancient homes are thousands of people, trying to live ordinary lives in these most unordinary of times.
(on-camera): Bethlehem's old city is a heavenly populated area, heavily populated with civilians. We have yet to see in the six days we've spent here one-armed Palestinian.
(voice-over): They are out there, according to the Israeli Army. As many as 200 in the Church of the Nativity, others scattered around town.
Mid-afternoon, people venture out to salvage what they can from a shop to get some fresh air. Some strolled in from other parts of town, like American Cyril Litecky, who works at Bethlehem University. He's astounded by the wreckage in the city.
CYRIL LITECKY, BETHLEHEM UNIVERSITY: And it seems to me that Sharon feels that he's above the law, above any international legality or against U.N. resolutions and that he can do whatever he pleases. And it seems to me that he's getting away with it.
WEDEMAN: Then the shooting began; a sniper targets a rebel- strewn square. Residents must cross the square to buy food. The need to survive overcoming the fear of sudden death.
For some, it was a spectator sport almost. Also waiting to cross, a convoy of Red Cross cars come to deliver food. The shooting subsides. They rush across to cover. They brought 200 bags of food to an area where the curfew had never been lifted, where food is running out. (UNINTELLIGIBLE), until that patience turns to anger, then, into violence. A week of anxiety and fear has brought the people here to this.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Bethlehem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Late tonight, Israeli government sources indicate if Colin Powell wants to meet with Yasser Arafat, they will not stop him. However, Israeli officials say they want nothing to do with Yasser Arafat at this point. Colin Powell will be here later in the week, and right now, he has his job cut out for him. Tonight, the secretary of state is in Morocco, Casablanca and, so, too, is Andrea Koppel.
Andrea, good evening to you, by telephone this evening.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Bill. At the heart of Secretary Powell's Middle East peace peacekeeping mission, was the following dilemma -- how do you ask the Arab world to put pressure on Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, to take certain steps when the U.S. was unsuccessful in getting Israel to withdraw its forces from West Bank cities in towns? Well, tonight, a little glimmer of hope for Secretary Powell, just before his meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, who has a summer home here in Casablanca, Morocco, he got news that the Israelis were going to begin the withdrawal from a couple Palestinian towns even though there was also news that they were going to continue expanding their mission elsewhere.
Having said that, Secretary Powell welcomed the news. He came out of his meeting this afternoon and said that, "We hope this is the start of a pullback and we'll just see what happens in the days ahead."
Earlier today, Bill, Secretary Powell had rather a chilly reception from the Moroccan king. He met with him in Abuder (ph), not far from here in Casablanca. He was kept cooling his heels for a couple of hours and then he was asked while the cameras were rolling and all of us were standing in the room, at the start of their meeting, King Mohamed asked Secretary Powell why didn't you go to Jerusalem first?
There was a lot of pressure on the on the Moroccans, on the Saudis, on the Egyptians, the Jordanians, all of the moderate Arab states, because their streets have been overflowing with angry demonstrators, some of them very violent, who have been watching the video of the Israeli forces in the West Bank and who are demanding their governments to take action. And so, Secretary Powell's mission right now, to try to strike a balance between the two, to get the Israelis to withdraw, to get the Arabs to put pressure on Yasser Arafat, to speak out publicly in favor of the ceasefire and against terrorism by Palestinians. And it remains to be seen whether or not he'll be successful, but at least as the day wraps up here in Morocco, it appears a very, very small step forward - Bill. HEMMER: All right, OK, Andrea. Andrea Koppel by telephone, late night in Casablanca. We will see you here in Jerusalem later this week.
Andrea Koppel, thanks to you.
Saddam Hussein fired a shot in the latest conflict earlier today. The Iraqi leader says his country will not produce oil for a 30-day period. This in protest of the military action taking place now in the West Bank. Iraq produces about two million barrels a day; some of that oil actually reaches the United States. Oil prices shot up on the news. Now, over 27 bucks a barrel.
At the U.N. today in New York, the Security Council was angry and frustrated after repeated calls to Israel to get out of the West Bank. The two-hour, closed-door session did not appear to produce much. That word from New York City.
We'll be back in Jerusalem.
ANNOUNCER: Where life is anything but normal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELAINE ZAKEN, TEACHER: We were told to keep happy and to try and not make the children any more nervous than they are, to try and...
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): But how do you do that? How do you try to do that?
ZAKEN: I do. We do.
BURNS: What do you tell them?
ZAKEN: We force ourselves to smile.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Find out what it's like for the students in a class where the teachers are encouraged to carry guns. Next, on LIVE FROM JERUSALEM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Iraq produces about 2.3 million barrels of oil a day. Through the Oil For Food Humanitarian Aid Program, the United States imports about one-third of that.
HEMMER: Well, one thing that is quite apparent in Israel today is that security indeed is so much tighter. You can see it in restaurants and you can see it in stores. Now, you can see it in schools as well. They're becoming much more vigilant throughout Israel. Tonight, Chris burns and a look at Israelis' view now on whether or not too much security is now present and needed in their own country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS (voice-over): At this K through 12 school in Jerusalem, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict hangs like a dark cloud. Kids have one eye on the ball and the other watching out for the next attack.
BEVENISTY: There was once, in our school, this bag that I think the kid -- a kid forgot and then, THE -- like the police came and all that stuff and we all got scared and we all went into the school. But then it was nothing. Yeah, and we - like, we're alerted for those kind of things.
BURNS: Teachers try to stay upbeat, but it's not easy. Those with gun licenses are encouraged to wear their weapons.
ZAKEN: We were told to keep happy, and to try and not make the children any more nervous than they are, to try and...
BURNS (on-camera): But how do you do that? How do you try to do that?
ZAKEN: I do. We do.
BURNS: What do you tell them?
ZAKEN: We force ourselves to smile.
BURNS (voice-over): It's the first day of class after Passover, a week after the Palestinian uprising's bloodiest suicide attack that killed more than two dozen people in a hotel restaurant. Parents are increasingly fearful a school could be the next target.
(on-camera): Bade Hakirum (ph) is one of the more fortunate schools. Parents here have agreed to pay for an extra guard, about $20 per student per year, but not all schools have that kind of funding, which nearly sparked a solidarity strike among parents' groups.
(voice-over): Adding to the two school watchmen, authorities stationed a police guard in recent days to reassure the parents.
DAKAR ASKINS, MOTHER: I hope it's enough, but I know it's not enough.
BURNS: Officials argue over how many more millions to spend amid a budget crunch.
GIDEON EZRA, DEP. MIN., PUBLIC SECURITY: When you put one man in a school and a suicide bomber comes in, he will go in. He will...
BURNS (on-camera): At least - at least, you have some last line of defense, though, don't you?
EZRA: Yes, but I think that the chances that they will catch the suicide bomber is more on his borders, on his - near the cities on the way to school.
BURNS: Is that enough to reassure parents?
EZRA: It's not enough, but when you have no choice and you have no people and you have no money, then you have to do what's good.
BURNS (voice-over): Meanwhile, a children's show warns kids to tell a grown-up about anything strange, like someone in a heavy coat on a warm day, a sign of these troubled times children, teachers and parents are struggling to cope with, trying to establish a sense of security that's as elusive as the peace that both sides in this conflict yearn for.
Chris Burns, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: A candid conversation with Israeli author and Holocaust survivor Aaron Appelfeld.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER (on-camera): Are the Israelis capable of living next door to the Palestinians?
APPELFELD: I think very much, you know. It is a deep longing of the Jewish people here in Israel to be part of the region, to be accepted as neighbors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: I'm Anderson Cooper in New York. Tonight, on "THE POINT," new allegations of sex abuse and a cover-up involving a Boston area priest, and this time it seems there is a paper trail. Also, from Dallas, evidence that was supposed to be drugs but was actually sheet rock.
"THE POINT" begins in less than ten minutes. Now, back to "LIVE FROM JERUSALEM."
HEMMER: Here in Israel, today, it is National Holocaust Memorial Day. In a moment here, we're going to have a conversation with perhaps the most recognized author on the Holocaust. His story and how today's struggle fits in with Jewish history. We'll have that for you when our show continues, LIVE FROM JERUSALEM>
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Monday, in Israel, was the annual Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARON (through translator): This is the only to ensure that never again will mothers have to send their last kiss to their children on scraps of paper on the way to the crematorium. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This year's theme was "Their Last Voice," letters and testaments from Jews in the Holocaust. An international conference will be held over the next four days.
HEMMER: Israel paused today to recognize the six million Jews exterminated at the end of the Second World War. Earlier today, we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial museum here in Jerusalem. We met up with a man, probably the most recognized author on the Holocaust, his name is Aaron Appelfeld. Israelis say if brevity is genius, Appelfeld is pretty darn close. We talked to him about his life earlier today and also about the Jewish struggle yesterday and today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER (on-camera): How do you feel when you're in here?
APPELFELD: It's part of me, you see. It's part of my - still my life because, you know, childhood is a very strong period in your life. You see better, you hear better, you absorb better.
HEMMER: The first day I was in Jerusalem, I had a young Israeli girl, maybe 16, 18 years old, she found out that I was a journalist and she said, "Well, maybe you can tell me the answer to this question." She said, "Why do they hate us?" What's the answer to that?
APPELFELD: I can't imagine she's referring to the Europeans, you see. Why do the Europeans, after six million Jews have been exterminated in Europe, why still they do hate us? Why still they do demonize us?
HEMMER: Are the Israelis capable of living next door to the Palestinians?
APPELFELD: I think very much, you know. It is a deep longing for the Jewish people here in Israel to be part of the region, to be accepted as neighbors.
HEMMER: We have seen acts of anti-Semitism in parts of Europe, in other parts of the world recently. In a manner of speaking, are the winds of the hatred blowing again toward your people, do you believe?
APPELFELD: We feel it in our back, you know. It's coming to us, you know, especially -- it's very painful and it's coming from Europe because this was somewhere, our battlefield in Europe. And the few of us who survived, you know, and came here, we still feel the, you know, the terrible winds are coming into our back.
HEMMER: Have you ever thought Israel cannot survive?
APPELFELD: I cannot imagine it. We cannot imagine it, you see. After being in the Holocaust, I cannot imagine that we will have here in Israel, a second Holocaust.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: A part of the museum is known as the Valley of Communities, a part of the museum that recognizes the numerous towns throughout central Europe where Jews no longer live.
The memorial continues tomorrow. The national holiday will continue then, and we shall, too, continue tomorrow, LIVE FROM JERUSALEM.
Thanks for watching tonight. I'm Bill Hemmer, good night.
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