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Havana: Did Cuba Share Biological Weapons Technology With U.S. Enemies?; Could a Vacation to Cuba Be Possible in the Future?
Aired May 14, 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.
ANNOUNCER: Former President Jimmy Carter speaks live and uncensored to the Cuban people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (through translator): I have come, rather, to extend a hand of friendship towards the Cuban people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Did Cuba share biological weapons technology with the enemies of the U.S.? Mr. Carter says no, but Washington's worried.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The United States made it clear that we have concerns.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: It has beautiful beaches and tropical weather. Could a vacation to Cuba be in your future?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): If the travel ban were lifted by the U.S., it's estimated a million Americans might show up on the island in first year alone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: LIVE FROM HAVANA: INSIDE CASTRO'S CUBA. Now, Kate Snow.
SNOW: Good evening and thanks for joining us. We're joining you live from Havana, downtown Havana tonight, just 90 miles across the Florida Straits from Key West, Florida. Jimmy Carter, the former president delivering historic remarks tonight to the Cuban people. We'll have more on that in a moment, but there was also another major address in a very different area of the world today. CNN's Wolf Blitzer joins us. He will be live from Tel Aviv a little later this hour. He joins us now for a preview -- Wolf. WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, the prime minister of Israel addressed Israel's parliament, the Knesset today, and strongly defended his policies, including his support under certain conditions for a Palestinian state. Tomorrow, the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, addresses his legislative session. We'll be paying close attention to what he says in Arabic to his own people. All that coming up at the bottom of the hour -- Kate.
SNOW: Thanks, Wolf. Back here in Havana, residents have just finished watching the TV -- watching Cuban television, watching President Jimmy Carter give an address. For first time, a president has been here since 1928. Many of them watched television probably here in the urban area of Havana. Many Cubans have TVs, but out in the countryside, it's more popular for Cubans to have radios and many of them probably listened to President Carter because his address was also broadcast live without any edits in Spanish on Cuban radio.
Now, Cubans we talked to at the university earlier today said that they were anxious to hear what President Jimmy Carter had to say, hoping that his words would form, as one person put it, "a bridge between the U.S. and Cuba." But not everything that Mr. Carter said was complimentary of the Cubans. For more on the speech now, we turn to Lucia Newman, our Havana bureau chief. She joins us live from the university -- Lucia.
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Kate, indeed it was an extraordinary evening here at the University of Havana where just about 15 minutes ago President Jimmy Carter left after giving an absolutely historic speech. For the first time, an American president, a former U.S. president talking to Cubans, the first time since the revolution. He started off saying he had come in friendship, that he hadn't come here to impose his will or to try to tell people what to do, but rather to share his vision, his vision of democracy and his vision of how relations between Cuba and the United States should be.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER (through translator): I have come, rather, to extend a hand of friendship towards the Cuban people and to offer a vision of the future for our two countries and for the Americas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWMAN: He said that the United States was the world's number one superpower now, so that it was up to the United States to take that very first step to try to bring both countries closer together in a relationship, which he clearly considered to be not positive, he said, for both people. But then, he said that the Cuban government had to take steps, too. He made it very clear that he thought that in this country human rights were not respected. His vision of human rights, he said, was not the American definition but rather the definition of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
He made a long list of the things that he thought were not respected here. He said that opposition parties here could not function, that people did not have the right to free speech, the right to assembly, the right to change their governments and their leaders by elections. And in general, one of the main highlights of his speech was this emphasis on civil rights, which he made very clear he did not believe Cubans had.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER (through translator): We hope that in the near future, you will be able to extend your hand over this great division that separates our two countries and that you will be able to say we are ready to join the community of democracies. And I hope that soon the people of the United States will also be able to open their arms and say, "We welcome you as our friends."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWMAN: As expected, President Carter criticized the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba, but he also said that it was not responsible for all this country's ills.
He also spoke about something that most Cubans have never heard about and presumably now have because not only were there hundreds and hundreds of students here at the university but also presumably millions of Cubans listening to his speech all over the country. And that is the Varella Project, one of Mr. Carter's main themes on this trip, an initiative by the opposition that was presented to the Cuban parliament last Friday, which calls for sweeping reforms in this country through a referendum. It is actually contemplated in the Cuban constitution. And he appealed to the Cuban government to take this opportunity to prove to the world that it would let its people change the way things were through the vote and through peaceful and Democratic means.
Now, we have with us a student who listened to that speech. Emil Calinanas (ph) from the law school here heard everything that Mr. Carter had to say.
Emil (ph), what was your impression? What did you think of it?
EMIL CALINANAS (ph), CUBAN STUDENT: Well, I think that that speech was very clear and was very respectful with Cuba because he made analysis about the principal issues in the Cuban and American policies. And I think that he make a vision about our reality, but not -- with a new point of view different than the government from the United States in this moment.
NEWMAN: But like the U.S. government, Jimmy Carter clearly says that Cuba has to change and has to open up its system, be more Democratic.
CALINANAS (ph): Yes, but I think that as an example, that Cuba, U.S. can speak but with respect and with equal opportunities to the both sides because here he can't explain everything that he think about Cuba and the Cuban government can speak with him about our point of view. And we are changing in that, in my opinion. That's a step. It's a new statement of the policy between Cuba and U.S.
NEWMAN: Do you agree with Mr. Carter that Cuba also to take steps in the sense of making internal reforms in order for the relationship between the United States and Cuba to get on the right track again?
CALINANAS (ph): I think...
(AUDIO GAP)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Obviously, we have technical difficulties with our signal coming out of Havana. We hope to get them corrected. We'll take a break and be back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: We continue to work on our technical problems out of Havana, Cuba. In the meantime, though, we want to push on for reaction from the Bush administration to Jimmy Carter's speech. We go live to CNN's senior White House correspondent John King -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Marty, the administration is applauding President Carter's focus on human rights and his detailing of what he believes and this administration believes are the inadequacies of President Fidel Castro and his record whether it comes to democracy or crushing down public speech and dissidence and the like.
There is though an effort here at the White House to suggest that perhaps President Carter would have been better off to keep his focus there. There has been, as you know, a dustup over the past several days about whether this administration is overly aggressive in saying that Cuba might be involved in biomedical research that could be used for weapons purposes. President Carter has waded into that, much to the dismay of this White House.
The president was asked about this earlier today. He, himself, President Bush will give a big speech on Monday, marking Pre-Castro Cuban Independence Day. It is very clear this administration is not, as President Carter would like, about to lift the embargo. Mr. Bush saying his policy has not been changed by President Carter's trip nor have his views of the Cuban president, Fidel Castro.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Fidel Castro is a dictator and he is repressive. And he ought to have free elections and he ought to have a free press. And he ought to free his prisoners and he ought to encourage free enterprise. And my message to Fidel -- my message to the Cuban people is demand freedom and you've got a president who stands with you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: And we are told, in a speech here in Washington on Monday, and then, reiterating those views in a visit to Little Havana in Florida, in Miami, President Bush will make clear he believes the embargo should stay in place. He believes the travel ban on Americans going to Cuba should stay in place, that he would like more people-to- people contact, if you will, between the United States and the people of Cuba, but this president will make clear, unlike the former president, he is not prepared to weaken the U.S. embargo as long as Fidel Castro is opposed to democracy -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: John, this trip for President Carter got off to a rocky start when it came to the Bush administration on the issue of bioterrorism and what Cuba may or may not be up to.
Has there been a sort of change of position or perhaps a softening of stance in the part of the administration in light of what President Carter said yesterday, that he saw no harm?
KING: Well, it depends on who you ask, I guess, Marty, is the best way to put it. The administration insisting that all along what it has said that it's worried that Cuba might develop the capacity, might export dual use technology, if you will, biomedical research that could be used for good purposes like vaccines but also bad purposes like weapons.
In a speech just before Carter's trip, a hawk at the State Department, the undersecretary, John Bolton, said clearly that he believed Cuba had a limited capability to develop those weapons. Now, what the administration is saying is that it's not sure it has that capability, just the capacity. The administration saying it is offering a consistent message outside, though some here see a tug-of- war, if you will, between the very hard-line anti-Castro conservatives in the administration and more moderate people like Secretary of State Colin Powell. Still, this White House is unified in saying it wishes President Carter had stuck to human rights and not waded into that debate at all -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: I'm sure they do. John King at the White House, thanks very much.
A huge number of Cuban-Americans live in south Florida and they are not shy about using their political clout. And many of them watched as President Carter made history by addressing the Cuban people. We have reaction to the speech from one Cuban-American leader, Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban-American National Foundation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORGE MAS SANTOS, CHAIRMAN, CUBAN-AMERICAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION: Well, we think that his speech was very positive, very courageous, done in front of the worst human rights violator in this hemisphere. But I think that the best representative of human rights in this hemisphere, President Carter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: That was Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban- American National Foundation commenting on President Carter's speech to the Cuban people.
Cuban-Americans are allowed to travel to Cuba only once a year. Other Americans have been prohibited from coming here for pure tourism since the 1960s. Kate Snow has been looking at that. And I'm glad to say she is back in touch with us from Havana. Hello again, Kate.
SNOW: Hello again, Marty. Well, we're sorry for that. Sometimes power is a bit unpredictable in this country. We had a power outage here. So we're back with you now from Havana.
Cuban-Americans, you know, can travel to this island but only once a year because of U.S. restrictions on travel. There is a ban on travel for most Americans for tourism purposes anyhow. It hasn't stopped every American from coming here. In fact, last night, we were broadcasting from this area and several Americans came up to watch us broadcast. They told us afterward that they were here illegally.
Tourists from the rest of the world enjoy Cuba quite a bit. They say they don't mind sometimes that so many Americans aren't here. They say it's a bargain vacation and the Cuban government is doing everything it can to bring in more dollars.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): Fifty years ago, it was a playground for rich Americans, 12 miles of white sand called Baridaro Beach. These days, you don't find many U.S. citizens here. The U.S. travel ban keeps them away. More than half of Cuban tourists are Europeans, 20 percent come from Canada.
ADRIANA, CANADIAN TOURIST: The food is wonderful. The people are so friendly and sweet and they're genuine. I mean, generally beautiful people.
ELANYA, YUGOSLAVIAN TOURIST: They're very hip in the -- if you look in their eyes, everyone smiles. Everyone thinking all the time. The atmosphere is the best in the Caribbean area.
SNOW: Cuban officials love to hear that. They've mounted an aggressive campaign to attract more dollars to the island. At this convention, investors from outside Cuba visit with airlines, state-run tourism outfits and hotel chains.
Cuban hotels are officially owned by the government, but about half are now managed by international companies. Spanish company, Sol Melia will run two-dozen hotels in Cuba by the end of the year.
GABRIEL GARCIA, SOL MELIA CUBA: Since -- when we arrive in 1989, you see, the things don't do lots of kindness, you see, and they put a lot of interest on which -- they still happen now. Things have got much more professionally organized.
SNOW: Things will be even better, say Cuban officials, when the U.S. allows Americans back.
(on-camera): The Cuban government says some 80,000 Americans visited here last year illegally. If the travel ban were lifted by the U.S., it's estimated a million Americans might show up on the island in the first year alone.
IBRAHIM FERRADA GARCIA, CUBAN TOURISM MINISTER (through translator): It's possible even more will come whether it's out of curiosity or because of being restricted from traveling here for all those years.
SNOW (voice-over): American tourists would be a boom for what's become Cuba's number one industry. But what about that Cuban charm all the tourists talk about?
(on-camera): Do you think it would be ruined if Americans came here?
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE TOURIST: I don't know. Should we answer that honestly?
(LAUGHTER)
SNOW (voice-over): Nelson Rios Cordero says he's not afraid of Americans trampling the place. A former agricultural engineer, he makes more money now in tips handing out towels. But no matter how much he makes, like most other Cubans, he can't stay at the nicest tourist hotels.
"If the Americans came," Rios says, "Maybe things would change."
NELSON RIOS CORDERO, HOTEL WORKER (through translator): Once the economic situation changes, of course, I think so. If the salary you make is enough, you'll be able to stay.
SNOW: Then maybe he could finally be a guest at the beach resort where he works.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: Off camera, in private, several workers at hotels told us that that's something that really bothers them, that they -- even though they have dollars, they can't use their dollars on certain things like luxury hotels. To be clear, there are some Cubans who do go to luxury tourist hotels, but typically, that's because the government gives them that right as a reward.
One of Havana's most famous hotels is just right behind us here, over my right shoulder, the Hotel Nacional. It was famous because it was built back in 1903 in a unique style by American companies actually. Among its guests before the revolution were Marlon Brando and Ernest Hemingway. Winston Churchill also staid here as well.
And when we come back, we'll have more from Havana. Stay with us.
ANNOUNCER: Ahead on LIVE FROM HAVANA, in the line of fire. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWMAN (voice-over): Even her staunchest political foes say Vicky Huddleston has cojones. During countless government organized protests where hundreds of thousands of Cubans file past the U.S. mission yelling, "Down with imperialism," Vicky Huddleston appears amused.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We'll meet Washington's woman in Havana. Plus, from friend to foe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While Eisenhower recognized the new Communist government briefly in 1959, but when Castro came to the United Nations, Ike snubbed him. The economic embargo went into effect in 1960.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We'll take a look back at four decades of turbulent relations.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: The United States broke diplomatic relations with Cuba in January 1961; two years after Fidel Castro took power.
SNOW: Back with you here live in Havana, Cuba. Just down the street from us here, there's a billboard that reads, "Mr. Imperialist, we are not scared of you." And by the way, it sits right across the street from the Swiss embassy inside of which is the U.S. Interests Section. That's the closest thing the Americans have in this country to a U.S. embassy. President Carter helped establish Interest Sections both here in Havana and also in Washington, D.C. during his presidential term so that there would be at least some form of diplomatic contact between the two countries.
The top diplomat for the United States is a woman here in Havana who is very well known and sometimes criticized by the government. Again, Lucia Newman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEWMAN (voice-over): At this mass rally in Havana, five weeks ago, Cuba's foreign minister accused U.S. diplomats here of engaging in conspiratorial, subversive and illegal activities.
FELIPE PEREZ ROQUE, CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We warned the U.S. diplomats wherever they may be, that we know what they're up to.
NEWMAN: Unbeknownst to the foreign minister, among the 300,000 strong crowd was Washington's top diplomat in Cuba. VICKY HUDDLESTON, PRINCIPAL OFFICER, U.S. INTERESTS SECTION: In my country and I think in most countries, if you're accused, you should be there to defend yourself.
NEWMAN: Even her staunchest political foes say Vicky Huddleston has cojones. During countless government organized protests where hundreds of thousands of Cubans file past the U.S. mission yelling, "Down with imperialism," Vicky Huddleston appears amused.
The outspoken career diplomat may be Washington's woman in Havana, but for the Cuban government, she's the embodiment of the ugly American. Her latest sin, giving away thousands of these little short wave radios to Cuban citizens.
HUDDLESTON: You can move the dial around and find Radio libre, the Havana Cubre and the Tribune Aviarte (ph) denouncing the United States or you can move it around some more and find Radio Marti talking about the need for democracy in Cuba.
NEWMAN (on-camera): Certainly, the Cuban government would argue, that is an undiplomatic and unfriendly gesture on your part.
HUDDLESTON: To listen to the radio?
NEWMAN: To listen to Radio Marti.
HUDDLESTON: To have a choice, to decide whether to listen to Radio Marti.
NEWMAN (voice-over): Commentator Reynaldo Taladrid, who spent hours blasting Ambassador Huddleston on state television, insists se's being cynical.
REYNALDO TALADRID, TV COMMENTATOR: They are giving radios here with a subversive purpose, to overthrow or to help to overthrow the Cuban government, because I don't know if any U.S. embassy around the world is given free short wave radios.
NEWMAN: Ambassador Huddleston makes no apologies for openly criticizing the Cuban government at every opportunity.
HUDDLESTON: We're here. We have this wonderful, wonderful painting.
NEWMAN: The paintings exhibited at her residence as part of the Art and Embassies Program are deliberately those of Cuban exiles or Cuban-American artists who can't exhibit their works in Cuba.
HUDDLESTON: A really, really powerful statement.
NEWMAN: A petite but tough woman who, like the president she represents, doesn't want to give even an inch to her communist hosts.
Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SNOW: Ever since Fidel Castro fought his way to power here, relations between the two countries, the U.S. and Cuba, have certainly been tense. Now, that may change but probably not until Castro is gone from power. CNN national correspondent Bruce Morton now takes a look at the contentious events affecting the relationship.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MORTON: The music plays in Havana. The lovely shabby city gets a little older. Fidel Castro, also a little older, has ruled while 10 American presidents held office and has been friends with none of them.
Dwight Eisenhower recognized the new Communist government briefly in 1959, but when Castro came to the United Nations, Ike snubbed him. The economic embargo went into effect in 1960. John Kennedy's administration began with the disastrous attempted invasion at the Bay of Pigs. Castro celebrated.
Then in 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union had put nuclear missiles in Cuba that could hit U.S. cities, as close as we've ever come to world war III. Kennedy imposed a blockade.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN F. KENNEDY, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All ships of any kind bound for Cuba from whatever nation or port will be found to contain cargo of defensive weapons be turned back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORTON: Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev withdrew the missiles. The U.S. withdrew some of its missiles aimed at the Soviets and the world breaths again.
The Mariel (ph) boat lift in 1980 sent more than a 100,000 Cuban refugees to America.
The end of the Cold War in 1989 hurt Cuba badly. Boris Yeltsin may have hugged Castro, but he cut off aid, Cuba's economy slumped and Castro had to woe tourists and make the dollar legal currency.
With the Cold War over, things did not improve.
WILLIAM LEOGRANDE, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Partly American pride because of the historical, close relationship we had with Cuba, which Fidel Castro yanked away from us and partly, of course, it's the Cuban-American community in the United States.
MORTON: They're anti-Castro of course, and they vote. Shooting down two U.S. light planes in 1996, killing four Cuban-Americans, didn't help, neither probably did the legal battle over a 5-year-old named Elian who finally went home with his father.
Still, Congress relaxed the embargo recently to allow trade in food and medicines. And a new day may be coming. LEOGRANDE: It's hard to argue that we should have this continuing policy of hostility towards Cuba while engaging with Vietnam and China.
MORTON: American tourists used to love the place. One day, probably after Castro dies, they may again.
Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: Next up, it's virtually -- one thing that virtually all Cubans can agree on and are passionate about, that's baseball. We go out to the ballpark when we come back. A baseball game tonight planned where President Carter is taking place.
But before we go to break, a quick look at how President Carter spent the rest of his day today. Mr. Carter spent some time out on the farm this afternoon. The former president who knows a thing or two about farming visited an agricultural cooperative on the outskirts of Havana where they grow vegetables.
Earlier, Mr. Carter met with patients and staffs at an AIDS clinic here in Havana. He spent time with patients there. Cuban officials say their country has the lowest AIDS rate in Latin America.
We'll be back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Baseball has been very, very good to Cuba. The Cuban National Team is considered the best amateur squad in the world. In his younger days, Fidel Castro was a promising pitcher scouted by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Back with you live in Havana, President Jimmy Carter after giving his historic speech tonight is headed out for a much more relaxing event, going out to the ballpark to take in Cuba's all-star baseball game. It's the end of the season here in Cuba. They play during the winter. They play baseball and this game between the East and the West, the two divisions that Cuba has, similar to the American divisions of the American League and the National League, taking on each other in this game of all stars.
President Carter attending the game with President Fidel Castro; he said earlier that he wanted to get his speech done quickly so that he could get out to the ballpark and enjoy himself.
Moving on now, we wrap it up here from Havana and we take it over to Wolf Blitzer, who is going to be live from Tel Aviv tonight where there have been many developments in the Middle East. BLITZER: Thank you very much, Kate. There are developments here in the Middle East. We're here in Tel Aviv, where people live under the constant fear of terror. We'll show you what it's like in Israel's largest city.
Then we'll go down the Mediterranean coast not very far to Gaza, where people there, Palestinians are preparing for what they regard as an almost certain Israeli invasion. We'll have all of that and much more coming up in one minute. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): One is complete cessation of terrorism, violence, and incitement; and two, the Palestinian Authority must undergo basic structural reforms.
ANNOUNCER: Challenged at home, challenged abroad, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declares there can be no peace talks, no Palestinian state until terrorism stops.
YASSER ARAFAT: We hope that will happen, this independent Palestinian state, side-by-side with Israel, Israeli Jewish state.
ANNOUNCER: Yasser Arafat smiling and talking of peaceful coexistence with Israel for now, but can he meet the conditions of his long-time adversary?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A show of force in Gaza from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.
ANNOUNCER: Matthew Chance with Palestinian fighters; one side sees them as defenders of Gaza, the other as cold-blooded terrorists. LIVE FROM TEL AVIV, Inside the Political Battle, now CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: Good evening. It's just past 3:30 in the morning Wednesday here along the Mediterranean coast. We're in Tel Aviv where people are still sleeping, though some people are still out and about as they always are here in Israel's largest city.
In just a few hours, not very far from here, Yasser Arafat in Ramallah will address the Palestinian people in Arabic. This has been a day though of tough words all around, as well as some tough military action.
The Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faced his Parliament, the Knesset, declaring there would be no peace talks with the Palestinians until all violence ends. He also promised military raids aimed at Palestinian militants. He promised those raids will continue, at least for now.
And that's just what the military in fact did, pressing ahead with attacks in the West Bank. Two Palestinian intelligence officers were killed and 15 suspected militants were arrested in raids on four villages. Despite these events, perhaps because of these events, the Prime Minister remains under intense pressure and faces grave risks. The same indeed could be said about his hated rival Yasser Arafat.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice over): They're both in their 70s. They have a long history of mutual hatred, and they've been forced upon each other at this critical point. Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat are also both under enormous pressure from some unlikely sources.
The Israeli Prime Minister is facing a major challenge from his Likud Party political rival Benjamin Netanyahu; at issue, Sharon's support for an eventual Palestinian state. Sharon spelled out two conditions for such a state during an address to the Knesset, Israel's Parliament.
SHARON (through translator): One is complete cessation of terrorism, violence and incitement; and two, the Palestinian Authority must undergo basic structural reforms in all areas, security, economic, legal and social.
BLITZER: Netanyahu, backed by a solid majority in a stormy Likud Party meeting Sunday, says no to any Palestinian state ever.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I will consider what happens if Arafat gets all the powers of a state, the power to field an army, the power to bring in weapons, unlimited weapons, the power to make military attacks with Iraq and Iran, and they were saying that is now how we envision peace.
BLITZER: But Sharon's proposal for a Palestinian state is backed by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, a member of the rival Labor Party.
SHIMON PERES, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER: In my judgment, a Palestinian state is a foregone conclusion.
BLITZER: That's also the strongly held view of President Bush, the European leadership and almost all of the rest of the world. The next Israeli elections are scheduled for October 28th, 2003, but given the Sharon-Netanyahu battle, the continuing terror threat, and other factors, that date easily could be moved up and the outcome of that election could be significantly shaped by this man, Yasser Arafat, who also finds himself under enormous pressure.
Some of that pressure comes from the Bush Administration, the Europeans, and the moderate Arab states, all of whom are pushing for major reforms within his Palestinian Authority and for a greater commitment to prevent terror strikes against Israelis.
But Arafat is also facing very different reform pressures from his own hard line critics, from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other militants who reject an Israeli state within any borders.
This was reflected in the occasionally less than enthusiastic reception the Palestinian leader received during parts of his tour Monday of the West Bank. And Arafat insisted during an interview with CNN that there are sources of terror beyond his control.
ARAFAT: Some, I don't want to say their names, some international power are supporting this.
BLITZER: Iraq?
ARAFAT: I am not speaking names. I will not mention any, had supported them.
BLITZER: Iran?
ARAFAT: I'm not saying names. I'm saying that and their leaders, their main leaders is not here. Their main leaders are outside.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (on camera): Politics here in Israel is always a full contact sport. Let's get some perspective on this latest round of political sniping between Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. For that, I spoke just a little while ago with Yossi Alpher. He's the editor of bitterlemons.org.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice over): The pressures on Ariel Sharon, how significant are these pressures?
YOSSI ALPHER, ISRAEL ANALYST: Well, I think we have to bear in mind that the real event here is Netanyahu's attempt to take over leadership of the Likud. The fact that he has chosen the issue of a Palestinian state is, I think, of secondary importance and from that standpoint, Sharon can soldier on. He can continue with his own policy. I think he can persuade the United States and perhaps even Yasser Arafat that he is interested in continuing to look for some kind of process that would lead to, of course, to his kind of Palestinian state, which is not acceptable to Arafat, but at least could potentially be discussed.
BLITZER: In the big picture scheme of things, looking towards the next election, who won in the showdown between Sharon and Netanyahu? Who emerged stronger with the general Israeli public?
ALPHER: With the general public, undoubtedly Sharon. With the Likud Central Committee which is of course an important group of people, Netanyahu. Netanyahu chose this topic because he knew that the Likud Central Committee always tends to push, to pull to the right.
BLITZER: The man who could have an enormous impact on the political landscape here in Israel is Yasser Arafat depending on what he does. Do you think he, in effect, could determine the next prime minister of Israel?
ALPHER: I would say that for almost the past ten years, Yasser Arafat has probably been the most important political player in Israeli politics, and he certainly could have a dramatic effect if he is minded to begin to make some very key compromises, and to crack down the way he knows how to do and he's shown us he knows how to do on terrorism.
But quite frankly, under the present circumstances, given the lack of incentives that Sharon is offering him politically and given Arafat's own personality as we've come to know it in recent years and his own hard line, I don't see that happening.
BLITZER: So in the big picture scheme of things, what is going to happen? Is the situation going to deteriorate again into all-out warfare and suicide bombings and terrorism, Israeli incursions? Or, is there an opportunity now to end this or at least get some sort of peace process back on track?
ALPHER: Look in the short term, neither Sharon nor Arafat has a strategy for peace, and so here enter George W. Bush. He is the key player if we're going to begin to crawl out of this mess. Only if he is prepared to get into the conflict resolution in the Middle East in a much more aggressive way, put pressure on Sharon and organize European and Arab pressure on Arafat, do we have a chance to begin to stabilize the situation.
So far, there have been some fits and starts from the administration, some good beginnings in recent weeks, but nothing consistent enough as yet to determine that indeed Bush is prepared to become the major player that we need, given our own lack of capacity, ours and the Palestinians, to carry out a constructive dialog anymore.
BLITZER: Yossi Alpher, thanks so much for joining us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (on camera): The Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher, the editor of the webpage bitterlemons.org. Tomorrow, the Palestinian leader, in fact in a few hours, will be addressing the Palestinian people, and Israelis will be watching, listening, monitoring every word.
What he says in Arabic, that will have a big impact on Israeli attitudes towards the Palestinian leader. We have much more coming up. We're live in Tel Aviv. We'll be right back.
ANNOUNCER: Next, we'll go live to Gaza. Fighters getting ready for the invasion they know will come.
CHANCE: At night, members of the brigade plant land mines in earth barricades on the street. Tanks are the main target.
ANNOUNCER: We'll talk with Palestinians ready to die for their cause. Also, living with the threat of suicide attacks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I try not to think about it because it's hard. As I say, people get used to the checks around them and I think people put it in the dark side of their mind.
ANNOUNCER: We'll hear from the people of Tel Aviv when we return.
LOU DOBBS, MONEYLINE ANCHOR: I'm Lou Dobbs with this "MONEYLINE" update. Another powerful rally on Wall Street, the Dow gained 188 points, the NASDAQ soared 66 points, gaining four percent.
Retail sales up more than one percent in April, that's the biggest increase in six months. Watch "MONEYLINE" weeknights, 6:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN. LIVE FROM TEL AVIV with Wolf Blitzer will continue in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Tiny Gaza is one of the most densely populated placed in the world. The thin strip of land along the Mediterranean sea covers only 146 square miles but more than one million people live there.
BLITZER: For now, Israel is avoiding entering the Gaza area, unlike the situation when Israel moved into the West Bank only within the past several weeks. But Palestinian militants in Gaza are predicting it's only a matter of time, probably too much time, before Israeli tanks and troops roll into Gaza. Our CNN Correspondent Matthew Chance ventured into one of the Palestinian training camps. Here's his report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE (voice over): A show of force in Gaza from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. While Israeli forces remain poised outside this territory, they're preparing for what could still be a terrible fight.
Despised as terrorists in Israel, these brigades have carried out shootings and suicide attacks, but they see themselves here as defenders of Gaza subject, they believe, of an inevitable invasion of the West Bank by Israeli.
"If the world will not defend our homes, our families, or our holy places" he says "then we'll do it ourselves. Sharon, the war criminal, is the terrorist, not us."
There is no shortage of grim determination here. Israel's plans to strike at Gaza may have been placed on hold for the moment, but few Palestinians believe an attack has been anything but temporarily delayed, and armed groups like this all over Gaza are still on high alert.
At night, members of the brigade plant land mines in earth barricades on the street. Tanks are the main target, but armored bulldozers so devastating in Jenin could also be stopped. Small units of fighters like this say they'll spread out and across Gaza in conjunction with other groups to harass Israeli forces once they attack.
"In spite of the disagreements that may occur between the different Palestinian groups, we all know who the real enemy is" he says. "Israel does not differentiate between a member of Fatah or Hamas or Islamic Jihad, so we are one front against them."
And from the Hamas leader, the promise of more suicide attacks, as long as Israel's occupation goes on.
SHEIK AHMED YASSIM, HAMAS SPIRITUAL LEADER (through translator): This is the last hour in the quiver of our fighters. We do not have F- 16 warplanes or Apache helicopters or tanks. Our bodies are our only weapons. We have no option but to die in order to defend ourselves.
CHANCE: But it's the coordination on the ground that could turn any West Bank style operation here into a bloodbath. Israeli soldiers might have to fight at close quarters with these men through densely populated civilian areas. The real possibility of heavy casualties, they say, has forced Israel to blink this time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE (on camera): Wolf, it's not just the militants that are preparing for a possible attack, also the ordinary citizens of Gaza. The ordinary Palestinians are doing what they can to prepare, stockpiling food. They've watched the sieges over the past few months in Ramallah, in Jenin and in Bethlehem, and they say they're determined to be prepared and are preparing for the worst. Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: Matthew, when I interviewed Yasser Arafat a couple days ago in Ramallah, he said that his security services have arrested a couple dozen suspected terrorists. From your vantage point, you've been there now for several days, is there any sign that that is in fact the case? What is Yasser Arafat doing about suspected terrorists in Gaza?
CHANCE: Well we learned from Hamas, Wolf, that at least 14 of their activists have been detained by the security forces of the Palestinian Authority. But, the impression we get here is that it is indeed very difficult for Yasser Arafat to crack down on these militants. First for a physical reason, his security forces having repeatedly said time and time again, they've been eroded by the Israeli armed forces.
But also, there is a political obstacle here too. There is no incentive at this stage for Yasser Arafat to really round up these militants and tell the people he's doing the right thing. Wolf.
BLITZER: Matthew Chance our intrepid war correspondent in Gaza, thanks so much for that report. We have much more coming up. Stay with us.
ANNOUNCER: Next, dealing with near daily violence.
ANAND NAIDOO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How long do you think it's going to take?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until everybody gets tired of what it is. That's it, simple as that. As long as you're fueling the flames it will last. ANNOUNCER: The talk of Tel Aviv when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. Life goes on here in Tel Aviv, even though there's a constant fear of terrorism. Our went about the city earlier today to get some thoughts about the feelings and the fears of the people who live here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NAIDOO (voice over): I'm here in Jaffa, the port which is just south of Tel Aviv, and right here at the waterfront a picture of tranquility, boats, fisherman, restaurant goers. It looks pretty normal, or is it?
Only six weeks ago, a suicide bomber set off a bomb in a coffee shop in Tel Aviv injuring many people. It's also been the targets of many, many attacks over the last few weeks. We asked Israelis here at the waterfront how they go about their daily lives, how they deal with this. I see you're going fishing here this afternoon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'm looking for fish.
NAIDOO: When you come out fishing, when you go around in the afternoons relaxing, are you afraid at all?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'm not. It's the same like every day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard, as I say, people get used to check around them and I think people put it in the dark side of their mind, try not to think about it.
NAIDOO: For your day-to-day life, has that changed a lot in the last few months?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you think I'm afraid to go out? I go out every night in Tel Aviv.
NAIDOO: When you're at home and you decide you want to come out, do you hesitate? Do you think about it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little, not all the time. I try to forget all the situations, all the security, but it's in my mind a little.
NAIDOO: What are your hopes for yourself, for your family in the future?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The solution will be found. That's it.
NAIDOO: And you're patient to wait for that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No other way, otherwise you have to take yourself and go on. That's it.
NAIDOO: All right, thank you. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: That's all the time we have tonight, much more coverage of the Middle East coming up. I'm Wolf Blitzer I Tel Aviv. "LARRY KING LIVE" begins right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LARRY KING, LARRY KING LIVE: Tonight, Ann Richards. Pick an issue, she's got an opinion and she doesn't mince words. The former Democratic governor of Texas, a straight-talking survivor who has battled -
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