Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Following Deadly Attack, Israel May Ease Restrictions on Palestinians

Aired July 24, 2002 - 14:33   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Israel has moved to ease some restrictions on Palestinians just one day after a deadly attack in Gaza City. But the move may not be enough to stem the outrage and calls for revenge after yesterday's deadly attack in Gaza.

We're going to go to CNN's Chris Burns. He's in Gaza.

But we want to warn you that you may find these first images disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The bodies of Palestinian children are still being pulled from the rubble of a Gaza apartment building bombed by the Israelis to kill one man, Hamas military chief, Salah Shehade. More than a dozen civilians, most of them children, are dead. About 150 are injured.

Leftist activists say Prime Minister Ariel Sharon again sabotaged efforts to stop the violence.

GALIA GOLAN, PEACE NOW ACTIVIST: ... there was some kind of a chance for a cease-fire. Now that chance has virtually been destroyed. And one wonders if it wasn't intentional.

BURNS: On the street, Israelis have split feelings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am happy the guy is killed. I'm really happy. I will sleep better at night. But I do think a lot about the children, women, and innocent people that got killed there.

BURNS: Foreign Minister Shimon Peres criticizes the bombing, but he's backed to Israel calls Our targeted killings of militants, including Shehade.

SHIMON PERES, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: Shehade is a local bin Laden. He is responsible for the killing of over 200 persons in our country. He was continuing to plan bloodshed.

BURNS: Despite the attack, Peres says he hopes to restart talks with the Palestinians in the coming days aimed at easing Israel's clampdown on the occupied territories. He told CNN Israel is going ahead with plans to unfreeze $45 million in Palestinian tax revenue withheld since the intifada began. That's 10 percent of the total. Israel also will also allow thousands more Palestinians to work in Israel. And it's offering to withdraw from some West Bank cities if the Palestinian Authority can guarantee security -- efforts that were underway last week.

SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: I was meeting with Mr. Peres just 48 hours before the attack on Gaza. I think we had a very serious meeting. We have submitted to the them a whole comprehensive plan, including the security obligations. We had urged the Israeli side to refrain from assassinations -- or what they call targeted killings -- or the closure and the siege -- to give our endeavor the chance it deserves, because we know that such acts will just fuel the fire.

BURNS: Fire from Kassam rockets like these, shot by Palestinians into southern Israel hours after Shehade was killed.

(on camera): And Hamas says more attacks are on the way, that all Israelis are now targets -- that in the wake of Shehade's death, the Palestinian Authority has no business speaking with the Israeli government.

Chris Burns, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com