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Fear and Hope in Middle East

Aired August 05, 2003 - 15:14   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.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: As it tries to push the peace process forward, the Bush administration is debating ways to show with its displeasure if Israel continues to build a security fence separating Israelis from Palestinian territories, among the options, reducing loan guarantees to Israel. U.S. officials involved in the debate tell CNN no decisions have been made.
Meanwhile, with the cease-fire helping ease tensions, Israelis and Palestinians are rediscovering the pleasures of not fighting each other. But there are fears the violence will return.

Here's CNN's Jerrold Kessel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Israelis, the band strikes up, time for splendor in the grass. For Palestinians, the surf is up, summertime, and the living seems easier, should be easier, as people from both communities rediscover the pleasures of not fighting each other, luxuriate in a month-old cease- fire. Perpetuating the cease-fire is now the watch word of the Palestinian leadership.

NABIL SHAATH, PALESTINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: There are no more suicide operations. There are no more rockets thrown. There are no more ambushes. And, by and large, there has been a very serious reduction in the amount of violence from the Israeli side. But there are still many things that need to be done to implement the road map and to make this thing last forever.

KESSEL: Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is worried by the lure of what some of his defense chiefs are calling an illusory quiet. Sharon told senior army officers, Israel had once before paid dearly for not heeding the dangers of an uncharted cease-fire.

It was 1970, said Mr. Sharon. Israel and Egypt had ended a three-year war of attrition at the Suez Canal. But Mr. Sharon, then a regional military commander, said, the Egyptians violated the cease- fire by moving missiles right up to the canal. And Israel, he recalled, did not respond, partly because, he said, people argued that, so long as there is quiet, you don't restart a war.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The Americans promised the Egyptian violations would be corrected. The price we paid for not reacting to the violations came when Egypt attacked in the Yom Kippur War. KESSEL: The current cease-fire is holding, despite sporadic incidents like this one Sunday, when gunmen attacked an Israeli family car and Israel backed off from plans to hand over more Palestinian towns to their control.

Instead of erecting roadblocks, Israeli bulldozers have been shoving some aside. But that there's little other tangible movement along the peace road come from the horse's mouth. Mr. Sharon, challenged by his own hard-liners that he was giving too much too quickly, responded, in point of fact, they have done nothing and we have given nothing.

(on camera): There's a real strategic division between the two sides. Israel says the Palestinians must dismantle militant groups, as required by the U.S.-backed road map plan. The Palestinians say they fear a civil war and need time to persuade their militants to disarm.

(voice-over): Mr. Sharon believes he and President Bush are still allied on the strategic principle that there can be no real progress down the peace road without meeting what they call the terror groups head on. But some believe the United States is beginning to accept, in principle, the Palestinian argument that this is not the time to go after the militants.

As the U.S. administration takes its summer holiday, people here on both sides wonder and worry whether their summer ideal can be sustained if things remain stalled on the peace road.

Jerrold Kessel, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: Meantime, there is a new Israeli law that could split up thousands of families. The law refuses to grant citizenship to Palestinians who marry Israelis. And while Israel says it's aimed at stopping terrorism, critics call it blatantly racist.

The story from CNN's senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After eight years of marriage, there are four children, including the newest, baby Abdul Karim (ph). There is something else new in the house, fear, fear that Israel's new law could split up the Fakriti family and spend Ahmed back to the West Bank.

When Ahmed married Sumer (ph) -- she is an Israeli citizen -- they believed they would get a government permit to be together in Israel under family unification. That permit for them and thousands of others never came.

(on camera): You carry these all the time with you? (voice-over): Ahmed carries a copy of an Israeli court decision which ruled he could not be expelled. The new law overrides his documents. The law is, in effect, retroactive.

AHMED FAKRITI, PALESTINIAN (through translator): This is a very big problem. We're caught in the middle. And if the Israelis decide to kick me out of here, I don't know what we will do.

MACVICAR: Outside the Interior Ministry, every workday morning, the lineup starts early. Israelis, mostly Arabs, come here to apply for the permits which regulate their lives.

(on camera): More than one million Israeli are Arabs. And they are far more likely than Israeli Jews to marry Palestinians. Within the bounds of custom and religion, you can choose anyone you wish. But if you choose a Palestinian from the West Bank or Gaza, the law says you will not get permission to live together in Israel. Basically, it forces the couple to either split up or leave.

(voice-over): Before a Knesset committee, the interior minister argued, the law was necessary to help prevent terrorism and reduce the number of Arabs moving to the Jewish state. "You are trying to tear families to pieces," said this Knesset member.

RABBI MICHAEL MELCHIOR, KNESSET MEMBER: This law, I think, is a blemish on the state of Israel. You can't say that everybody are suspected terrorists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You lose all your rights because, unfortunately, we're in a special situation that we have to protect the Israelis from terrorism.

MACVICAR: At the offices of this legal rights organization, they are preparing to go before Israel's Supreme Court to argue the law is not just wrong, but racist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The message to the Israeli Arab citizen in Israel is that their status as citizens is not equal to the Jewish majority of the state.

MACVICAR: For the first time, Sumer Fakriti said she feels discriminated against as an Arab, a second-class citizen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE there We have lost our hope, our trust in the state. And it seems we are just existing here.

MACVICAR: And they wait and listen for the knock on the door that could take Ahmed away.

Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Sulam (ph), Israel.

(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






Aired August 5, 2003 - 15:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: As it tries to push the peace process forward, the Bush administration is debating ways to show with its displeasure if Israel continues to build a security fence separating Israelis from Palestinian territories, among the options, reducing loan guarantees to Israel. U.S. officials involved in the debate tell CNN no decisions have been made.
Meanwhile, with the cease-fire helping ease tensions, Israelis and Palestinians are rediscovering the pleasures of not fighting each other. But there are fears the violence will return.

Here's CNN's Jerrold Kessel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Israelis, the band strikes up, time for splendor in the grass. For Palestinians, the surf is up, summertime, and the living seems easier, should be easier, as people from both communities rediscover the pleasures of not fighting each other, luxuriate in a month-old cease- fire. Perpetuating the cease-fire is now the watch word of the Palestinian leadership.

NABIL SHAATH, PALESTINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: There are no more suicide operations. There are no more rockets thrown. There are no more ambushes. And, by and large, there has been a very serious reduction in the amount of violence from the Israeli side. But there are still many things that need to be done to implement the road map and to make this thing last forever.

KESSEL: Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is worried by the lure of what some of his defense chiefs are calling an illusory quiet. Sharon told senior army officers, Israel had once before paid dearly for not heeding the dangers of an uncharted cease-fire.

It was 1970, said Mr. Sharon. Israel and Egypt had ended a three-year war of attrition at the Suez Canal. But Mr. Sharon, then a regional military commander, said, the Egyptians violated the cease- fire by moving missiles right up to the canal. And Israel, he recalled, did not respond, partly because, he said, people argued that, so long as there is quiet, you don't restart a war.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The Americans promised the Egyptian violations would be corrected. The price we paid for not reacting to the violations came when Egypt attacked in the Yom Kippur War. KESSEL: The current cease-fire is holding, despite sporadic incidents like this one Sunday, when gunmen attacked an Israeli family car and Israel backed off from plans to hand over more Palestinian towns to their control.

Instead of erecting roadblocks, Israeli bulldozers have been shoving some aside. But that there's little other tangible movement along the peace road come from the horse's mouth. Mr. Sharon, challenged by his own hard-liners that he was giving too much too quickly, responded, in point of fact, they have done nothing and we have given nothing.

(on camera): There's a real strategic division between the two sides. Israel says the Palestinians must dismantle militant groups, as required by the U.S.-backed road map plan. The Palestinians say they fear a civil war and need time to persuade their militants to disarm.

(voice-over): Mr. Sharon believes he and President Bush are still allied on the strategic principle that there can be no real progress down the peace road without meeting what they call the terror groups head on. But some believe the United States is beginning to accept, in principle, the Palestinian argument that this is not the time to go after the militants.

As the U.S. administration takes its summer holiday, people here on both sides wonder and worry whether their summer ideal can be sustained if things remain stalled on the peace road.

Jerrold Kessel, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: Meantime, there is a new Israeli law that could split up thousands of families. The law refuses to grant citizenship to Palestinians who marry Israelis. And while Israel says it's aimed at stopping terrorism, critics call it blatantly racist.

The story from CNN's senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After eight years of marriage, there are four children, including the newest, baby Abdul Karim (ph). There is something else new in the house, fear, fear that Israel's new law could split up the Fakriti family and spend Ahmed back to the West Bank.

When Ahmed married Sumer (ph) -- she is an Israeli citizen -- they believed they would get a government permit to be together in Israel under family unification. That permit for them and thousands of others never came.

(on camera): You carry these all the time with you? (voice-over): Ahmed carries a copy of an Israeli court decision which ruled he could not be expelled. The new law overrides his documents. The law is, in effect, retroactive.

AHMED FAKRITI, PALESTINIAN (through translator): This is a very big problem. We're caught in the middle. And if the Israelis decide to kick me out of here, I don't know what we will do.

MACVICAR: Outside the Interior Ministry, every workday morning, the lineup starts early. Israelis, mostly Arabs, come here to apply for the permits which regulate their lives.

(on camera): More than one million Israeli are Arabs. And they are far more likely than Israeli Jews to marry Palestinians. Within the bounds of custom and religion, you can choose anyone you wish. But if you choose a Palestinian from the West Bank or Gaza, the law says you will not get permission to live together in Israel. Basically, it forces the couple to either split up or leave.

(voice-over): Before a Knesset committee, the interior minister argued, the law was necessary to help prevent terrorism and reduce the number of Arabs moving to the Jewish state. "You are trying to tear families to pieces," said this Knesset member.

RABBI MICHAEL MELCHIOR, KNESSET MEMBER: This law, I think, is a blemish on the state of Israel. You can't say that everybody are suspected terrorists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You lose all your rights because, unfortunately, we're in a special situation that we have to protect the Israelis from terrorism.

MACVICAR: At the offices of this legal rights organization, they are preparing to go before Israel's Supreme Court to argue the law is not just wrong, but racist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The message to the Israeli Arab citizen in Israel is that their status as citizens is not equal to the Jewish majority of the state.

MACVICAR: For the first time, Sumer Fakriti said she feels discriminated against as an Arab, a second-class citizen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE there We have lost our hope, our trust in the state. And it seems we are just existing here.

MACVICAR: And they wait and listen for the knock on the door that could take Ahmed away.

Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Sulam (ph), Israel.

(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