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CNN Live Today
World Leaders to Attend Arafat's Funeral in Cairo; Blair Flies to Stand by Bush in Post-Arafat Plans
Aired November 11, 2004 - 10:00 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.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR: All right. We've got two big stories, actually of events that we're going to be following for you throughout the course of the day. And we still look at some of that cake as it smolders, I guess you might say.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: All the way down here to Atlanta.
SANCHEZ: The process for burying and memorializing Yasser Arafat will begin while we're on the air here. We're going to bring you some of that. And also, the president is going to be making some remarks in a ceremony today.
KAGAN: Right. It is Veterans Day. And we'd like to send a special greeting to veterans that are joining us and watching. And we'll be seeing different ceremonies including one at Arlington National Cemetery.
SANCHEZ: We'll have it all for you.
KAGAN: But right now, let's take a look at what's happening now in the news.
His followers are in mourning and world leaders and representatives are making preparations to attend tomorrow's funeral for former Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. Arafat died early today in Paris where he had been in failing health for the past two weeks. We have live reports from Paris, Cairo and Ramallah begin being in one minute.
As Palestinian leaders jostle for the top power position vacated by Arafat, Palestinian President Rauhi Fattouh will oversee elections, which will take place within 60 days. He shares duties with veteran Arafat Deputy Mahmoud Abbas, who is now the PLO chairman, Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei, and the newly named Fatah chief Farouk Hadumi.
Stay with us for a live report on the new Palestinian leadership and what it might mean to Mid East peace.
Two Marine Cobra helicopters have landed safely after engaging with grounds forces in the Fallujah area. Military sources say the crews landed under their own power and the aircraft were secured.
And the terror threat level has been lowered to orange, yellow for financial institutions in New York, Washington and New Jersey. Federal officials say the action follows steps taken by the business sector to protect possible targets. And good morning, everyone, I'm Daryn Kagan.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez.
We look to the Middle East on this morning on a death that might breathe new life into the stagnant peace efforts in the Middle East. Nearly two weeks after he left his beloved and embattled homeland, Yasser Arafat dies in a Paris hospital. He died without realizing his dream of establishing a Palestinian homeland. Yet some believe that his death might bring Palestinian and Israeli leaders back to the peace process.
We at CNN have mobilized our vast resources around the world to cover this story and its international implications. That coverage will include CNN's Jim Bittermann. He's in Paris where Arafat died and where his body will embark on its final journey. In Cairo, Egypt the site of tomorrow's military funeral, we have Ben Wedeman. In the West Bank city of Ramallah, home of the PLO, and where Arafat will be buried, Michael Holmes is standing by. And in Jerusalem to gauge Israeli reaction, we will have for you CNN's Guy Raz.
KAGAN: In death, Arafat will travel more in two days than he had in the final three years of his life. He refused to leave his West Bank compound for fear he would not be allowed to return. But that will be the destination of his final travels, which begin today in Paris.
Our Jim Bittermann is at Paris' Villacoublay Airport, where a ceremony within the next half hour will accompany Arafat's departure -- Jim.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. Yes, we're standing by at Villacoublay Airport just outside Paris, to the southwest of Paris, where dignitaries will be gathering over the next few minutes. You already heard that a long line of about 13 or 14 vehicles has left the Percy Hospital, which is not very far from here. Just about 10 minutes from here.
And I think that some of those vehicles have already started arriving here with the dignitaries who were at the hospital. This would be people like, Nabil Sha'ath, Leila Shahid and various delegation members who were at the hospital. They'll be arriving here as well as a large number of the diplomat corps from Paris, we understand, perhaps 100 or so dignitaries that will be here. Prime Minister Jean Pierre Raffarin will be the one who will officiate at this very brief ceremony.
What will happen here, as we understand, is that Arafat's body will be brought from the hospital by helicopter, to just beyond me on the tarmac over there. And the helicopter will land, they'll take the corpse out of the helicopter, bring it to the front of the dignitaries. There may be a few words from the prime minister. We're not sure. We believe also the foreign minister will be here along with the defense minister.
And then they will put the body onto a plane and the members of the delegation that will be accompanying Arafat to Cairo, will take off from here and should be in Cairo about four or five hours later.
KAGAN: Jim Bittermann in Paris, thank you.
SANCHEZ: Now we go to Cairo and the preparations for tomorrow's military funeral. More than two-dozen world leader and dignitaries are expected to attend. Already police are lining the streets and positioning themselves atop some tall buildings, as well.
CNN's Cairo bureau chief Ben Wedeman is joining us now by videophone.
Hi, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF: Hi, Rick. Well it's going to be an invitation only ceremony full of heads of state, senior officials and other significant dignitaries. But it's worth noting that Yasser Arafat had a number of connections with the ordinary people of Cairo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN (voice-over): In Cairo's Sakakini Quarter, they remember Yasser Arafat. Seventy-five-year-old Hajj Hilmi, the barber regularly cut Arafat's hair, and recalls a polite but intense young man.
"I used to chat with him as a customer," he recalls. "He liked to talk about his political activities. He was a real revolutionary."
Hajj Hilmi says he never thought Arafat would go so far.
(on camera): Yasser Arafat grew up in this Cairo neighborhood. His mother shopped in this store. Cairo had such a lasting impression on him that he spoke Arabic with an Egyptian accent.
(voice-over): Sakakini, once a solidly middle-class neighborhood, has fallen on harder times. It was home not only to Muslims and Christians, but Jews as well. A cosmopolitan Middle East that has largely disappeared during the last half-century of conflict.
Shopkeeper Selah Hadin was a teenager when he met Arafat.
"We saw him as an ordinary civilian," he says. " It makes us proud to see what became of him."
Arafat's father, a businessman, left Palestine just before his son's birth year here in 1929. Arafat went to a local private school, and later studied engineering at Cairo University, where he became the firebrand leader of the Palestinian Students Union. He left Egypt in the 950s. His political ambitions taking him around the Middle East. But frequently returned to Cairo as his star in the Palestinian resistance rose.
But in the streets of Sakakini, Yasser Arafat will always be the local boy who reached the big time.
(END VIDEOTAPE) WEDEMAN: But of course, he was also somebody who was seen as dying a tragic death. A sad death, following four years of essential confinement to his headquarters in the West Bank -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: It wasn't your typical situation where a reporter gets a chance to meet a world leader in this case. But apparently he came to you at one point after you, Jim, had had a situation in Gaza, right, where you'd been shot? Can you tell us a little bit about that?
WEDEMAN: That's right, Rick. That was in October of 2000, really just a few weeks after the outbreak of the current Palestinian Intifada. I was shot by Israeli forces during a clash between the Israelis and the Palestinians. And basically I was lying in a hospital bed in Gaza, and under a lot of sedation, just sort of lying there. And all of a sudden without any forewarning whatsoever, Yasser Arafat walked into the room. And he comes up to me, and kisses me, pats me on the chest, asks me how I was. We had a brief conversation.
He didn't come to see me in particular. He really came to that hospital, which was full of people who had been wounded in a very bloody day. But this was really typical, Rick, of Yasser Arafat, who was a man who never hesitated to really reach out to ordinary people.
Now, of course, the Israelis really despised him, considering him a terrorist. But for ordinary Palestinians and Arabs as well in Egypt and elsewhere, he was seen as something of a folk hero who didn't take on all the trappings of state, the villas and the palaces and the whatnot. He was a man who was seen as an ordinary sort of hero of the people. And that's one of the reasons why we've seen this outpouring of grief throughout the Arab world -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Interesting story. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Ben Wedeman following the story there in Cairo -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Within hours of Arafat's death, the PLO's executive committee unanimously elected his successor. Mahmoud Abbas is a former prime minister and a veteran peace negotiator.
Our Michael Holmes is outside the PLO compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah. He joins us with a closer look at the next leader of the Palestinians, at least for now. Michael Holmes.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed. Daryn, that's right. There has been activity here all day, as workers have been preparing the compound behind me for the burial of Yasser Arafat, which is likely to take place around 3:00 p.m. local time tomorrow.
Now, what's been happening is they've been clearing out all the rubble from the last three years of Israeli incursions and the like. They have started to build a monument to Yasser Arafat. However, now they parked trucks around it; and we're unable to see the progress of it.
You mentioned those meetings, those various appointments that took place this day. And they are very important ones. As you said, Abu Mazen/Mahmoud Abbas, the former prime minister, No. 2 in the PLO is now No. 1 in the PLO. This is a very, very important position. The PLO is the premiere political body, if you like, for all Palestinians of the Diaspora, as well as here in the West Bank and also Gaza. Now, he is a man that many are tipping will also be selected by Fatah. It's not firm, of course. But the smart money is on Abu Mazen to be selected as the Fatah candidate when elections are hopefully held in 60 days.
The other very important vote, which was one that we all knew would happen did take place. That was the swearing in of Rauhi Fattouh, who is the speaker of the parliament, the legislative assembly. He was sworn in as the president, if you like. The interim president, at least, of the Palestinian people. He's going to hold that position under the constitution for the next 60 days, when elections are due to be held.
Will they be held? Well, it depends on a lot of things, not least Israeli cooperation. There are still Israeli forces in many parts of the West Bank. And they will have to move out or move back at least for elections to be able to be carried out easily -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Michael Holmes with the latest from Ramallah. Michael, thank you.
SANCHEZ: Another big story that we're going to following throughout the day. The battle continues in the streets of Fallujah. And in the midst of the fighting, U.S. officials uncover a hostage who was shackled and beaten. We'll tell you where it happened and how it happened, straight ahead.
KAGAN: Plus, a replica boat appears, another juror is booted off, and more drama continuing to unfold in the Scott Peterson murder trial.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. With the passing of Yasser Arafat, the Bush administration sees a new opportunity for the Palestinians and for peace. I'll have more on that coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And welcome back to CNN LIVE TODAY. I'm Rick Sanchez.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives in Washington tonight. His talks with President Bush will focus in large part on the impact of Arafat's death on Mid East peace efforts.
CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has been looking ahead to these meetings.
There is really not a dispute over the fact that Minister Blair has got a very different opinion about the Middle East than President Bush. Does he not? MALVEAUX: Well, Rick, certainly in the days and months past, the president -- the prime minister, rather, has actually been privately pushing the Bush administration for some time to become re-engaged in the Middle East peace process. That is something that assuredly will come up between the two leaders.
Now President Bush, as you know, has refused to meet with Yasser Arafat, consider him largely an obstacle to Middle East peace. But yesterday he offered his condolences to Yasser Arafat, releasing a statement saying in part, "The death of Yasser Arafat is a significant moment in Palestinian history. We express our condolences to the Palestinian people. For the Palestinian people, we hope that the future will bring peace and the fulfillment of their aspirations for an independent, Democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbors."
Now, after a great deal of debate within the administration they have decided to send Assistant Secretary of State William Burns to Arafat's funeral. This is not a head of state, as you note...
SANCHEZ: Suzanne...
MALVEAUX: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Suzanne, I'm just going to interrupt you for a moment and we'll continue this conversation. Just to let the viewers know what we're looking at there. That's the helicopter that will take Mr. Arafat's body. This is that ceremony that we've been telling you about that will be taking place -- a short ceremony that will be taking place Villacoublay Air Base there in Paris. That's part of the ceremony today.
Then the body will be flown to Cairo, according to some of the French Defense Ministry officials there. Then in Cairo, will be a military funeral or memorial ceremony, as some are calling it. Then on Saturday, the body will end up there.
There you see now the casket. Or what seems to appear to us to be the casket. This is tape we're looking at from earlier today, when it was taken from the hospital to the helicopter, that you are seeing just moments ago. This is really just the very beginning, in the process of both the memorial and the eventual burial in Ramallah of Yasser Arafat.
And this is a story with some very important political aspirations, or pardon me, political implications, which is exactly what leads us to this conversation we're having with Suzanne Malveaux. Conversations that will be taking place, no doubt in the White House, between Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush.
Continue, if you would, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: What we were mentioning, as well. It's going to be William Burns, who is the assistant secretary of state who is actually going to be attending the funeral service of Arafat. He is not, as you know, a head of state. It is a reflection really of the tension between the Bush administration and the Palestinian leadership.
But Bush officials say there really is an opportunity, an opening here that they see with this event for the Palestinian people to prove, the leadership, that they can crack down on militant groups, as well as curb violence. A new opportunity perhaps for the United States and Israelis to reengage in the Roadmap, that two-state solution.
And the Bush administration believes that it can work with this new leadership. That being of Ahmed Qorei. He, of course, being the former Palestinian -- the current, rather, Palestinian prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the former. Mahmoud, Abbas, actually having visited with President Bush here at the White House back in July of last year.
Now, of course, it is British Prime Minister Tony Blair who will be here at the White House, later today to meet with the president. It was a previously scheduled visit. But what has happened is that privately, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been trying to push the Bush administration to become re-engaged in that Middle East peace process. It is very likely that that is going to be a subject of conversation among many between the two leaders -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Yes. And the question will be, will the White House re-engage? And was their failure to engage a part of the very existence of Yasser Arafat? Or was it the PLO in and of itself? Questions that we will perhaps have answers to in the days and weeks to come.
Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so much for that report.
There we see again some of the pictures that we're just getting in from Paris now, of what will be a process -- a short process we understand at Villacoublay Air Base. A small ceremony there with the body of Yasser Arafat.
KAGAN: A lot more news to cover here, especially news here in the U.S. Still to come on CNN LIVE TODAY, more drama unfolding in the Scott Peterson trial as another juror gets shown the door.
SANCHEZ: Hmm. Also, he says that he was put in a compromising position to protect Liza Minnelli. Now the court must decide did Liza overstep her bodyguard's boundaries?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: We want to go back to these live pictures from Paris, France. This helicopter taking off just outside the hospital where Yasser Arafat died over the last 24 hours. The casket carrying his body is on board that helicopter. It's going to take a short ride and it's going to over to the Villacoublay Airport, where the casket and body will be put on an airplane, flown to Cairo where the first funeral service will be taking place. And then on to Ramallah where Yasser Arafat will be buried. SANCHEZ: Yes. Just moments ago we saw a picture of Suha, his wife coming into -- we've tried to get as much information as we can on what kind of ceremony this is going to be. At least as far as I'm concerned -- or least as far as I was able to see, I didn't see mention of her taking part. But I don't know if it's political symbolism. But that might be a very important part of this ceremony, exactly what her role will be in all of this.
KAGAN: Well, her role in all of this has been really fascinating in the last couple of weeks. This is a woman controversial within the Palestinian community. Was not living in Ramallah with her husband. Not heard from or seen from a lot, and when Yasser Arafat took ill and was taken to the hospital, suddenly showed up.
And according to French law, had complete control and access over her husband's care, and who was able to see him. And then gave a very impassioned and emotional interview to Arabic television claiming that the Palestinian leadership was trying to, as she said, "Bury her husband alive."
SANCHEZ: It seems like they've made peace though. Last reports that we were getting, the last few days just prior to them announcing that he had passed away, there were some meetings between the Palestinian delegation and Suha and it seemed they had come to terms. Now, it would seem, as well, that there's a bit of a power struggle going on, as to who really has, you know, legitimate control of the process of Arafat.
KAGAN: It's not just the process. It's the billions of dollars that are questionable of Palestinian aid that's been missing from over the years.
So as we mentioned, this helicopter is going to go from this hospital to the Villacoublay Airport.
Our Jim Bittermann is standing by there to tell us a little bit more about the ceremony that will take place once the casket and the body arrive -- Jim.
BITTERMANN: Hi, Daryn. I'm not sure you can see it. But in the background behind me there's a number of dignitaries have already assembled out here. It is a bitterly cold day with high winds. So this is a very breezy place to be. They've waited until the last minute here to come out on the tarmac.
We expect 100 or more dignitaries are going to be here. These are members of the diplomatic corps, they're members of a Palestinian delegations in Paris, and other representatives of other parts of the Arab world here in Paris. As well as the prime minister, the defense mister, the foreign minister, they're all going to be here.
What we expect to have happen here is that the helicopter from the hospital, once it takes off, will fly very short flight. It's only about five miles, as the crow would fly. And the helicopter will land back over in this area over here. The coffin will be taken out of the helicopter; it will be brought before all the dignitaries. But there may be remarks from the prime minister. It's not clear yet whether he's going to say a few things. But in any case, it's going to be a very brief ceremony.
They have the Guard Republican Band out here. So I think they're going to be playing national anthems and maybe a few other hymns. So it will be a very brief ceremony. and the coffin will be placed on an Airbus and the plane will leave here for the four or five-hour flight to Cairo -- Daryn.
SANCHEZ: As you can see, in fact, the helicopter has already taken off.
Jim, you were telling us it's only four or five-minute jaunt from the hospital over to where you are now at Villacoublay.
What is the authority for the French in this situation? What is their position in all of this? What is their role -- Jim?
BITTERMANN: Well, I think, you know, the French have always played a very active role in the Middle East, but a different role than the United States. I mean they've always believed, for instance, that Arafat is key or was key to what happens in the Middle East. And that solving the Middle East questions were key to, in fact, the rest of the Middle East problems, the terrorism problems in Iraq and elsewhere. All of it dependent, with a linked chain, and the first link in the chain was solving the Israeli/Palestinian dispute.
They have some very controversial ways. They have oftentimes differed from the United States and Israel. Very recently about two or three months ago, the Michel Barnier who is going to be out here this afternoon, the foreign minister went to see Yasser Arafat in his compound in Ramallah. And it was so controversial that Israeli authorities refused to meet with the foreign minister. They just said that if he was going to meet with Arafat, they didn't want to see him.
So that little rift took awhile to heal. I mean, in fact it was another month or two before the Israelis sort of got back in touch with the French and everybody got back on the same wavelength. But their approach has been different than the United States. Their approach has been you have to deal with Arafat because he was the titular head, the elected head of the Palestinian people. And if nothing else, was the historic leader of the Palestinian people. And had the most respect on the ground, that nothing would move without him.
So a little bit different position from the United States; that's why they offered to treat him medically here. And they brought him at government expense to the hospital here, the military hospital outside Paris. And they're going to be flying home at government expense as well, because of their belief that he was the man, the key man in the Middle East picture.
SANCHEZ: I wonder, though, and certainly Jim you've got so much experience, you've covered so many of this. It's one thing to treat him in one of your hospitals. It's quite another to actually have a state ceremony, which appears to be what's gathering there behind you. Are the French -- is this normal? And or are the French trying to make a statement?
BITTERMANN: Rick, I'm having a little trouble hearing you. But I think you're asking about the people behind me here. I think these are a lot of folks that are in the Paris area. And they've been watching and waiting the events unfold here over the last two weeks. Now here the French national anthem being played.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS ORUSE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 11, 2004 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR: All right. We've got two big stories, actually of events that we're going to be following for you throughout the course of the day. And we still look at some of that cake as it smolders, I guess you might say.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: All the way down here to Atlanta.
SANCHEZ: The process for burying and memorializing Yasser Arafat will begin while we're on the air here. We're going to bring you some of that. And also, the president is going to be making some remarks in a ceremony today.
KAGAN: Right. It is Veterans Day. And we'd like to send a special greeting to veterans that are joining us and watching. And we'll be seeing different ceremonies including one at Arlington National Cemetery.
SANCHEZ: We'll have it all for you.
KAGAN: But right now, let's take a look at what's happening now in the news.
His followers are in mourning and world leaders and representatives are making preparations to attend tomorrow's funeral for former Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. Arafat died early today in Paris where he had been in failing health for the past two weeks. We have live reports from Paris, Cairo and Ramallah begin being in one minute.
As Palestinian leaders jostle for the top power position vacated by Arafat, Palestinian President Rauhi Fattouh will oversee elections, which will take place within 60 days. He shares duties with veteran Arafat Deputy Mahmoud Abbas, who is now the PLO chairman, Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei, and the newly named Fatah chief Farouk Hadumi.
Stay with us for a live report on the new Palestinian leadership and what it might mean to Mid East peace.
Two Marine Cobra helicopters have landed safely after engaging with grounds forces in the Fallujah area. Military sources say the crews landed under their own power and the aircraft were secured.
And the terror threat level has been lowered to orange, yellow for financial institutions in New York, Washington and New Jersey. Federal officials say the action follows steps taken by the business sector to protect possible targets. And good morning, everyone, I'm Daryn Kagan.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez.
We look to the Middle East on this morning on a death that might breathe new life into the stagnant peace efforts in the Middle East. Nearly two weeks after he left his beloved and embattled homeland, Yasser Arafat dies in a Paris hospital. He died without realizing his dream of establishing a Palestinian homeland. Yet some believe that his death might bring Palestinian and Israeli leaders back to the peace process.
We at CNN have mobilized our vast resources around the world to cover this story and its international implications. That coverage will include CNN's Jim Bittermann. He's in Paris where Arafat died and where his body will embark on its final journey. In Cairo, Egypt the site of tomorrow's military funeral, we have Ben Wedeman. In the West Bank city of Ramallah, home of the PLO, and where Arafat will be buried, Michael Holmes is standing by. And in Jerusalem to gauge Israeli reaction, we will have for you CNN's Guy Raz.
KAGAN: In death, Arafat will travel more in two days than he had in the final three years of his life. He refused to leave his West Bank compound for fear he would not be allowed to return. But that will be the destination of his final travels, which begin today in Paris.
Our Jim Bittermann is at Paris' Villacoublay Airport, where a ceremony within the next half hour will accompany Arafat's departure -- Jim.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. Yes, we're standing by at Villacoublay Airport just outside Paris, to the southwest of Paris, where dignitaries will be gathering over the next few minutes. You already heard that a long line of about 13 or 14 vehicles has left the Percy Hospital, which is not very far from here. Just about 10 minutes from here.
And I think that some of those vehicles have already started arriving here with the dignitaries who were at the hospital. This would be people like, Nabil Sha'ath, Leila Shahid and various delegation members who were at the hospital. They'll be arriving here as well as a large number of the diplomat corps from Paris, we understand, perhaps 100 or so dignitaries that will be here. Prime Minister Jean Pierre Raffarin will be the one who will officiate at this very brief ceremony.
What will happen here, as we understand, is that Arafat's body will be brought from the hospital by helicopter, to just beyond me on the tarmac over there. And the helicopter will land, they'll take the corpse out of the helicopter, bring it to the front of the dignitaries. There may be a few words from the prime minister. We're not sure. We believe also the foreign minister will be here along with the defense minister.
And then they will put the body onto a plane and the members of the delegation that will be accompanying Arafat to Cairo, will take off from here and should be in Cairo about four or five hours later.
KAGAN: Jim Bittermann in Paris, thank you.
SANCHEZ: Now we go to Cairo and the preparations for tomorrow's military funeral. More than two-dozen world leader and dignitaries are expected to attend. Already police are lining the streets and positioning themselves atop some tall buildings, as well.
CNN's Cairo bureau chief Ben Wedeman is joining us now by videophone.
Hi, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF: Hi, Rick. Well it's going to be an invitation only ceremony full of heads of state, senior officials and other significant dignitaries. But it's worth noting that Yasser Arafat had a number of connections with the ordinary people of Cairo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN (voice-over): In Cairo's Sakakini Quarter, they remember Yasser Arafat. Seventy-five-year-old Hajj Hilmi, the barber regularly cut Arafat's hair, and recalls a polite but intense young man.
"I used to chat with him as a customer," he recalls. "He liked to talk about his political activities. He was a real revolutionary."
Hajj Hilmi says he never thought Arafat would go so far.
(on camera): Yasser Arafat grew up in this Cairo neighborhood. His mother shopped in this store. Cairo had such a lasting impression on him that he spoke Arabic with an Egyptian accent.
(voice-over): Sakakini, once a solidly middle-class neighborhood, has fallen on harder times. It was home not only to Muslims and Christians, but Jews as well. A cosmopolitan Middle East that has largely disappeared during the last half-century of conflict.
Shopkeeper Selah Hadin was a teenager when he met Arafat.
"We saw him as an ordinary civilian," he says. " It makes us proud to see what became of him."
Arafat's father, a businessman, left Palestine just before his son's birth year here in 1929. Arafat went to a local private school, and later studied engineering at Cairo University, where he became the firebrand leader of the Palestinian Students Union. He left Egypt in the 950s. His political ambitions taking him around the Middle East. But frequently returned to Cairo as his star in the Palestinian resistance rose.
But in the streets of Sakakini, Yasser Arafat will always be the local boy who reached the big time.
(END VIDEOTAPE) WEDEMAN: But of course, he was also somebody who was seen as dying a tragic death. A sad death, following four years of essential confinement to his headquarters in the West Bank -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: It wasn't your typical situation where a reporter gets a chance to meet a world leader in this case. But apparently he came to you at one point after you, Jim, had had a situation in Gaza, right, where you'd been shot? Can you tell us a little bit about that?
WEDEMAN: That's right, Rick. That was in October of 2000, really just a few weeks after the outbreak of the current Palestinian Intifada. I was shot by Israeli forces during a clash between the Israelis and the Palestinians. And basically I was lying in a hospital bed in Gaza, and under a lot of sedation, just sort of lying there. And all of a sudden without any forewarning whatsoever, Yasser Arafat walked into the room. And he comes up to me, and kisses me, pats me on the chest, asks me how I was. We had a brief conversation.
He didn't come to see me in particular. He really came to that hospital, which was full of people who had been wounded in a very bloody day. But this was really typical, Rick, of Yasser Arafat, who was a man who never hesitated to really reach out to ordinary people.
Now, of course, the Israelis really despised him, considering him a terrorist. But for ordinary Palestinians and Arabs as well in Egypt and elsewhere, he was seen as something of a folk hero who didn't take on all the trappings of state, the villas and the palaces and the whatnot. He was a man who was seen as an ordinary sort of hero of the people. And that's one of the reasons why we've seen this outpouring of grief throughout the Arab world -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Interesting story. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Ben Wedeman following the story there in Cairo -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Within hours of Arafat's death, the PLO's executive committee unanimously elected his successor. Mahmoud Abbas is a former prime minister and a veteran peace negotiator.
Our Michael Holmes is outside the PLO compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah. He joins us with a closer look at the next leader of the Palestinians, at least for now. Michael Holmes.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed. Daryn, that's right. There has been activity here all day, as workers have been preparing the compound behind me for the burial of Yasser Arafat, which is likely to take place around 3:00 p.m. local time tomorrow.
Now, what's been happening is they've been clearing out all the rubble from the last three years of Israeli incursions and the like. They have started to build a monument to Yasser Arafat. However, now they parked trucks around it; and we're unable to see the progress of it.
You mentioned those meetings, those various appointments that took place this day. And they are very important ones. As you said, Abu Mazen/Mahmoud Abbas, the former prime minister, No. 2 in the PLO is now No. 1 in the PLO. This is a very, very important position. The PLO is the premiere political body, if you like, for all Palestinians of the Diaspora, as well as here in the West Bank and also Gaza. Now, he is a man that many are tipping will also be selected by Fatah. It's not firm, of course. But the smart money is on Abu Mazen to be selected as the Fatah candidate when elections are hopefully held in 60 days.
The other very important vote, which was one that we all knew would happen did take place. That was the swearing in of Rauhi Fattouh, who is the speaker of the parliament, the legislative assembly. He was sworn in as the president, if you like. The interim president, at least, of the Palestinian people. He's going to hold that position under the constitution for the next 60 days, when elections are due to be held.
Will they be held? Well, it depends on a lot of things, not least Israeli cooperation. There are still Israeli forces in many parts of the West Bank. And they will have to move out or move back at least for elections to be able to be carried out easily -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Michael Holmes with the latest from Ramallah. Michael, thank you.
SANCHEZ: Another big story that we're going to following throughout the day. The battle continues in the streets of Fallujah. And in the midst of the fighting, U.S. officials uncover a hostage who was shackled and beaten. We'll tell you where it happened and how it happened, straight ahead.
KAGAN: Plus, a replica boat appears, another juror is booted off, and more drama continuing to unfold in the Scott Peterson murder trial.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. With the passing of Yasser Arafat, the Bush administration sees a new opportunity for the Palestinians and for peace. I'll have more on that coming up.
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SANCHEZ: And welcome back to CNN LIVE TODAY. I'm Rick Sanchez.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives in Washington tonight. His talks with President Bush will focus in large part on the impact of Arafat's death on Mid East peace efforts.
CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has been looking ahead to these meetings.
There is really not a dispute over the fact that Minister Blair has got a very different opinion about the Middle East than President Bush. Does he not? MALVEAUX: Well, Rick, certainly in the days and months past, the president -- the prime minister, rather, has actually been privately pushing the Bush administration for some time to become re-engaged in the Middle East peace process. That is something that assuredly will come up between the two leaders.
Now President Bush, as you know, has refused to meet with Yasser Arafat, consider him largely an obstacle to Middle East peace. But yesterday he offered his condolences to Yasser Arafat, releasing a statement saying in part, "The death of Yasser Arafat is a significant moment in Palestinian history. We express our condolences to the Palestinian people. For the Palestinian people, we hope that the future will bring peace and the fulfillment of their aspirations for an independent, Democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbors."
Now, after a great deal of debate within the administration they have decided to send Assistant Secretary of State William Burns to Arafat's funeral. This is not a head of state, as you note...
SANCHEZ: Suzanne...
MALVEAUX: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Suzanne, I'm just going to interrupt you for a moment and we'll continue this conversation. Just to let the viewers know what we're looking at there. That's the helicopter that will take Mr. Arafat's body. This is that ceremony that we've been telling you about that will be taking place -- a short ceremony that will be taking place Villacoublay Air Base there in Paris. That's part of the ceremony today.
Then the body will be flown to Cairo, according to some of the French Defense Ministry officials there. Then in Cairo, will be a military funeral or memorial ceremony, as some are calling it. Then on Saturday, the body will end up there.
There you see now the casket. Or what seems to appear to us to be the casket. This is tape we're looking at from earlier today, when it was taken from the hospital to the helicopter, that you are seeing just moments ago. This is really just the very beginning, in the process of both the memorial and the eventual burial in Ramallah of Yasser Arafat.
And this is a story with some very important political aspirations, or pardon me, political implications, which is exactly what leads us to this conversation we're having with Suzanne Malveaux. Conversations that will be taking place, no doubt in the White House, between Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush.
Continue, if you would, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: What we were mentioning, as well. It's going to be William Burns, who is the assistant secretary of state who is actually going to be attending the funeral service of Arafat. He is not, as you know, a head of state. It is a reflection really of the tension between the Bush administration and the Palestinian leadership.
But Bush officials say there really is an opportunity, an opening here that they see with this event for the Palestinian people to prove, the leadership, that they can crack down on militant groups, as well as curb violence. A new opportunity perhaps for the United States and Israelis to reengage in the Roadmap, that two-state solution.
And the Bush administration believes that it can work with this new leadership. That being of Ahmed Qorei. He, of course, being the former Palestinian -- the current, rather, Palestinian prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the former. Mahmoud, Abbas, actually having visited with President Bush here at the White House back in July of last year.
Now, of course, it is British Prime Minister Tony Blair who will be here at the White House, later today to meet with the president. It was a previously scheduled visit. But what has happened is that privately, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been trying to push the Bush administration to become re-engaged in that Middle East peace process. It is very likely that that is going to be a subject of conversation among many between the two leaders -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Yes. And the question will be, will the White House re-engage? And was their failure to engage a part of the very existence of Yasser Arafat? Or was it the PLO in and of itself? Questions that we will perhaps have answers to in the days and weeks to come.
Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so much for that report.
There we see again some of the pictures that we're just getting in from Paris now, of what will be a process -- a short process we understand at Villacoublay Air Base. A small ceremony there with the body of Yasser Arafat.
KAGAN: A lot more news to cover here, especially news here in the U.S. Still to come on CNN LIVE TODAY, more drama unfolding in the Scott Peterson trial as another juror gets shown the door.
SANCHEZ: Hmm. Also, he says that he was put in a compromising position to protect Liza Minnelli. Now the court must decide did Liza overstep her bodyguard's boundaries?
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KAGAN: We want to go back to these live pictures from Paris, France. This helicopter taking off just outside the hospital where Yasser Arafat died over the last 24 hours. The casket carrying his body is on board that helicopter. It's going to take a short ride and it's going to over to the Villacoublay Airport, where the casket and body will be put on an airplane, flown to Cairo where the first funeral service will be taking place. And then on to Ramallah where Yasser Arafat will be buried. SANCHEZ: Yes. Just moments ago we saw a picture of Suha, his wife coming into -- we've tried to get as much information as we can on what kind of ceremony this is going to be. At least as far as I'm concerned -- or least as far as I was able to see, I didn't see mention of her taking part. But I don't know if it's political symbolism. But that might be a very important part of this ceremony, exactly what her role will be in all of this.
KAGAN: Well, her role in all of this has been really fascinating in the last couple of weeks. This is a woman controversial within the Palestinian community. Was not living in Ramallah with her husband. Not heard from or seen from a lot, and when Yasser Arafat took ill and was taken to the hospital, suddenly showed up.
And according to French law, had complete control and access over her husband's care, and who was able to see him. And then gave a very impassioned and emotional interview to Arabic television claiming that the Palestinian leadership was trying to, as she said, "Bury her husband alive."
SANCHEZ: It seems like they've made peace though. Last reports that we were getting, the last few days just prior to them announcing that he had passed away, there were some meetings between the Palestinian delegation and Suha and it seemed they had come to terms. Now, it would seem, as well, that there's a bit of a power struggle going on, as to who really has, you know, legitimate control of the process of Arafat.
KAGAN: It's not just the process. It's the billions of dollars that are questionable of Palestinian aid that's been missing from over the years.
So as we mentioned, this helicopter is going to go from this hospital to the Villacoublay Airport.
Our Jim Bittermann is standing by there to tell us a little bit more about the ceremony that will take place once the casket and the body arrive -- Jim.
BITTERMANN: Hi, Daryn. I'm not sure you can see it. But in the background behind me there's a number of dignitaries have already assembled out here. It is a bitterly cold day with high winds. So this is a very breezy place to be. They've waited until the last minute here to come out on the tarmac.
We expect 100 or more dignitaries are going to be here. These are members of the diplomatic corps, they're members of a Palestinian delegations in Paris, and other representatives of other parts of the Arab world here in Paris. As well as the prime minister, the defense mister, the foreign minister, they're all going to be here.
What we expect to have happen here is that the helicopter from the hospital, once it takes off, will fly very short flight. It's only about five miles, as the crow would fly. And the helicopter will land back over in this area over here. The coffin will be taken out of the helicopter; it will be brought before all the dignitaries. But there may be remarks from the prime minister. It's not clear yet whether he's going to say a few things. But in any case, it's going to be a very brief ceremony.
They have the Guard Republican Band out here. So I think they're going to be playing national anthems and maybe a few other hymns. So it will be a very brief ceremony. and the coffin will be placed on an Airbus and the plane will leave here for the four or five-hour flight to Cairo -- Daryn.
SANCHEZ: As you can see, in fact, the helicopter has already taken off.
Jim, you were telling us it's only four or five-minute jaunt from the hospital over to where you are now at Villacoublay.
What is the authority for the French in this situation? What is their position in all of this? What is their role -- Jim?
BITTERMANN: Well, I think, you know, the French have always played a very active role in the Middle East, but a different role than the United States. I mean they've always believed, for instance, that Arafat is key or was key to what happens in the Middle East. And that solving the Middle East questions were key to, in fact, the rest of the Middle East problems, the terrorism problems in Iraq and elsewhere. All of it dependent, with a linked chain, and the first link in the chain was solving the Israeli/Palestinian dispute.
They have some very controversial ways. They have oftentimes differed from the United States and Israel. Very recently about two or three months ago, the Michel Barnier who is going to be out here this afternoon, the foreign minister went to see Yasser Arafat in his compound in Ramallah. And it was so controversial that Israeli authorities refused to meet with the foreign minister. They just said that if he was going to meet with Arafat, they didn't want to see him.
So that little rift took awhile to heal. I mean, in fact it was another month or two before the Israelis sort of got back in touch with the French and everybody got back on the same wavelength. But their approach has been different than the United States. Their approach has been you have to deal with Arafat because he was the titular head, the elected head of the Palestinian people. And if nothing else, was the historic leader of the Palestinian people. And had the most respect on the ground, that nothing would move without him.
So a little bit different position from the United States; that's why they offered to treat him medically here. And they brought him at government expense to the hospital here, the military hospital outside Paris. And they're going to be flying home at government expense as well, because of their belief that he was the man, the key man in the Middle East picture.
SANCHEZ: I wonder, though, and certainly Jim you've got so much experience, you've covered so many of this. It's one thing to treat him in one of your hospitals. It's quite another to actually have a state ceremony, which appears to be what's gathering there behind you. Are the French -- is this normal? And or are the French trying to make a statement?
BITTERMANN: Rick, I'm having a little trouble hearing you. But I think you're asking about the people behind me here. I think these are a lot of folks that are in the Paris area. And they've been watching and waiting the events unfold here over the last two weeks. Now here the French national anthem being played.
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