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American Morning

Deadly Escalation of Violence in Middle East

Aired March 05, 2002 - 07:03   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Up front this morning, though, a deadly escalation of violence in the Middle East. Within the past few hours, eight Palestinian children were injured when a bomb exploded at a school in Jerusalem. In northern Israel, a suicide bomber at a bus station killed himself and one Israeli. And earlier this morning, a Palestinian gunman opened fire and killed three Israelis in a restaurant in Tel Aviv.

To address this latest violence, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has just convened a security cabinet meeting.

CNN's Sheila MacVicar joins us now from Jerusalem with the latest on that -- Sheila, good morning.

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Prime Minister Sharon has been in that meeting now for a little more than an hour or so. His proposal, and he has made it clear his only proposal at the moment, is to put Israeli tanks back into the Palestinian city of Ramallah right at the headquarters of Yasser Arafat. Now, you'll remember, Paula, that Yasser Arafat was essentially held under house arrest in his Ramallah headquarters for a number of weeks when the Israeli forces went in there. Mr. Sharon says he wants to put the tanks back there, keep the pressure up on Mr. Arafat.

And this time, perhaps, he has let it be known, even restrict those who would come to Ramallah to see him. That would include people, international mediators and diplomats, people who are trying to find some way out of this particular cycle of violence, a cycle of violence that, as you have said, is getting worse, it seems, almost by the hour.

Now, we haven't yet heard the results of that security cabinet meeting. There is some opposition to Mr. Sharon within his own cabinet. People are not sure that this is the right way forward. But yesterday we heard from Mr. Sharon in the Knesset. He said this is a war that we are in, a war, make no mistake about it, that we are prepared to fight and that we will win.

The last two and a half days, Paula, 50 people, nearly 50 people, Israelis and Palestinians, have paid for this conflict with their lives -- Paula. ZAHN: Sheila, there was a report earlier this morning that one of the missiles that the Israelis lobbed in Ramallah came within yards of the building where Yasser Arafat was holding a meeting. Have you been able to confirm that?

MACVICAR: There have been a number of occasions where Israeli military strikes have come very close not just to the headquarters of Mr. Arafat, but sometimes very, very close to the buildings where he has been within a matter of a number of yards. The Israelis have said over and over again they do not intend to kill Mr. Arafat. They have made that clear. They have given assurances to the U.S. administration that that is not their intent, not their policy. There are other people who wonder precisely what their policy is towards Mr. Arafat at this moment, however, it has to be said.

But as we said, the Israelis say that what their objective is at the moment is to keep up the pressure. There has been this offer by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who's currently in the United States, is going to be meeting with President Bush a little later on today, that he has suggested he host a summit between Prime Minister Sharon and Yasser Arafat at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Well, no one thinks that that's, the time is right for that. No one thinks that these two people are in any way ready to sit down together in a room. But more than that, Mr. Sharon has made it clear that he wouldn't even agree to let Mr. Arafat go to Sharm el-Sheikh to engage in peace discussions.

ZAHN: All right, Sheila MacVicar, thanks so much for that update. We will be coming to you throughout the morning. Appreciate it.

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