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American Morning
American Activist Discusses Being Trapped in Arafat HQ Under Fire
Aired April 01, 2002 - 08:37 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: Now, to the Middle East once again, where again, this morning, there has been gunfire around Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah.
When the Israeli military stormed that compound on Friday, Adam Sharpiro had a birds eye view of the assault. Sharpiro, an American citizen living in Ramallah, was trapped inside the Palestinian leader's headquarters while it was pounded with heavy artillery. He spend some time with Arafat himself, including having some breakfast with him on Saturday morning before being released. Sharpiro is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, a group he co- founded, that opposes the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. He joins us now by phone this morning from Ramallah.
Welcome, Adam. Glad you're with us this morning.
ADAM SHARPIRO, VOLUNTEER, INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT: Thank you for having me this morning.
ZAHN: All right, Adam. We just described a little about the 24 hours you spent in Yasser Arafat's compound. Why don't you tell us in your own words what you went through?
SHARPIRO: Well, I was volunteering on an ambulance as an International volunteer to escort the ambulance around Ramallah to pick up the wounded and dead. We received word from inside the presidential compound that there were injured inside from the initial assault and they hadn't received any medical attention because Palestinian ambulances get shot at and sometimes stopped and confiscated in trying to do their work. As an International onboard, we're able to speak English to the soldiers and to, sort of, create a safety net in which we can -- the ambulances can do their work.
We went to the compound. We were shot at. Once I started speaking to the soldiers and negotiating with them, it took about three hours before we were allowed in, at which point, we entered the compound. Inside, there was no electricity. The water is -- the water tanks had been shot up and the water is running low.
In fact, I know now that there is no water inside, the people inside were huddled around on the floors, in the hallways, on stairwells, just trying to, you know, endure 10 to 12 people per room and to find ways between the two floors. The entire time shelling, the heavy machine gun fire was rattling against the walls, windows are breaking. And you know, every now and then, there was a loud explosion nearby.
The next morning, when we were organizing ourselves inside, we found out that there were Israeli troops on the ground trying to encircle the building. And everybody inside took up defensive positions. And they were really expecting full-on assault at that point.
ZAHN: Well clearly, the Israeli officials believe locked inside that compound right now with Yasser Arafat are some of men they believe responsible for some of these ongoing terrorist attacks. Who else did you see beside Yasser Arafat?
SHARPIRO: The people I saw inside were security personnel for the president, his bodyguard and some Palestinian police. The governor of Ramallah was inside. Other presidential staffers were inside. I didn't see anybody that Israel claims is in there.
ZAHN: Talk a little bit about Yasser Arafat. By this time that you're with him on Saturday morning, there have been another series of rounds of suicide bombings. Was any reference made to that inside the compound?
SHARPIRO: Well, President Arafat talked about the fact that he had called a cease fire and had ordered the arrests of the leaders of some of his troops that are carrying out these attacks. But almost immediately after he called for this, his compound was besieged and he was cut off from being able to carry out his duties. And additionally, his installations have been bombed and his police, the security forces, are being targeted and hunted down by Israel. So there's really nobody to go out and do this work.
ZAHN: Adam, do you believe that? Because we've had a number of guests on this morning that said if Yasser Arafat simply picked up the telephone, he could control the actions of nine different security agencies.
SHARPIRO: I don't think it's realistic to believe at this point that Israeli troops inside Ramallah, inside Bethlehem, inside Qalqilya, surround other cities, was an ongoing occupation that has only increased in severity over the past year-and-a-half and really, over the past 34 years that President Arafat, as he's being assaulted at this point, can call anybody and tell them, you know, to stop trying to resist and stop trying to, you know, struggle for their freedom.
I don't think that -- President Arafat has condemned the suicide bombings. He has done this over and over and over again and he's done it in English and he's done it in Arabic to his own people. Israel refuses to acknowledge this. The United States government refuses to acknowledge this. And it doesn't give him the opportunity by which to fulfill his obligations under the cease fires that he called.
ZAHN: Yes. There seems to be dispute whether he really has, in fact, done that in Arabic. I know that one U.S. official said he's done it once in Arabic, made a message but the message wasn't clear enough. Let me just come back to your thoughts about, you know, how you're caught in the crossfire here.
You were born in the United States. You have Jewish parents. You're engaged to a Palestinian. How much conflict do you feel about what's going on there? And does your family feel like you've abandoned the Jewish cause?
SHARPIRO: No. they don't feel that way at all. And it's not -- I don't feel a conflict at all. This is not a conflict about Jew versus Arab or Muslim versus Jew. These are the conflicts about a human struggle for freedom, a human struggle for justice and human dignity. And the Palestinians have been struggling for years against occupation. It is the occupation that is the root of the violence here. It is the root cause of the conflict.
As of where I'm standing, from where I am right now, I can see out over Ramallah, which is sort of, located a bit in the valley and on some hills. But overlooking the entire city is a militaristic Israeli settlement. And it is from there that tanks have fired at the city. And previously, it is from there that assaults have launched on this city. And it is that land that is Palestinian land and settlement -- it is a settlement that was constructed against U.N. resolutions, against international law. That is the source of the conflict.
ZAHN: All right. Adam, we're going to have to leave it there. We should also make it clear that this latest U.N. security resolution not only calls for Ariel Sharon to get his troops out of these occupied territories but also calls on Yasser Arafat to stop the violence.
Adam Sharpiro, thank you for your story this morning. We appreciate your time.
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