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American Morning

Palestinian Reaction to Documents Israelis Say Show Arafat Funding Terrorist Violence

Aired April 03, 2002 - 07:20   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: And now the Palestinian reaction to the documents the Israelis say they have seized which show that Yasser Arafat in fact has been funding terrorist violence.

Let's turn to Leila Shahid. She is the General Delegate of Palestine in France. She joins us this morning from Jerusalem -- welcome, thank you for being with us this morning.

First of all, Ms. Shahid, your reaction to the word from the Israeli government that they have, in fact, seized these documents which show that Mr. Arafat's Fatah movement, among other things, has invoiced everything from $4,200 for bomb components to $420 for posters of Palestinians killed by Israelis. How damaging is this?

LEILA SHAHID, PALESTINIAN DEL. TO FRANCE: Well I do not believe that this is anything serious. For me, it is nonsense. If that is true, if this is the problem, why is the Israeli army today occupying Bethlehem besieging the Nativity Church? Why is it occupying Ramallah? Why is it occupying Nablus?

If it's true that the problem is about financing organizations, it didn't need a whole war, you know. I think Mr. Sharon is looking for a justification every morning. The reality is that he is trying to destroy the peace process by reoccupying all the territories, by killing as many young people as he can, arresting the others, and then say that where the Palestinians will have to go and make their state somewhere else like in Jordan.

ZAHN: All right. Ms. Shahid, are you acknowledging then that these documents are authentic?

SHAHID: I am not acknowledging anything. I have not seen anything. You know, we are not children, and the army, when it comes to any place it invades, can put what it wants, whether it is drugs or documents or dynamite belts.

ZAHN: We just had a senior foreign ministry official on who said he'd be more than happy to share with anybody who wants to see them today the original copies of these invoices.

SHAHID: Yes, he can show whatever he wants. He can show any invoice he wants. He can even make them up and he can put them there. That doesn't prove anything. ZAHN: But I'm not following your line of reasoning, where you say if this is true it is utter nonsense, if the Israelis have this documentation. If they did, what are you suggesting then?

SHAHID: See the problem is...

ZAHN: Why wouldn't they take the military action?

SHAHID: The problem is not -- because you think that when they find an invoice it gives them the right to invade the cities and three million civilian population, destroy the infrastructure, get into the churches, burn the mosques, kill their wounded people. You think that gives them that right?

ZAHN: What action do you think they should have taken if they fully believe that Yasser Arafat is funding terrorism? What else could they have done to stop the madness?

SHAHID: The first action -- what the American government proposed at the Security Council a week ago. Withdraw the army from the occupied territories, go back to implementing the Tenet and Mitchell recommendations and go back to Oslo. The problem is that Mr. Sharon has voted against Oslo. So what he's doing is destroying the peace process Mr. Rabin, Peres and Barak built.

ZAHN: But as you just -- I don't know whether you could hear much of my conversation with Mr. Meir from the foreign ministry, he said that the Israelis have no...

SHAHID: No. Unfortunately, I didn't have the line.

ZAHN: Yeah. Well essentially he said that they have no intention of staying there forever, but they're not going to retreat until they know that they've got this violence under control.

SHAHID: Yes, that (ph) you believe them. I do not believe them.

ZAHN: I'm not offering any opinion at all here. I'm just asking you some questions.

(CROSSTALK)

SHAHID: Right. I will remind you something. I will remind you something. Twenty years ago, Mr. Sharon Alexander Haig that he was going to 40 kilometers inside Lebanon and that he would not go anywhere else. He ultimately went to Beirut and besieged Beirut for three months. And it lasted 22 years in south Lebanon. I don't know how you can still believe Mr. Sharon.

ZAHN: Once again, we're not here to offer any opinions at all. We're just trying to find the truth here for both...

SHAHID: Well I...

ZAHN: Let me ask you this, Mr. Arafat has made it abundantly clear he will not accept Ariel Sharon's offer to be exiled. Describe to us this morning what the current condition is of Mr. Arafat's thinking. What does he plan to do?

SHAHID: Mr. Arafat is in his country, he is in Ramallah, which is the West Bank, which is part of what the territories of Palestine will be with Gaza and East Jerusalem. He has no intention of leaving. He is besieged, like his people. It's true that his conditions are quite harsh because he has no water, no electricity.

He has even barbed wire around his headquarters. Seven of the eight buildings have been destroyed by the Israeli army. But he's willing to support and he will stay until the Israeli army will withdraw. And if they don't withdraw, he will die like the hundreds of Palestinians dying every day.

But what I'd like to ask is what the world will do? What the American government will do? They suggested the Security Council resolution. They don't seem to be willing to implement. If they implemented that resolution, I think we can save peace for the Israelis and the Palestinians.

ZAHN: And in closing this morning, Secretary of State Powell made it clear yesterday there are two prongs to that resolution, not only for the Israeli withdrawal from those territories, but for the violence to stop by the Palestinians.

SHAHID: Yes.

ZAHN: When do you expect the suicide bombings -- when will the suicide bombings stop?

SHAHID: When the Israeli attacks, bombardment by F-16s and by Apache and by the tanks, also stop. When they stop killing wounded people and pregnant women going to deliver in hospitals, the Palestinian (UNINTELLIGIBLE) also will stop. There is violence on both sides, and I think that there is no comparison between an occupying army and a victim of occupation.

The suicide bombings are unfortunately the result of the strategy of Mr. Sharon for the last 13 months of killing Palestinians, destroying their homes, destroying camps. And he is producing by his strategy most of the suicide operations we have seen, unfortunately.

ZAHN: We are going to have to leave it there this morning. Leila Shahid, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate you joining us on AMERICAN MORNING.

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