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American Morning

Powell Arrives in Middle East Today in Effort to Bring Peace to Region

Aired April 11, 2002 - 07:01   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, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in the Middle East today in an effort to bring peace to the region. He will be meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. His arrival in Israel comes as the Israeli army has withdrawn tanks from nearly two dozen West Bank towns. But Palestinian security sources say Israeli forces have rolled into two other towns.

For the very latest on all of this, let's turn to CNN's John Vause, who joins us from Jerusalem this morning -- good morning, John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Let's talk about the scene at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. As Jack just said, there are 200 Palestinians inside that church, along with 40 religious workers. They have been there now since March 29. It has been the scene of some fighting over those days.

Recently, a Palestinian policeman was shot dead by a sniper as he tried to put out a fire. Just yesterday, an Armenian monk was shot in the back by the Israeli Defense Force. He was operated on yesterday and is now out of a critical condition and recovering in a hospital.

There have been (UNINTELLIGIBLE) negotiations ongoing to try to end this standoff. A meeting was scheduled last night between five Palestinian representatives from inside the church. They all meant to meet with representatives from the IDF. The Israelis say that meeting never took place, because the Palestinians just did not show up.

There have also been ongoing negotiations to try and allow humanitarian workers inside that church to remove the body of that Palestinian policeman who was shot. In fact, by all accounts a very desperate situation inside that church.

The Canon Andrew White, the Anglican Church envoy to the Middle East, described what was happening inside. This is some of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CANON ANDREW WHITE, ANGLICAN CHURCH ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST: What we are doing is talking. And all sides are trying their very best to try and bring a rapid resolution to this terrible problem, because the humanitarian crisis is going to grow very rapidly. And it can best be described as a volcano in the Church of the Nativity, which is waiting to erupt, and it will erupt at any moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Now, the Israelis say the people inside that church are being held hostage, and Mr. Andrew White, who you just heard a short time ago, he said he wouldn't quite put it that way. He said the people inside that church are very much afraid to leave, because they say they are custodians of the church. It's their job to take care of it, to look after this very holy site. And they are afraid to leave, because they don't know what will happen once they do leave. And in fact, over the past couple of days, four priests have been allowed to leave -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, John, just a quick question for you now on what the expectations, then, are for Colin Powell's visit to Israel later today.

VAUSE: On the ground here, Paula, there really isn't much jumping for joy, if you like. There is not a great deal of hope. They have seen these envoys come and go. They have seen these diplomatic missions many, many times in the past, especially over the last 18 months.

This is Colin Powell's third trip to the region in 15 months. Vice President Dick Cheney was here last month. Anthony Zinni has been here three times. In fact, the Americans have had 11 goes at trying to get some kind of cease-fire into effect here, all with no success.

So on the ground, there isn't much hope, but they still hold that glimmer of hope that maybe this time it could be different -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, John Vause, thank you so much for that update -- see you a little bit later on this morning.

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