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American Morning

Palestinian Authority Holds Tribunal for Suspects in Assassination

Aired April 25, 2002 - 08:02   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, violence in the Middle East continues as President Bush gets ready to sit down with the author of the Saudi peace initiative, Crown Prince Abdullah. Israeli tanks and helicopters are on the move in the Gaza Strip, but there is some hopeful news out of the West Bank.

And let's turn right now to John Vause, who joins us from Bethlehem, where about a dozen children are set to be released from the Church of the Nativity.

We will check in with John, but first why don't we go to Mike Hanna, who is in Ramallah, where a Palestinian court has ruled in a case that Israel considers crucial to the fight against terror -- good morning, Mike.

MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, a court may be a strong term for what happened here in Ramallah. It was a bizarre set of legal proceedings. The judge was a security official with no previous legal experience. The attorney for the defense was a police officer selected from among those who are holed up together with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in his compound in Ramallah.

The four were accused of assassinating Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi last October and they were all found guilty by this makeshift tribunal. One, who actually carried out the killings, according to the tribunal, sentenced to 18 years imprisonment. The one who helped him in the killing sentenced to 12 years. The getaway driver got eight years and a man who had knowledge of the plot and didn't tell the Palestinian Authority got one year's imprisonment.

Now, Israel has demanded for many months now that these men be brought to trial and this, the Palestinian Authority, even in the most bizarre circumstances, believes it has done. But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon not impressed by these legal proceedings. He says that Israel now insists and continues to insist that the four men be handed over to Israel for trial. He says that what happens, whether or not this trial is legal, the fact is that they will stand trial in Israel as far as the Israeli prime minister is concerned.

Now, the trial of these men was one of the conditions that Sharon had given a few months ago for the lifting of the siege on Yasser Arafat. The goal posts have now shifted. Sharon is saying that a trial is not enough, not getting into the debate of the nature of the legality of this particular trial, but that the men must be handed over to Israel -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks, Mike.

Let's go back to John Vause, who's standing by in Bethlehem with the very latest from there -- good morning, John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

We are now waiting for those children to come outside of the Church of the Nativity. They've been there, as you say, for more than three weeks now. There is some activity, actually, over the last hour or so at the church. We've seen a lot of smoke coming up from Manger Square. Our crew, who is on the edge of Manger Square, tell us that they have seen an ambulance arrive. They've seen a number of stretchers brought out of that ambulance. They've seen at least eight men wearing surgical masks.

That would fit in with what we expect to happen today, and that is the bodies of those two dead Palestinians to be brought from outside the church.

Now, all of this was agreed to at a third sit-down meeting between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators last night. They have also agreed to resume today. They are now meeting in the Peace Center not far from Manger Square. At this meeting, the Israelis are now going to present a list of names to the Palestinians, as few as five or six, we understand, of the men inside who the Israelis say must stand trial in Israel or be deported to a third country.

The Israelis, according to one Palestinian source, are now content, it seems, to allow the majority of those 30 Palestinian gunmen to be taken to Gaza, to be dealt with under Palestinian law. But they say there is a few names, and they're presenting this list, we understand, right now, who are, in fact, non-negotiable.

But as far as those children and the dead bodies, that seems to be happening right now. It's very difficult to tell because of this smokescreen which the Israelis are putting up in Manger Square right now -- Paula.

ZAHN: So what is expected to be the Palestinian reaction to this list that the Israelis are going to hand over?

VAUSE: The Palestinians are very concerned about the precedent that this, in fact, sets. They're not entirely happy with this whole idea of Israel having the right to send Palestinians into exile to a third country. They have, we understand they have discussed the idea with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, but their exact stance we are not too sure. We are waiting for them to come out of this meeting to find out exactly what they will accept and what they will not accept.

But there is some hesitancy on their part to accept this Israeli demand, even though it seems that the Israelis certainly blinked last night. They gave quite a bit of ground in these ongoing negotiations to end this siege -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, John Vause, thanks so much for the update.

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