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American Morning

Palestinians May Be Released From Church of Nativity

Aired April 29, 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, despite the Israeli incursion into Hebron today, there is fresh hope that at least some of the tensions in the West Bank might ease. There is word that 15 Palestinians may be released from the Church of the Nativity today. And there is now an agreement brokered by the Bush administration to end the standoff around Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah. Arafat and the Israeli Cabinet agreed on the plan involving six Palestinian prisoners who will be monitored by American and British officials.

Joining us from Ramallah, with more on the agreement, is CNN's Matthew Chance.

Good morning -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

And that's right. We're waiting here in Ramallah for news of that security meeting between officials of the Palestinian Authority and their British and U.S. counterparts. What we do know, as you mentioned though, is that deal proposed by President Bush has been accepted by both the Palestinian leadership and the Israeli leadership; that would effectively place those six men wanted by Israel under the custody of U.S. or British personnel somewhere in the Palestinian territories.

What we don't know, Paula, at this stage though, is exactly what shape that U.S.-British team might take, or what their exact mandate will be. We've been speaking to Palestinian and Israeli officials all day to try and make it more clear what we'll be looking at here.

Yasser Abed Rabbo is the Palestinian information minister here in Ramallah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YASSER ABED RABBO, PALESTINIAN CABINET MINISTER: We expect that the team of experts there -- American and British -- we'll come here today, in the afternoon. And they will discuss with a team of our experts the technical issues related to the location of the prison and the guarantees for the safety of the prison. Because in the past, most if not all our prisons were attacked by Israeli planes. And many prisoners, as well as police officers, were killed in these attacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: Those are the guarantees the Palestinians are looking for from Israel's point of view. They're looking to insure that some kind of revolving door situation isn't allowed to take place with those six wanted men, as soon as the Israeli troops leave, are allowed to walk free.

That's what is going to be discussed, we hope, over the course of these security meetings today. What's important for us, as well as, of course, once those Israeli troops have left the Yasser Arafat presidential compound, the Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat can himself, essentially, walk free around the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: And given everything you say must happen before Arafat is allowed to travel freely, how long do you think it will actually be before he can leave Ramallah?

CHANCE: It is very difficult to say, isn't it? We're hearing a lot of different words from different people we're speaking to, some people saying this meeting may only last the one day. I think that, Paul, we have to wait to see what progress is made once this meeting takes place. Obviously, once those Israeli troops are pulled back, then Yasser Arafat will be able to come out of that presidential compound for he first time since the end of March. So that's what we're all standing by here to see.

ZAHN: All right, Matthew Chance, thanks so much for the update.

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