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American Morning

Pool Hall Bombing Near Tel Aviv Claims 15 Lives

Aired May 08, 2002 - 07:02   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, two breaking stories on terrorism, one abroad, one here at home.

First, 15 people were killed after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a pool hall near Tel Aviv. The deadly attack came just as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was meeting with President Bush, forcing Sharon to cut short his trip and head home.

And today, the FBI believes a college student they took into custody is the person behind the pipe bomb terror spree across five states.

Let's check in with CNN's Carol Lin now first for more on the suicide bombing in Israel -- good morning, Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Paula. I am actually at the scene of the explosion. The reason why we are no longer inside that building right now is that police just evacuated us. They said it is simply too dangerous to be inside. They are expecting that the ceiling is about to buckle and may even crash down.

But I'm going to have us pan up there, so you can get a sense of the damage there. A third-story illegal gambling parlor, it was 11:00 last night when a massive explosion shook this place. Fifteen people are dead, at least 60 wounded; some of those people still just clinging to life.

What people on the scene are telling me is that at about 11:00 last night, man carrying a suitcase made his way up three flights of stairs, no security guard present, made his way to the center of that room, opened up the suitcase that may have contained at least 10 to 15 kilograms of explosive device.

And, Paula, let me give you an idea of what was inside that suitcase, some of these lug nuts here that went flying like bullets through the air, killing many of those people. Imagine this was a human body. This is some of the damage that we found inside. It was a massive explosion, Paula.

ZAHN: Carol, what else can you tell us about the other victims who are hospitalized at this hour?

LIN: I'm sorry, Paula -- one more time. I couldn't hear you.

ZAHN: What is the status of the other victims who are in the hospital at this hour?

LIN: Paula, as I said, there are 60 wounded, and about 11 of those are in extremely critical condition. Officials are not sure that those people are going to make it. But we heard some remarkable stories of survival from inside. I was talking to a man this morning by telephone, whose son is the manager of that club, and he said the only reason why his son survived is because the force of the blast flipped over a pool table, and he was shielded from the flying metal and glass.

Also lost in this explosion, two people, both a mother and a father, two children are now left orphans, and the city here of Rishon Letzion is now caring for those kids until they find some relatives to take care of them. But the loss here is really devastating.

ZAHN: All right. Carol Lin, thanks for that report.

We are going to move on to the big question at this hour: Did this latest attack derail all hope for peace?

For the mood in Israel today, let's go to CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who is in Jerusalem, and he joins us now -- good morning, Wolf. How are the morning papers treating this this morning?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The morning papers understandably, Paula, are treating this very, very seriously.

Just to give some context, remember at the end of March, when there was that suicide bombing at that hotel in Netanya, the coastal city just north of Tel Aviv, nearly 30 Israelis killed -- 29 Israelis killed in that bombing. That resulted in what Israel calls Operation Defensive Shield, the largest Israeli military action since the Lebanese invasion some 20 years ago. That was just winding up, with the exception of the standoff in Bethlehem at the Church of the Nativity, when that Rishon Letzion bombing occurred yesterday.

Prime Minister Sharon is expected to land back here at Ben Gurion Airport in six or eight hours or so from now. He is expected to convene an emergency meeting of his cabinet and make some major decisions. But before leaving Washington yesterday at a news conference at the Madison Hotel, he made it very, very clear that Israel would respond directly, and he also made it clear that Israel was holding the Palestinian Authority president, Yasser Arafat, directly responsible for this latest terrorist action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Those who call for millions of martyrs are guilty. Those who constantly incite are guilty. Those who fund terrorism are guilty. Those who launch terrorism are guilty. Guilty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The Palestinian Authority has issued a statement in Yasser Arafat's name condemning the Rishon Letzion bombing, saying it goes against the wishes, the interest of the Palestinian movement. The Palestinian militant group, Hamas, is claiming responsibility for this latest action -- Paula.

ZAHN: When you say the prime minister is threatening to respond directly, what exactly would that encompass?

BLITZER: If you read the Israeli papers this morning, Paula, and you take a look at the various options from a military strike, Rishon Letzion for example is not far from Gaza. Gaza was largely left untouched by the latest Israeli military action, which focused on the West Bank. Potentially that's one option.

Another option, which is speculated about here in Jerusalem today, is perhaps going further with Yasser Arafat. The Israeli prime minister the last time around isolated him in his Ramallah headquarters for more than a month, but didn't expel them. There are some -- some in the Israeli government who no doubt would like to expel Yasser Arafat right now.

It's anyone guess what the Israeli government is going to do, although everyone here seems to be bracing for a major Israeli response.

ZAHN: So you say it's anybody's guess as to how the Israeli cabinet might deal with these issues. But what is the likelihood of Yasser Arafat being expelled now in the wake of this latest -- well, actually the twin bombings?

BLITZER: Well, there is a split within the Israeli government, at least the last time around. The cabinet is a coalition government that includes the Likud, other smaller parties, more extreme, if you will, more hard line than the Likud. It also includes the Labor Party of the foreign minister, Shimon Peres, and the defense minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer.

The last time they had this debate after the Netanya suicide bombing, there were several members of the cabinet who wanted to expel Arafat; others said no, that would be counterproductive. In the end, they came up with that isolation of Arafat in his Ramallah headquarters. That was seen as sort of a compromise.

There is no doubt, though, that this latest terrorist incident in Rishon Letzion is going to strengthen those within the Israeli cabinet who would like to use this as an opportunity to expel Arafat. Whether or not that happens, of course, remains very much up in the air. The U.S. government and the European Union, others around the world, would strongly, strongly oppose that.

I will add one other note, Paula. There was another incident in northern Israel today just south of Haifa near the Israeli city of Afula. Another suicide bombing, according to Israeli police, although this bombing, the explosives apparently detonated early. The suicide bomber was severely injured; two others nearby, passersby, were slightly injured. But Israeli police saying that that suicide bombing attempt, if it had gone off as planned, it could have been another major disaster as far as terrorism here in Israel is concerned. ZAHN: We've just got time for a very quick last question here. If the Israelis decide to expel Arafat, where will they send him?

BLITZER: Well, you know, that's anyone's guess as well. Remember, when the Israelis did invade Lebanon 20 years ago and they got to Beirut, they expelled Arafat. He wound up in Tunis in Tunisia in North Africa. This time around, who knows if that happens? It may be premature.

There are hardliners here within the Israeli government and outside the government who are saying that's an appropriate step right now. They think that Arafat has been complicit, has been involved in these terrorist actions.

And that document, that well-publicized document that the prime minister brought with him to Washington, 100 pages, if you read that document even casually, it makes it clear that the Israeli government, the government of Prime Minister Sharon believes that Yasser Arafat is directly involved in these terrorist actions.

What they are looking for is a statement from Arafat to stop these kinds of suicide bombings. So far, they say they haven't received that kind of statement.

ZAHN: All right. Thanks for that late report, Wolf Blitzer -- see you a little bit later on this morning.

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