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American Morning
No Resolution in Ramallah Standoff
Aired September 23, 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: In an attempt to end the stand-off at Yasser Arafat's headquarters, Israeli and Palestinian officials met today for the first time since the start of the siege five days ago. After the meeting chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat was allowed to visit Arafat inside what is left of the compound.
Our Ben Wedeman joins us now live from Ramallah -- good morning, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Yes, Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, left the compound about 20 minutes ago. He was inside for about an hour or so. So, but as of yet we don't know what has been agreed upon, what has been discussed.
We do know, after having a talk earlier with a senior Palestinian official that the view from the inside of the building where Mr. Arafat is is that there will be no hand-over of any of the 50 or so Palestinians who the Israelis say are inside that building who, they say, are on their wanted list of individuals involved in terrorist acts against Israel.
So really it seems at this point that they really are at a stand- off, that there has been no resolution of this problem.
Now, the demolition of the compound itself seems to have come to an end. It ended about last night after sunset. The Israelis pulled out their bulldozers, their jack hammers and their other heavy equipment.
What the Israelis did bring in was a very large shipment of supplies for the 200 or so Palestinians inside the compound. They brought a wide variety of things, including potatoes, tomato puree, green onions, yogurt, cooking gas, corn, lentils, beans and three boxes of underwear, all sizes.
But despite that small problem being solved, the problem of this compound, Paula, doesn't seem to be anywhere near a resolution -- back to you.
ZAHN: So what is the expectation about what happens down the road?
WEDEMAN: Well, it's very difficult to say. And we do know that, in fact, the Israelis are very divided on the wisdom of this operation. Some Israeli commentators saying that this operation has really bolstered the Palestinian leader. We've seen these massive demonstrations in Gaza and the West Bank in support of him. That, after several months in which many prominent Palestinians were calling on him if not to resign, certainly to give up a good deal of his power.
Now we see that he seems to have been bolstered by all of this.
So really the Israelis may have created something of a mess for themselves and they're having a bit of trouble getting out of it -- Paula.
ZAHN: Ben Wedeman, thanks for that update. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 23, 2002 - 08:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: In an attempt to end the stand-off at Yasser Arafat's headquarters, Israeli and Palestinian officials met today for the first time since the start of the siege five days ago. After the meeting chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat was allowed to visit Arafat inside what is left of the compound.
Our Ben Wedeman joins us now live from Ramallah -- good morning, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Yes, Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, left the compound about 20 minutes ago. He was inside for about an hour or so. So, but as of yet we don't know what has been agreed upon, what has been discussed.
We do know, after having a talk earlier with a senior Palestinian official that the view from the inside of the building where Mr. Arafat is is that there will be no hand-over of any of the 50 or so Palestinians who the Israelis say are inside that building who, they say, are on their wanted list of individuals involved in terrorist acts against Israel.
So really it seems at this point that they really are at a stand- off, that there has been no resolution of this problem.
Now, the demolition of the compound itself seems to have come to an end. It ended about last night after sunset. The Israelis pulled out their bulldozers, their jack hammers and their other heavy equipment.
What the Israelis did bring in was a very large shipment of supplies for the 200 or so Palestinians inside the compound. They brought a wide variety of things, including potatoes, tomato puree, green onions, yogurt, cooking gas, corn, lentils, beans and three boxes of underwear, all sizes.
But despite that small problem being solved, the problem of this compound, Paula, doesn't seem to be anywhere near a resolution -- back to you.
ZAHN: So what is the expectation about what happens down the road?
WEDEMAN: Well, it's very difficult to say. And we do know that, in fact, the Israelis are very divided on the wisdom of this operation. Some Israeli commentators saying that this operation has really bolstered the Palestinian leader. We've seen these massive demonstrations in Gaza and the West Bank in support of him. That, after several months in which many prominent Palestinians were calling on him if not to resign, certainly to give up a good deal of his power.
Now we see that he seems to have been bolstered by all of this.
So really the Israelis may have created something of a mess for themselves and they're having a bit of trouble getting out of it -- Paula.
ZAHN: Ben Wedeman, thanks for that update. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
