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American Morning
Israeli Pullout From Bethlehem
Aired July 02, 2003 - 07:32 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to move on now to Israel and the pullout, the Israeli pullout from Bethlehem.
Our Dan Lothian is there now live to update us on this -- and, Dan, people there waiting to see if this will actually happen.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It is a sense of anticipation here in Bethlehem. That pullout expected to happen in a couple of hours or so. I am standing in Manger Square. You might remember that spring of last year this is where there was that violent stand-off between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli troops. Things obviously quiet today in anticipation, obviously, of this pullout. Israeli troops will be leaving here, but there won't be that visible departure because Israeli troops have pretty much been on the outskirts of the city for the past few months, entering into Bethlehem only to make arrests or to do their routine patrols.
In other developments today, CNN has learned that a senior Israeli officer is saying that as seen by Israel, this could be the end of the intifada. That is the uprising that began some 33 months ago, back in September of 2000. That same Israeli officer also saying that Israel is reducing its forces in the West Bank. And in what could be a show of coordinated support between the Israeli troops and the Palestinian Authority, that officer now saying that Israeli intelligence has passed on information to the Palestinian Authority about possible militants who are planning attacks and that in some cases, those Palestinian Authority officials have made arrests -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Dan, you know, we, of course, saw yesterday the meeting between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. We saw the handshake and we're seeing a lot and hearing a lot about what the leaders are doing.
But on the streets, what are the people telling you? I mean are they really buying into all of this?
LOTHIAN: Well, that's true, that was a very powerful symbol yesterday when both leaders shook hands and vowed to keep the peace process on track. But there is still a lot of skepticism on the ground. We had a chance to talk to some people here. One person telling us that they fully expect to see the Israeli troops marching back into Bethlehem. Another person, a pharmacist here in Bethlehem, told me that he really can't celebrate just yet. He needs to wait a few weeks before he can celebrate because he's really skeptical that this peace process will work.
COLLINS: Dan Lothian live this morning in Bethlehem.
Thanks so much, Dan.
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 July 2, 2003 - 07:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to move on now to Israel and the pullout, the Israeli pullout from Bethlehem.
Our Dan Lothian is there now live to update us on this -- and, Dan, people there waiting to see if this will actually happen.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It is a sense of anticipation here in Bethlehem. That pullout expected to happen in a couple of hours or so. I am standing in Manger Square. You might remember that spring of last year this is where there was that violent stand-off between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli troops. Things obviously quiet today in anticipation, obviously, of this pullout. Israeli troops will be leaving here, but there won't be that visible departure because Israeli troops have pretty much been on the outskirts of the city for the past few months, entering into Bethlehem only to make arrests or to do their routine patrols.
In other developments today, CNN has learned that a senior Israeli officer is saying that as seen by Israel, this could be the end of the intifada. That is the uprising that began some 33 months ago, back in September of 2000. That same Israeli officer also saying that Israel is reducing its forces in the West Bank. And in what could be a show of coordinated support between the Israeli troops and the Palestinian Authority, that officer now saying that Israeli intelligence has passed on information to the Palestinian Authority about possible militants who are planning attacks and that in some cases, those Palestinian Authority officials have made arrests -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Dan, you know, we, of course, saw yesterday the meeting between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. We saw the handshake and we're seeing a lot and hearing a lot about what the leaders are doing.
But on the streets, what are the people telling you? I mean are they really buying into all of this?
LOTHIAN: Well, that's true, that was a very powerful symbol yesterday when both leaders shook hands and vowed to keep the peace process on track. But there is still a lot of skepticism on the ground. We had a chance to talk to some people here. One person telling us that they fully expect to see the Israeli troops marching back into Bethlehem. Another person, a pharmacist here in Bethlehem, told me that he really can't celebrate just yet. He needs to wait a few weeks before he can celebrate because he's really skeptical that this peace process will work.
COLLINS: Dan Lothian live this morning in Bethlehem.
Thanks so much, Dan.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
