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American Morning
Palestinians Appealing to Hague to Support Removal of West Bank Wall
Aired February 23, 2004 - 07:39 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Turning overseas now to the issue of the wall going up between Israel and the Palestinian West Bank, Israel says it is a security barrier. The Palestinians say it is a land grab. The debate is now the subject of a hearing before the International Court of Justice.
Ben Wedeman is at Israel's border with the West Bank -- good morning, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Anderson.
We're in Baq al-Barbiyah (ph), which is an Arab-Israeli town. But just a few yards from me is the barrier. In this case, it is a wall that divides essentially an Arab community. On one side you have Arab-Israelis with Israeli passports, on the other side you have people who describe themselves as Palestinians with passports issued by the Palestinian Authority.
What you see here is actually a mixture. Up the hill, it is the fence. It is just a wire fence with motion sensors on it. Anybody who touches it will set off an alarm and bring Israeli patrols running in. Otherwise, it's a wall that runs through this town.
Now, in total, the separation barrier, so to speak, is going to be running around more than 450 miles. That's the plan, at least. Only about 110 have already been built. We've already seen that the Israelis are making modifications in certain areas to try to lessen the impact on the Palestinian population. Just near where we are now, they began dismantling yesterday a five mile stretch of the barrier.
Now, the Palestinians look at it very much as a land grab, an opportunistic move by Israel to take control of more territory within the West Bank.
For the Israelis, of course, their main focus is to try, according to Israeli officials, to prevent suicide bombers from reaching Israeli towns and cities. And today they've put on a very vivid display by bringing to the wall in the Jerusalem suburb (AUDIO GAP)...
COOPER: Obviously we lost Ben Wedeman there, his report from the border of the much disputed wall that Israel is constructing. We'll try to get back in touch with Ben a little bit later on and check in with him.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Bank Wall>
Aired February 23, 2004 - 07:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Turning overseas now to the issue of the wall going up between Israel and the Palestinian West Bank, Israel says it is a security barrier. The Palestinians say it is a land grab. The debate is now the subject of a hearing before the International Court of Justice.
Ben Wedeman is at Israel's border with the West Bank -- good morning, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Anderson.
We're in Baq al-Barbiyah (ph), which is an Arab-Israeli town. But just a few yards from me is the barrier. In this case, it is a wall that divides essentially an Arab community. On one side you have Arab-Israelis with Israeli passports, on the other side you have people who describe themselves as Palestinians with passports issued by the Palestinian Authority.
What you see here is actually a mixture. Up the hill, it is the fence. It is just a wire fence with motion sensors on it. Anybody who touches it will set off an alarm and bring Israeli patrols running in. Otherwise, it's a wall that runs through this town.
Now, in total, the separation barrier, so to speak, is going to be running around more than 450 miles. That's the plan, at least. Only about 110 have already been built. We've already seen that the Israelis are making modifications in certain areas to try to lessen the impact on the Palestinian population. Just near where we are now, they began dismantling yesterday a five mile stretch of the barrier.
Now, the Palestinians look at it very much as a land grab, an opportunistic move by Israel to take control of more territory within the West Bank.
For the Israelis, of course, their main focus is to try, according to Israeli officials, to prevent suicide bombers from reaching Israeli towns and cities. And today they've put on a very vivid display by bringing to the wall in the Jerusalem suburb (AUDIO GAP)...
COOPER: Obviously we lost Ben Wedeman there, his report from the border of the much disputed wall that Israel is constructing. We'll try to get back in touch with Ben a little bit later on and check in with him.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Bank Wall>
