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CNN Sunday Morning

Violence Again Strikes Middle East

Aired April 29, 2001 - 09:10   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In the Middle East, an Israeli man is killed, a woman passenger wounded when their car is fired upon in northern Israel. It's the latest in sporadic violence in the past 24 hours. The Israeli Army says six people were wounded in a Palestinian motor lodge on a Jewish settlement. In another incident, one Palestinian is dead after encountering Israeli fire near Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with his Cabinet while his foreign minister, Shimon Peres, conducted shuttle diplomacy on an Arab plan to end the bloodshed.

CNN's Jerrold Kessel has been covering this for us. He joins us live from Jerusalem.

Hi, Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra and anonymous backdrop indeed to that effort by Mr. Peres to take up the concords of the Egyptian-Jordanian initiative -- the so-called initiative. He flew this morning to Cairo, met there with President Mubarak and the Egypt Foreign Minister, Amr Moussa. He's now in Jordan meeting with King Abdullah.

The message that the Israeli Foreign Minister took to Egypt and to Jordan was that both the Israelis and Palestinians agree on the need -- stress this -- on the need to find a way to end a violence in a way that they can get back to negotiations. This seemed to be welcome by the Egyptians but at the same time, clear that the side could not yet reach such a cease fire position.

Nonetheless, Mr. Peres said that Israeli would undertake right away moves to ease the erroneous restrictions on travel and the blockade on Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank and Gaza. But still the efforts need to be made to reach that cease fire.

But most interestingly, perhaps out of those talks in Cairo, came the words from President Mubarak, the Egyptian president, saying that if a cease fire was agreed upon then the talks would -- the two sides would begin talking peace again four weeks after that.

Now that would be a major gain for the Israelis and their effort to build on this diplomatic initiative from the Egyptians and the Jordanians because the Israelis have argued that the Egyptian- Jordanian package talks of things happening simultaneously. The Israelis easing up those restrictions on Palestinian civilians, the violence stopping and the talks starting towards a peace agreement -- a full peace agreement right away.

Israel Prime Minister Sharon has said adamantly all along he won't go into peace negotiations while violence continued. There'll be no talking under fire, is his statement. He means to stick by that, so the Israelis say. So if there were indeed a four week gap between the end of violence or the so-called arrangement of a cease fire and then only peace talks start, the Israelis could perhaps live with that aspect of the Jordanian-Egyptian initiative. It's unclear whether the Palestinians would agree to that.

So much negotiating needed to be done still on this diplomatic effort. But even as that happens, as you reported, the violence continues to rage in Israel Proper, on the West Bank and in Gaza. Casualties on both sides and that underlining more and more the need for a diplomatic initiative to really take off and not to -- just to be played in this way. But it does seem to be a serious step taken by Shimon Peres in Cairo today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jerrold Kessel live from Jerusalem. Thank you.

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