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CNN Sunday Morning

Victims of Tel Aviv Suicide Bombing are Mourned

Aired June 03, 2001 - 10:01   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.
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: This is a day of mourning and raw emotions in Israel, where the victims of Friday's suicide bomb attack are being buried today.

CNN's Jerrold Kessel has the very latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Emotions raw at the scene of Friday night's suicide bombing. Many of the people who stopped off to pay tribute to the dead teenagers seem stilled stunned. Along with the disbelief, anguish, emotions effecting Israelis in general.

In the countries popular papers, crowded row after row of faces, nearly all of them immigrants from the former Soviet Union, some only children. Some were single parents. A few cases, both only children and single mothers.

A special memorial, too, at the school where several of the teenagers had studied. Alongside the tears, there is widespread anger. Balancing gut reactions with broader considerations is what the Israeli government wrestles with.

At the scene of the bombing, amid prayers and wreath-laying, differing views of what the government should do.

"So," says this young man, "we give them another 48 hours to see what Arafat will do to calm things down. I think it's empty talk, nothing more. They don't want any peace with us at all."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're waiting, now, to see what happens. Instead of acting out of rage, is the appropriate way to do things. I think that most of us accept this way of dealing with the situation.

KESSEL: Officially, Israel says Yasser Arafat must act, not simply promise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Israel is stressing now the reincarnation of Palestinian operatives from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who have been involved in these terrorist attacks. We're talking about the end of the incitement and finally we're talking about a real termination of the kind of shooting attacks and bombing attacks that we've been experiencing for months. If these things happen, we will have reached a cease-fire and military plans that Israel was considering will become irrelevant.

KESSEL: The Palestinian leader, who has been under enormous international pressure says he'll work for the cease-fire, but Palestinian officials stress the onus is equally on Israel to make it work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The balance of the cease-fire will be accompanied by some political steps from the side of Israel which will enforce the cease-fire and help us to go ahead with it.

KESSEL: Israeli security forces scrutinized permits of Palestinians entering Jerusalem. A tight closure of the West Bank and Gaza includes the blocking of fresh gas and petrol supplies into Gaza.

(on camera): Informally, the Israeli government has indicated it will give Yasser Arafat a chance. Unless there is a another terror incident, analyst say Israel is unlikely to strike militarily until it's convinced that the world is convinced that it had little alternative but to act.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first indications, I would say that I feel that the world do (sic) realize that we have done our utmost.

KESSEL (voice-over): But for now, Israeli is focused on burying the teenagers, a chain of funerals, 14 in all on Sunday, another five on Monday.

Jerrold Kessel, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary of State Colin Powell has canceled a planned trip to Costa Rica while the administration tries to react to the unfolding violence in the Middle East.

And we get the latest now from CNN's Major Garret who is at the White House for us this morning.

Major, good morning.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Brian. Here's the sequence of events the White House would like to see unfold.

First, a complete cease-fire; a cessation of all violence on the ground between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Then, a somewhat extended cooling-off period, where both sides can look at the fact that there is no violence and concentrate not on how to respond to violence, but on what political risks they may be willing to take for peace. And then, after that cooling off period has settled in, real negotiations for a final settlement to all the Israeli/Palestinian issues.

Right now, the administration is holding its breath to see if that cease-fire in fact holds. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who will appear at 12 Eastern time on "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER," was interviewed by Mr. Blitzer earlier today. Here's what he had to say about what the White House expects to see from the Palestinian leader, Mr. Arafat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's not so much what I believe, it's what we will all see. He spoke yesterday in very, very strong terms. He said things I had not heard him say previously. He spoke about the unconditional cessation of violence, which is called for by the Mitchell Committee Report. He spoke to his people as well as speaking to the international audience, and now we have seen him take some actions with respect to his security forces that are encouraging and there has been no serious violence in the last 12 to 18 hours.

So, it's not so much what we believe -- and the Israelis wills say this to you very quickly. It's not what we believe or read, it's what we see. And so, what Mr. Arafat has to do now, what I encouraged him very strongly to do yesterday, was to show action on the ground that everybody can see so that we can start to get into a cease-fire and cooling off period again, and then move into the confidence building measures called for by the Mitchell Committee Report. And at the end of a long period of time, hopefully not too long, get back into final status negotiations.

So, what is important now is action on the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT: That is the key phrase, "action on the ground." Secretary of State now only spoke with Mr. Arafat, he spoke with leaders throughout the region, the Russian foreign minister, all the interested parties in the Middle East.

There are two crucial political realities in this situation right now. One is the Israeli government is under increasing and mounting pressure to respond to this act of terrorism on Friday. It is showing restraint, trying to prove to the United States, prove to the Palestinians and prove to a larger world audience, that it is going to take its own risks for peace, not respond militarily, to give the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, a chance to implement that cease- fire.

The other political reality is, many Middle East analysts say Mr. Arafat does not have absolute control over every faction within the Palestinian movement. He's going to have to exert maximum influence with his voice and with his security forces to make that cease-fire hold. And right now, the White House and many other parties are watching very closely to see how the next 12 to 24 hours unfold. Brian.

NELSON: Alright, thank you. CNN's Major Garrett at the White House. And, just a reminder for our viewers that Secretary of State Colin Powell will be a guest on "LATE EDITION." That begins at noon Eastern time today. Linda.

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