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CNN Sunday Morning

Palestinians Protest Israel's Seizure of the Orient House

Aired August 12, 2001 - 09:09   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.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN ANCHOR: In the Mideast today, more Palestinian protests over Israel's takeover of the Orient House. At one point, there was a tense shoving match with police.

CNN's Jerrold Kessel has the latest from Jerusalem.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Frank, the Israeli police and security forces have taken over another building, a telecommunications unit in the village of Abu Dis, that's just on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem, part of a compound where the Israeli Army and security forces have been entrenching, where before that the Palestinian Authority had been entrenching in all these years, and the Israelis complaining that they'd been trying to increase their influence in Jerusalem, the city which Palestinians have made no secret they want to be their future capital.

And the Israelis busy trying to diminish that Palestinian influence in the city and that in the wake of that deadly suicide bombing last Thursday. The streets of Jerusalem remain tense and also flooded with emotions. Outside that pizza parlor in the middle of West Jerusalem where 15 Israelis were killed by a suicide bomber, there were prayers, there were candles this morning, being recited by Israelis as Israelis bury the last of the people killed in that attack by the suicide bomber.

But the focus among Palestinians and indeed many Israelis has shifted across town, just about a mile or so, or even less than that, to the area of the Orient House, that building which was the representative of Palestinian presence in the city, in which the Israelis, along with other buildings in and around Jerusalem, in the wake of the suicide bombing, seized. While Israeli police there denying access to Palestinians yesterday and today, there were a couple of small protests, not very virulent, but protests nonetheless, and the Israeli police denying them access to that building where the Israelis remain in control.

Prime Minister Sharon has been telling his cabinet that there'll be no backing down. This is a decision that is being taken firm and fast and he'll step to it -- stick to it -- despite international criticism.

The Palestinians say, in turn, that they will not flinch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DANNY NAVEH, ISRAELI CABINET MINISTER: Arafat is trying to use terror in order to achieve political goals, like political goals in Jerusalem. And he should understand that it is not only that he is not gaining from the use of violence but rather he is losing a lot from the use of violence and terror in Jerusalem and other Israeli towns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMED QUREI, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATOR: Now, since the Israeli open the battle in Jerusalem, we are ready for this battle. And Jerusalem now is the first, Jerusalem is the priority, Jerusalem is the resistance and we will resist here this new aggression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KESSEL: Prime Minister Sharon may well initially have wrong- footed his adversaries with his political move in Jerusalem in the wake of the deadly suicide bombing, but if this battle over Jerusalem is now reignited, it could well go beyond the political -- Frank.

BUCKLEY: Jerrold, thanks very much, sir.

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