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CNN Sunday Morning

Israel Promises to Ease Restrictions on Arafat

Aired February 24, 2002 - 09:01   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to begin with the crisis in the Middle East. Israel is promising to ease restrictions on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The Palestinians are calling the moves being taken "unacceptable."

CNN's Jerrold Kessel is following the story from Jerusalem. He joins us now live with the latest. Hello again, Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra, and there is a new standoff again between the Palestinians and the Israelis this morning after that Israeli cabinet decision. The security cabinet deciding today that it will lift, but ever so slightly, those restrictions, the travel restrictions on Yasser Arafat.

He, of course, has been kept penned up in his compound, the headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, a ring of Israeli tanks around there for nearly three months now, but the Israelis deciding today, in the wake of arrests by Mr. Arafat's police of three Palestinian militants who are suspected of taking part in the assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister back in November.

Now the arrest of those Palestinian militants had been the Israeli condition for the release of Mr. Arafat's restrictions on him and his travel plans. But for now, the Israelis saying he can move around freely in the West Bank town of Ramallah, but no more than that. Moving from Ramallah elsewhere will require Ariel Sharon's personal permission.

So the Israelis taking a very firm stand, continuing to take that firm stand. It is as if they are continuing to put Yasser Arafat on trial. Mr. Sharon telling his cabinet this morning that the Israelis expect much more than that, that they expect to make sure that those arrests are genuine, and also that other Palestinian militants, who are suspected of involvement in that infamous boat-smuggling affair the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) are also put under arrest and put on trial, those the Israeli conditions that remain in place.

There are some who say that the removal of a ring of tanks around Mr. Arafat's office or halfway house, but keeping them outside Ramallah may be Mr. Sharon's way of keeping the unity government that he commands intact. There was a great deal of speculation that that unity government could come apart as a result of any decision to allow Arafat to travel freely. So the Israelis looking for this to perhaps ease the pressure on Arafat, but no more than that. The Palestinians saying, as you said, this is totally unacceptable, and a leading Palestinian calling this Israeli decision "mere humiliation."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAEB ERAKAT, TOP PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: This is unacceptable, and a shameless decision by the Israeli government today, and it's a clear-cut message to all of us that this government has no political program, and the only program they have is that of war and destruction.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KESSEL: So even though the Israelis may have given order to remove those tanks, there's still a lot of tension in the air and hopes that an agreement between security officials to try and ease the hostilities during a few days of holidays, Jewish and Muslim holidays over the next few days, may not lead in a direction of a real thaw and a real cease-fire in relations. This new decision casting more doubts on the possibility of a real cease-fire taking hold. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jerrold, I understand Hillary Clinton is also in Jerusalem. What is the purpose of her visit, and is she weighing in on this at all?

KESSEL: Well, she hasn't spoken out directly on this latest Israeli decision, but make no bones about it, Mrs. Clinton came here for a solidarity visit. That's the way it was spelled out, and that's the way it's been, a solidarity visit with Israel.

She was addressing the leading Conference of American Jewish Leaders who are convening here, and she said absolutely last night that this was, the United States is solidly with Israel and she lambasted Yasser Arafat. She called him no leader, because he has either been unwilling or unable to reign in terrorists, Mrs. Clinton said, and that was unacceptable to the United States.

So really an undertone to the message that she was delivering of solidarity to the Israelis and saying to the Palestinians that unless Mr. Arafat continues to clamp down and clamp down quickly on terrorists then that carefully nurtured relationship between the United States and the Palestinians during the Clinton Era in the White House is all on the brink of coming apart completely. That seemed to be the message by Mrs. Clinton.

PHILLIPS: Jerrold Kessel live from Jerusalem, thank you. Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Israel's move today is drawing reaction from all sides. What does the administration have to say about that? For that, we go to CNN White House Correspondent Major Garrett on the North Lawn. Good morning, Major.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles. No direct and official White House reaction this morning to this latest move by the Israeli government. That's not really a big surprise. The administration has prided itself on staying out of the incrementalism of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, speaking in broad terms about what both sides have to do.

That doesn't mean there hasn't been any activity this weekend here at the White House. The President was on the phone for about 25 minutes yesterday with French President Jacques Chirac, talking primarily about the Middle East, also about his recently concluded trip to Asia.

And, Secretary of State Colin Powell was also working the phones, speaking to the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, as well as the German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, all this part of the administration activity after the President's return from that Asia trip to sort of see where things are, where both sides are heading in the ongoing dispute between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

One other note here, Miles, I have some video, fresh video this morning. The President just finished a brief trip to church this morning, St. John's Church. It is exactly one block north of the White House, an incredibly short motorcade ride. The President and the First Lady going to church, and now the President's back in the executive mansion, changing clothes, because he's going to go jogging in a few minutes. Maybe we'll have some video of that later this morning. Miles.

O'BRIEN: Major, have you had a chance to talk to anybody this morning about that New York Times report on Osama bin Laden's whereabouts? It seems like all the other reports I've seen, which is to say sketchy sourcing at best and a lot of speculation. I'm curious if there's any more maybe additional credence being given to this particular report?

GARRETT: Well, the White House this morning has basically said, "look, we have tried to be very emphatic and clear about the Osama bin Laden question. Number one, from the White House point of view, the question of his whereabouts is not so important as what's become of al Qaeda and the network that he once sat atop of. And what they say there is the key there is that the al Qaeda network in Afghanistan has largely been dismembered and there are efforts worldwide to deal with where it still exists.

As for his exact whereabouts, the White House position has always been, "when we know exactly where he is, we'll tell you. Until then, we're not going to comment on where he may or may not be," just to let everyone in America know and the global community that they're after him. Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Major Garrett at the White House. Let's bring in CNN's Chris Burns in Karachi now and talk a little bit more about this. "The New York Times," as we said, reporting the possibility that Osama bin Laden is alive.

We don't know about well, but alive anyhow, somewhere in the border, that very porous, mountainous cave-pocked border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, that report quoting only unidentified sources within the administration and not offering any further information beyond what we have heard thus far, all of it, it seems contradictory. We get more on this now from CNN's Chris Burns who is in Karachi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Despite the pounding of Tora Bora's caves by U.S. air strikes, despite U.S. attacks on Afghan villages, some killing innocent civilians, despite a $25 million U.S. government bounty on his head, Osama bin Laden's exact whereabouts remain a mystery.

Officials have repeatedly suggested the possible demise of the accused mastermind of the September 11 attacks. But there are new reports that U.S. officials believe bin Laden is still alive, somewhere in the vast rugged, often lawless region straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Washington left it largely up to Pakistan's armed forces to patrol the region, as the Taliban were collapsing and fleeing U.S. led air strikes in Afghanistan late last year. Armed forces often ill- equipped, ill-trained, ill-paid, susceptible to bribery. And though Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf joined the U.S. effort that toppled al Qaeda backed Taliban rule in Afghanistan, there remains strong sympathies here for the groups.

Until September 11, Pakistan supported the Taliban in an effort to stabilize and exercise influence in Afghanistan. The sympathies extend among militant groups, including some linked to the kidnap- slaying of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

Sympathy is believed as well among elements within Pakistan's Intelligence Service, the ISI, one reason Musharraf is reportedly seeking to rid the ISI of agents who have worked with militants in Afghanistan, militants once supported by U.S. policy during the Soviet occupation there. ISI agents are also believed to have supported militants in the disputed Indian-controlled province of Kashmir, which some reports list as another possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden.

So where is bin Laden. The search is getting increasingly complicated. U.S. officials don't rule out he may still be in Afghanistan, as civilian casualties mount from U.S. air strikes there, that search or the way it's carried out, is facing increasing criticism. And looking for him in Pakistan is not likely to be any easier.

BURNS (on camera): The U.S. has the expressed support of General Musharraf, but can it count on cooperation throughout the Pakistani government? That perhaps is another story. Chris Burns, CNN, Karachi, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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