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CNN Sunday Morning

Israeli Forces Respond to Palestinian Attacks

Aired March 10, 2002 - 09:08   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: Well more violence and more deaths. Ahead of the Vice President's visit to the Mid East, today Israeli forces respond to a night of Palestinian attacks, and fire at least 25 missiles at the Gaza headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. With the latest, we're joined now by CNN Jerusalem Bureau Chief, Mike Hanna.

MIKE HANNA, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Kyra, the violence ongoing. Within the last hour, there have been Israeli strikes on targets in Gaza. Early on today a major Israeli strike against the compound of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, which razed to the ground the two-story building in which Arafat had entertained the sitting heads of state, among them U.S. President Bill Clinton.

This is the wake of two Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets overnight in Netanya, a seaside city. Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a hotel. One Israeli and a nine-month-old baby were killed in that attack.

And in Jerusalem, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in a crowded cafe, killing 11 Israelis an wounding dozens of Israelis, this attack serving to confirm the deepest of Israeli fears.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANNA (voice over): Distraught faces reflect the bitter knowledge, it could have been me, it could have been you, it could have been any of the many for whom the Cafe Moment was a refuge, a place to sit and drink coffee and have normal conversations amidst abnormal times.

David and Ariel Myron embrace in the place where so many Israelis died, mourning the dead, but also expressing relief that they escaped the terror attack alive and uninjured. The two brothers had come to the restaurant, after attending a Peace Now demonstration outside the prime minister's residence, virtually across the road. The bomb leaving unshattered Ariel's belief that peace with Palestinians can not be achieved through the use of force.

ARIEL MYRON: Unless we're prepared to wipe out an entire people, then - which I don't think that we should or can do, then violence to continue to breed violence, and it's got to stop somewhere and it's not going to stop with more violence.

HANNA: Others here do not agree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their mentality is strength. If you show that you're strong, they go back. If you show that you're weak, they attack you more and more.

HANNA: This terror attack appears to confirm a deeply disturbing trend. In recent days, there was an attack on a fashionable late night Tel Aviv restaurant, followed by a failed bombing attempt in a trendy Jerusalem suburb. Both these targets well away from areas that had been the focus of suicide attacks in the past, areas that Israelis had thought to be safe are no longer so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like Russian roulette here, you know. One day you're out. The other day you're dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what to say.

HANNA: The question on the minds of all, in the shadow of funeral notices on the wall, how many more candles will be lit in the rubble of yet another attack.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANNA (on camera): Amidst this crescendo of conflict, the first sign in the period of time that the two sides will talk to each other, sources have told CNN that within the next 24 hours, Palestinian and Israeli leaders will get together in talks aimed at getting a cease fire in place on the ground. These talks reportedly to take place on a political, as well as on a security level. All of this, perhaps, clearing the ground for the arrival in the region of U.S. Special Envoy Anthony Zinni, who will attempt to make that cease fire on the ground a reality, a very difficult task. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: No doubt. Our Mike Hanna, live from Jerusalem, thank you so much.

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