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CNN Sunday Morning

Ongoing Violence Blocks Peace Effort

Aired March 17, 2002 - 11:02   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Our coverage begins this hour in the Middle East, where ongoing violence, as we just told you, is putting yet another roadblock in the path to peace. We go now to our CNN Senior International Correspondent Sheila MacVicar for the very latest on this. Sheila.

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. The U.S. Envoy General Zinni is, at this hour, meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in his Ramallah headquarters. This is just the latest step, the latest meeting in a very intensive discussions that the general has had with both Palestinian and Israel leaders over the course of the last number of days since he arrived in Israel.

Now U.S. officials have told us that the general is involved in what are described as very delicate negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and those negotiations will have been made somewhat more complicated by today's other events.

Most recently, in the Jerusalem suburb of French Hill, a suicide bomber detonated his device near a bus, killing himself. There are no other injuries. The militant group, Islamic Jihad, has now claimed responsibility for that attack.

A couple of hours earlier, just around midday here, this of course being the first working day of the week here in Israel, a Palestinian gunman opened fire in a busy intersection of a community just north of Tel Aviv, in a place called Kafar Sabba (ph). He killed one woman, has injured about nine others, before he, himself, was shot dead.

Now all of this comes against the backdrop, not only of Mr. Zinni's efforts here to try to move the parties towards a cease fire, and a very complex and delicate negotiations that are obviously taking place, but again we have had renewed indications, though not in the last few hours, but renewed indications from both parties, the Israelis and the Palestinians, that they are interested in moving towards a cease fire. It very much depends now, it seems, on what comes out of this meeting with Mr. Arafat. Catherine.

CALLAWAY: All right, Sheila. CNN's Sheila MacVicar, thank you for that report.

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