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CNN Sunday Morning
Israeli, Palestinian Officials Return to Negotiating Table
Aired March 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Israeli and Palestinian officials return to the negotiating table today, joined by U.S. Envoy Anthony Zinni, their task to make some headway amid more violence in the region. CNN Jerusalem Bureau Chief Mike Hanna has been watching this for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE HANNA, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Yet another round of ceasefire negotiations taking place in the course of the day, Israeli and Palestinian security leaders meeting, together with Special U.S. Envoy Anthony Zinni. The ceasefire plan based on a plan drawn up by CIA Director George Tenet, but neither side apparently able to agree on exactly how this plan should be implemented.
Talks continuing and a lot riding on these ceasefire talks, in particular, the movement of Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said that unless a ceasefire is in place, unless Arafat is seen to be implementing it, he will not be permitted by Israel to leave the Palestinian territories and go to a summit in Beirut, taking place later in the week, so, the direct relationship there between the ceasefire talks and Arafat's movements.
Sharon himself, at the cabinet meeting, announced that perhaps he should go to Beirut to address Arab leaders, rather than Arafat, the suggestion dismissed out of hand by Arab leaders who say that any invitation not likely to be forthcoming for the Israeli Prime Minister.
Ongoing violence on the ground too, a major hindrance to the ceasefire talks. A Jewish settler was killed by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank. She was driving in an armored bus when it was fired upon. In Jordan Valley, four Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.
Israel says that they were attempting to infiltrate into Israeli areas, having come across from Jordan, planning attacks against Israeli civilian targets in that area. Also killed in the course of the day, a Palestinian police officer who was shot after the killing of the Israeli woman in the West Bank.
So, ongoing incidents of violence but the Israeli-Palestinian security chiefs still talking to each other, still attempting to find a way to get a truce in place on the ground. Mike Hanna, CNN, Jerusalem. (END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Meanwhile, U.S. and Israeli officials are voicing concern over a reported new alliance between Yasser Arafat and Iran. The New York Times quotes intelligence officials who say the partnership involving weapons and cash was forged last spring. Both the Palestinians and Iranians deny any such alliance. The Washington Post reports the U.S. has been unable to corroborate any direct link between Iran and Arafat.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: When the Arab Summit convenes this week in Lebanon, Arab leaders are likely to feel the pressure from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. While the U.S. considers Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization, many people in the Arab world don't see it that way. CNN's Beirut Bureau Chief, Brent Sadler, explains.
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BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF (voice over): It's one of the world's most heavily fortified borders separating Lebanon from Israel, where Hezbollah guerrillas say they're poised to continue attacks like these on Israeli troops occupying the disputed Sheba (ph) Farms at the foot of the Golan Heights, and ready they say to open a second front if Israel ever attempts to crush the Palestinian revolt by provoking a transfer of population from the occupied territories to Jordan.
SAYED HASSAN NASRALLAH (through translator): Meaning if they wish to repeat the 1948 events by forcing the Palestinians off their land, no one can remain quiet, not Hezbollah nor anyone else. This will lead to the opening up of many fronts, and the explosion of the whole region.
SADLER: The Palestinian intafada broke out some 18 months ago, just four months after Hezbollah claimed battlefield victory over Israel in the former Israeli occupied tip of south Lebanon, and today, Hezbollah has a clear agenda to support the Palestinians with whatever it takes, money, weapons, and political backing.
AMAL SAAD-GHORAYEB, AUTHOR "HEZBOLLAH POLITICS RELIGION": It's even more closely connected now than it was in the past. So I think every military act Hezbollah commits now will serve the Palestinians one way or another.
SADLER: Hezbollah has been promoting itself as a role model in resistance over occupation throughout the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, emphasizing that suicide bombings or martyrdom operations, as Hezbollah calls them, are sapping Israeli resolve.
NASRALLAH (through translator): This is the right time to bring down Sharon. Sharon has failed to break the will of the Palestinian resistance.
SADLER: From its favorite studios, Hezbollah broadcasts in Arabic and English reach a mass audience, a constant flow of one-sided anti- Israeli propaganda. Mohammed Abu Rudeineh, a Palestinian, walks through Beirut's Sabra and Shatilla (ph) refugee camps. At home, he listens carefully to Hezbollah's news reports.
MOHAMMED ABU RUDEINEH, PALESTINIAN REFUGEE: We're losing everything in this war today. If we can't fight, it's all over. Fighting is the right to (inaudible). Fighting means we will be the masters of our Palestine.
SAAD-GHORAYEB: There's a very sort of palpable influence within the occupied territories, you know, by Hezbollah. So Israel really has no choice but to take Hezbollah's propaganda machine very seriously.
SADLER (on camera): And Hezbollah officials have made no secrets of directly supporting the Palestinian conflict, admitting an attempt to smuggle short-range rockets into the occupied territories, calling for more suicide bombing and demanding that Arab governments throw their full weight behind the Palestinian arms struggle.
SADLER (voice over): The United States classifies Hezbollah as a terrorist organization with global reach, posing problems for the Lebanese authorities, hosts of the upcoming Arab Summit, when regional leaders will be under pressure to offer more support for the Palestinian resistance at the same time as consolidating a Saudi proposal for peace. Brent Sadler, CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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