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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview with Ra'anan Gissin

Aired March 31, 2002 - 07:31   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: All right, pictures coming in now from Israel. And we have just had it confirmed at CNN that this is the work of yet another suicide bomber. This is -- these are pictures of Haifa, the port city in Israel. You're looking at the Mazza Restaurant or perhaps more accurately what is left of it after a suicide bombing attack, which occurred within the past hour. A few dozen people are injured as a result of it, many of them seriously. You see the response there, the medical response, the rescue teams.

This would be the fourth suicide attack in five days. Once again, ratcheting up this crescendo of violence continues to bedevil the Middle East, even as Israeli tanks encircle Ramallah and other West Bank Palestinian controlled areas. The suicide bombings, presumably the work of Palestinians who oppose Israel's very existence, continue.

Joining us on the phone right now to talk a little bit more about this is a spokesperson for Ariel Sharon, the prime minister of Israel, Ra'anan Gissin.

Mr. Gissin, good to have you with us.

RA'ANAN GISSIN, ISRAELI SPOKESMAN: Yes, sir, good afternoon.

O'BRIEN: Under unfortunately, somber circumstances. Can you bring us up to date? What information do you have on what is going on in Haifa right now?

GISSIN: Well, there is no doubt this is another one of those horrendous terrorist attacks. Into this we have come into a routine of ground zero event, almost every other day for us. That's the reports coming in. We have already confirmed, I think, 14 dead. There's over 20 wounded. And that brings, as of now, the score, you know, for the past two weeks of over 70 people dead. And I'd say over 500 wounded in just two weeks of sustained terrorist activity and the launching of those human missiles into the heart of Israeli society, killing indiscriminately men, women, children, babies.

And you seek the sites. The pictures more than 1,000 words. And I wish they would speak more than the reports concerned about Arafat's safe. You know, where he is confined to his quarter now in his headquarters. But this is the reality we have to live with. We are conducting the sustained military operation throughout the territories. And we will continue in order to contain and eventually eradicate the terrorist infrastructure and uproot terrorism.

And we are in a war. And in war, you suffer casualties, but this will not deter us, because if we don't stop suicide bombing right now and here, they will become a world phenomena. They will become sort of, I would say, the globalization of suicide bombers, the epidemic of the modern world in the 21st century. So we're doing the job, not just for ourselves, but for the rest of the civilized world as well.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Gissin, if we could just back for just a moment. You said you had 14 confirmed dead. Do you have anything more about the specifics of this particular incident?

GISSIN: Well at this stage, no one has yet claimed responsibility. Hold on one minute. No one has yet claimed responsibility. I think the event is in progress. And as you watch the pictures still awaiting, I'm sure that will be one of the terrorist organization, which is part of Arafat's coalition of terror.

You know, Islamic Jihad and Hamas, although not organization associated with Arafat, were part of this coalition of terror, were financed by him, were supported, received sanctuary in his own headquarters. The same goes for Tanzeme (ph) and the al Aqsa which are part of Arafat's own Fatah organization and financed by him.

So Arafat, the leader, cannot exonerate himself from the responsibility of having these suicide bombers sent from his own organizations, to conduct these terrorist activity in Israel.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Gissin, what do you say to those who would say that this action that we are seeing and this series of actions is in direct response to the ratcheting up of military force on the part of the Israelis? Have the Israelis, in some way, invited this sort of response?

GISSIN: Well, let's put to rest this whole issue once and for all, this whole issue of so-called cycle of violence. There's not cycle of violence here. There's one side who conducts unmitigated, you know, indiscriminate killing as a deliberate campaign.

This is Yasser Arafat. He launched his campaign 18 months ago when he established s strategy of terror and built this coalition of terrorist groups. We are acting in self-defense. Like the United States after September 11, we are trying to uproot terrorism wherever it is fighting against us.

And therefore, there is a big difference, a big moral difference between the side that is trying to defend itself against this kind of attack, and the side that initiates deliberate attacks against innocent civilians, targeting children, youngsters, women in places of recreation.

For example today, this attack takes place in a restaurant in Haifa in a center right next door to a medical center with the hope that this will cause even further casualties, you know, in a medical center or in a place where we are trying to save life. This whole culture of death and carnage that the Palestinians are trying to impose on us is going eventually to destroy Palestinian society.

Meanwhile, we are going to take all the necessary means and measures in order to defend ourselves and our citizens. It's a long and arduous battle, one that no other nation has yet faced with this kind of terrorist activity, but we are bound to win it. We are determined. And the people of Israel are strong enough to withstand it.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Gissin, what next? Where does it go from here? What do you demand from Yasser Arafat? And in the absence of any action that would satisfy the Israelis, what will Israeli forces do next?

GISSIN: Well, first of all, let me reiterate the prime minister position, the Israeli government position, the position of every Israeli citizen. We are committed to peace. We have offered the Palestinians so many times the opportunity to go back to the road of peace, to back to a cease-fire and then to implement the Mitchell -- the Tenant and Mitchell report. And we were rejected time and again.

We have launched this operation out of no choice because the Palestinian Authority and Yasser Arafat left us with no other choice, but to do just that. We would like to terminate this operation as soon as possible. We would like to see our forces out of area A. We have no intention of occupying these areas. We have no intention of destroying the Palestinian Authority.

But at the same time, we are determined to take all the necessary measures and actions to eradicate, to destroy, to dismantle this infrastructure of terror that is taking the life of innocent civilians every day.

And until such time that we are satisfied that we have reached a certain reduction, a major reduction in terrorist activity, until such time we will continue in those military operations. At the same time, we continue to extend an open hand for peace for those Palestinians who are wishing to engage in peace. We will give all the support that we can to General Zinni in his effort to establish a cease-fire, but we will -- you can rest assured that we will continue to defend our citizens and continue to hit the terrorists wherever we can find them.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Gissin, before you get away, what is Israel's intent with -- vis a vis Yasser Arafat? Exile or do you intend to harm him in some way? And then what? Who does Israel deal with when it comes to the Palestinian Authority?

GISSIN: I want to make it clear first that Yasser Arafat is not the main problem. Yasser Arafat as the head of the Palestinian Authority, which has turned into a terrorist entity, a terrorist authority, there is full responsibility for its action.

At present, the government has made a clear-cut decision to isolate him. So to speak, to confine him to his quarters. And that's exactly what we do. We have no intention of harming him physically. We have no intention of taking any other additional action against it, except to render him irrelevant to this terrorist process, to prevent him from being able to direct, to give orders to the terrorists who found refuge in his own compound.

And therefore, he will remain restricted to quarters until we are satisfied that we have finished the operations and that we have cleaned Ramallah from the terrorist infrastructure that he so diligently built there. And then, we'll see how things develop and how evolve.

I can say as a final word, the fated destiny of Yasser Arafat and his own people is still in his hands. It depends on his behavior. It depends on his actions. There is still a possibility to reverse the situation. Our hand remains extended to peace, but we will have an iron fist against all those who are trying to kill and maim and destroy our innocent civilians and our life in Israel.

This the Palestinian must understand. I said at the beginning of this uprising. And I said it and warned time and again, we're ready for peace. We're ready to engage in a difference process that will bring hope to both sides. But if they continue to attack us, my warning of then still stands. Please, don't mess with us.

O'BRIEN: All right, and quickly, Mr. Gissin, any update on the situation in Haifa in the time we've been talking?

GISSIN: Well right now, we're talking about over, I think 30 wounded, and as I said, confirmed at least 14 dead.

O'BRIEN: Ra'anan Gissin is the spokesperson for Ariel Sharon. Thank you very much.

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