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CNN Saturday Morning News

Arafat, Israeli Officials React to Tel Aviv Bombing

Aired June 02, 2001 - 09:02   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: But right now we have more now on the aftermath of a bloody suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat says he is ready to make all possible efforts to end the bloodshed.

Meanwhile, Israel sealed off Gaza and the West Bank and held an emergency cabinet meeting. The cabinet discussed Israel's response to the deadliest terrorist attack in years.

And in Tel Aviv, CNN's Jerrold Kessel says hospitals are jammed with relatives of those killed and injured in last night's blast outside a beachfront disco.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anguish in Tel Aviv, anguish in hospital corridors of relatives as they await word of the condition of the wounded. Doctors say some of the injuries were especially severe because, along with the explosives, the bomb sprayed nails and screws into the crowd.

By late morning, all the 17 young people killed along with the suicide bomber had been identified. They were among those lining up to enter the Dolfi (ph), a discotheque much frequented by young Russian immigrants among many such night spots on the bustling Tel Aviv waterfront.

An angry crowd gathered outside where the Israeli leadership was convening in extraordinary session to decide how to respond. The demand here was for vehement action against the Palestinian Authority of Yasser Arafat directly. Arguments over what measures Israel should take continued among people who'd gathered at the site of the bombing.

No fresh information released by the Israeli authorities on the identity of the suicide bomber. After late into the night, police experts had scoured the scene for forensic evidence.

RAANAN GISSIN, SHARON SPOKESMAN: No doubt, the tempers are very heightened and the blood is boiling for this -- because of this senseless killing. But in order to make really a change in the basic situation, we have to take a very cold, calculated decision. And taking a cold, calculated decision, looking at all the other aspects (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of the broader picture, looking at how we can affect, really bring about an end, to violence, and not just revenge for an event that happened.

KESSEL: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had already been under pressure from families of people killed in previous attacks, from large sections of the Israeli public, and from the right flank of his unity government to end the self-declared restraint policy.

CHEMI SHALEV, ISRAELI POLITICAL ANALYST: First objective of the government is to try to get some sort of massive international pressure on Arafat to perhaps do something which might avert the need for Israel to respond in force. But 12 hours have gone by since the attack happened, and we haven't seen anything of the sort.

So this kind of option, I think, is running out. And even though Israel may wait a few more hours or even a day or two, I think the end result is probably well known already now, and Israel will have to respond.

KESSEL: Germany's foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, in the area to meet regional leaders, was staying overnight in a hotel opposite the scene and laid a wreath before traveling to Ramallah on the West Bank to meet with Yasser Arafat.

Palestinian leaders have called the 10-day-old Israeli-declared unilateral cease-fire a ploy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KESSEL: And now the focus on both what Yasser Arafat declared and what the Israeli government says Israel will do. While the Israeli government is -- that security cabinet meeting has ended, and in a statement after it, the Israeli cabinet secretary said that Israel will take all necessary measures to defend its citizens. And before -- as Israel is weighing what response it will undertake, there was no stipulation in the Israeli statement of whether that meant, as some ministers have been intimating, that the Israeli self-declared policy of restraint is now over.

But also very firm statement of condemnation of Yasser Arafat personally by the Israeli security cabinet, and within the next half hour, the small inner security cabinet of the prime minister, the foreign minister, and the defense minister will be meeting again, reportedly to act on an authorization from the security cabinet that they can give the green light for military actions to be taken.

But no confirmation that indeed that's what they will do. And they were not quite responding but having heard Yasser Arafat come out from a meeting with the German foreign minister and the U.N. chief envoy in the region and make a very firm statement, the first time Mr. Arafat in his own voice has made such a firm statement of condemning the kind of action last night, and also saying that he was ready and the Palestinian Authority was ready for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire, although Mr. Arafat did not specifically spell out what he meant to do.

And this led to a comment when we interviewed the chief U.N. envoy, Terje Larson, in the wake of that meeting, he had attended that meeting, and this was his comment on the Arafat statement and whether Israel's restraint policy might continue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERJE LARSEN, U.N. ENVOY TO MIDDLE EAST: I do think that Arafat gave some very, very positive statements today, which I also do hope that the government of Israel will take note of. I think he's stretching out a hand.

However, it is now important not only to watch words but also to look at deeds. Words have to be followed by deeds on both sides. Both sides have now committed themselves to the Mitchell report. Arafat did so once again today. And both sides have called for a cease-fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KESSEL: Both sides committed themselves to that cease-fire and to the Mitchell report, says the U.N. envoy. But is that enough to hold the region back, to hold the two sides back from the escalation of violence? That is the question of whether the words are going to be met by deeds or whether the deeds are going to overtake those pledges and promises -- Carol.

LIN: Jerrold Kessel reporting live from Jerusalem, thank you -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush spending the weekend with his family at Camp David, but of course keeping a close eye on the Middle East and calling for an end to the violence.

For the latest on that, we turn to CNN senior White House correspondent, John King.

Good morning, John.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles.

More statements from the highest ranks of the administrations condemning the violence and the killing in the Middle East. Most of all, though, here, Miles, a mounting sense of frustration, indeed, exasperation, as once again the administration feeling relatively powerless, if you will, in its diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the violence and the killing between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

As you mention, the president issuing a statement after this latest bombing. In that, he says, quote, "There is no justification for senseless attacks against innocent civilians. This illustrates the urgent need for an immediate, unconditional cessation of violence. I call upon Chairman Arafat to condemn this act and call for an immediate cease-fire."

So obviously Mr. Arafat's statements today saying he would agree to such a cease-fire welcome here at the White House, but, as Jerrold Kessel just noted, administration officials saying that they need actions, not words, they need the Israelis and the Palestinians to reach an agreement on just how a cease-fire would take effect and how the security cooperation would work.

Now, this administration criticized by some for not doing more in a public way to bring an end to the violence, but there has been rather aggressive U.S. diplomacy in the region. The president himself calling the leaders last week, Secretary Powell involved, William Burns, the ambassador to Jordan, who's the point man in the region.

We're told U.S. diplomats in the past several hours in contact with both sides urging restraint, but again it is the view of the administration, the president and Secretary Powell, that for any negotiations to return, even on basic security cooperation, there must first be an end to the violence -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's John King at the White House.

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