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CNN Saturday Morning News
Violence Again Disrupts Mideast Peace Efforts
Aired June 30, 2001 - 07:16 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: In the Middle East, new outbreaks of violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians are threatening ongoing peace efforts. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was in the region this week, and this weekend, Palestinian and Israeli leaders are meeting in Portugal.
The flurry of activity at the top belies the realities of the streets, as CNN's Gordon Robison (ph) reports.
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GORDON ROBISON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It has become a familiar scene, Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres smiling and shaking hands for photographers. But Friday in Lisbon was the first time the two men have met in many months, and these are Arafat's first talks with an Israeli cabinet minister since February's election and Ariel Sharon's elevation to the prime ministership.
On the surface, the two were cordial.
SHIMON PERES, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: There is an agreement. We have to follow it up. But then Lisbon is a very good occasion to exchange views, to think what is the best way to implement the agreement.
YASSER ARAFAT, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRESIDENT: The most important thing is to follow up what had been agreed upon, and we are following, and I had declared our approval for which report for the Egyptian and Jordanian initiative for the declaration which had been declared during the meeting, or after the meeting between President Bush and the European leadership in Sweden recently.
ROBISON: Both sides have agreed in principle to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's plan calling for a week without violence, after which a six-week cooling-off period would begin.
But Friday saw more clashes in Hebron between stone-throwing Palestinian youths, and Israeli soldiers armed with tear gas and rubber bullets, while in Ramallah, protesters marched in support of Hamas, the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and accused terrorist Osama bin Laden.
Violence was also reported in Gaza, where Palestinians attacked Israeli settlements with mortar fire and grenades. At least five Palestinians were wounded when Israel retaliated, and Egypt says one of its border policemen was killed by a stray Israeli bullet.
Asked about the situation Friday, Powell remarked that, obviously, the week of calm had not yet begun. He spent Friday in Amman and Paris, trying to sell the plan to Washington's Arab allies. But those allies are skeptical. The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, gave voice to a widespread feeling in the Arab world that the Israelis are stoking the Palestinians' wrath and then demanding the impossible of Arafat.
PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL, SAUDI ARABIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Palestinians are asked to provide 100 percent security for Israel, and yet Israel is destroying the ability of the Palestinian Authority to do what is necessary for it to do. The closures are affecting them economically, the violence is perpetrating hopelessness and causing the acts of violence and retaliation.
ROBISON: Israel's view is different. Where the Saudi foreign minister sees a populist expression of violent frustration, this Israeli general, speaking to Jewish groups in the U.S. Friday, sees an organized conspiracy.
GEN. SHAUL MOFAZ, ISRAELI ARMY: All the Palestinian security groups are involved in this terror and violence against us. I mentioned the Fatah, the force of Intin (ph), the general intelligence, the military intelligence, the navy force; all the Palestinian groups are involved in the terror against us.
ROBISON: Beyond the smiles in Lisbon, a week of intense diplomacy appears to have resolved little.
Gordon Robison, CNN.
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