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CNN Saturday Morning News
Palestinians, Israeli Military Face Off in Gaza
Aired December 15, 2001 - 07:22 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The cycle of attacks has poured cold water on a U.S. mission to get Israeli-Palestinian peace talks back on track.
Our Chris Burns joins us live from Jerusalem with the latest on that. Hi, Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Well, a chaotic situation reported by our people on the ground in the Gaza Strip, Bet Hanun (ph), the Palestinian town where Israeli forces have moved in overnight, and the standoff or the faces off continues, who have reported that some thousands of Palestinian protesters taking to the streets, facing off with the Israeli tanks, exchanges of fire, the Palestinian medical authorities say that some 48 people have been injured, two of them in critical condition, two people shot and killed, and that the number of dead could rise because of those two people in critical condition.
So the standoffs are continuing there. The Israeli army saying that that is part of their crackdown, including the air strikes, in cracking down on suspected Palestinian militants who've been waging a series of bombings inside and outside of Israel and inside the territories.
Another incident reported overnight by the Israelis. They say that in the -- near the town of Gush Katif (ph), there was a Palestinian who tried to penetrate that Israeli settlement, Jewish settlement on the Gaza Strip, that that intruder supposedly had some kind of explosives tied to him, that he was shot and killed before he could enter.
So tensions remain extremely high there, and as those tensions remain high, the United Nations is trying to take some kind of action. That resolution by the Security Council failed because of the U.S. veto, the U.S. saying that it was a -- should have mentioned these terrorist attacks have been happening inside Israel. However, the Palestinian -- the Israeli -- and the Israelis argue that if that resolution had passed, it would have taken the pressure off of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a clear statement and vote against duplicity, double standard, and terrorism, and a vote of confident support of an embattled democracy defending itself against terrorism.
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BURNS: And on the Palestinian side, the Palestinians say that this international monitoring that would have been mandated by that U.N. resolution, they've been calling that for quite a long time, and however they say that -- and they say that that monitoring is definitely necessary because they say that this Israeli crackdown amounts to collective punishment.
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SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: It's very, very unfortunate to hear this American veto, to veto a resolution calling for the immediate end of violence. The American veto should have been used against Sharon's occupation, aggression, and settlement activities. At the same time the veto was being used, Israeli tanks were resuming occupation in Bat Hanun and Gaza and Betla (ph) here, and in many parts of Ramallah.
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BURNS: U.S. mediator Anthony -- U.S. mediator Anthony Zinni, he is in Jordan and in Egypt over the weekend. Those are his plans. His future plans, however, are unclear. Up to now he's been unable to bring Yasser Arafat to at least recommence some kind of security talks between Yasser Arafat's people and the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Chris Burns live from Jerusalem, thank you so much.
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