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CNN Saturday Morning News
Road Map to Peace May Be Back on Track
Aired June 14, 2003 - 07:02 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning to our top story now, despite a bloody week in the Middle East that left dozens of Israelis and Palestinians dead, there are signs today that high-level officials from both sides are taking steps to salvage the road map to peace.
CNN's Matthew Chance joining us now from Jerusalem with the very latest on all of this. Matthew, hello.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you as well, Heidi.
And it has indeed been a week of bloodshed and shattered hopes for peace. Out of that, new prospects of a possible deal that's -- may be done between Palestinian Authority officials and the Israelis. We'll come to that in a moment, though.
But first, let's recap on just some of the violence that we've been witnessing here over the past few days. The latest Israeli helicopter gunship strike against a car driving through the busy streets of Gaza City to take out a member of the Hamas militant group, that person killed, but at least 25 other people as well surrounding the car were injured when it was hit in that helicopter gunship attack.
Again, the ending, this attack, a week of bloodshed, in which more than 50 people, both Palestinian and Israeli, have been killed.
Amid all this bloodletting, though, Heidi, contacts continuing between Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials, at least. Nothing has been officially confirmed to us by either side at this stage, but we understand that high-level security meetings may resume as early as this evening, Saturday night here local time, or at least very soon, to try and hammer out a way of getting out of this worsening spiral of violence.
Basically, what our sources are telling us is that the discussions will focus on the possibility of Palestinian Authority officials assuming control of the security of the Gaza Strip in exchange for two things. First of all, an Israeli army withdrawal from certain areas of Gaza to allow greater freedom of movement for ordinary Palestinians there.
Secondly, more importantly, perhaps, a suspension of Israel's policy of assassination against senior figures in the Hamas militant organization. There's no deal been done yet, but Palestinian sources are telling us that if a deal is to be done, this is the basis on which it will be broken, Heidi. COLLINS: Matthew, still curious about Yasser Arafat. What was his role in these latest discussions?
CHANCE: It's not clear. Certainly the talks in Ramallah have been chaired by Yasser Arafat, where he's based, of course, involving various officials of the Palestinian Authority, some of which have -- some of whom have come up to Ramallah to sit in on that meeting.
Clearly, Yasser Arafat wants to place himself more in a central role in this. He was outright and forthcoming in condemning the Wednesday suicide bomb attack in Jerusalem on a crowded bus, preempting Abu Mazen, his prime minister, by some 30 minutes.
So clearly he wants to play more of a role, but at the moment he's very much on the sidelines, the focus still being very much on Abu Mazen and his deputies in talking to the Israelis and these security meetings, Heidi.
COLLINS: And, of course, we will be talking about all of this as the morning progresses today here on SATURDAY MORNING. Thanks so much, Matthew Chance, live from Jerusalem now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 14, 2003 - 07:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning to our top story now, despite a bloody week in the Middle East that left dozens of Israelis and Palestinians dead, there are signs today that high-level officials from both sides are taking steps to salvage the road map to peace.
CNN's Matthew Chance joining us now from Jerusalem with the very latest on all of this. Matthew, hello.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you as well, Heidi.
And it has indeed been a week of bloodshed and shattered hopes for peace. Out of that, new prospects of a possible deal that's -- may be done between Palestinian Authority officials and the Israelis. We'll come to that in a moment, though.
But first, let's recap on just some of the violence that we've been witnessing here over the past few days. The latest Israeli helicopter gunship strike against a car driving through the busy streets of Gaza City to take out a member of the Hamas militant group, that person killed, but at least 25 other people as well surrounding the car were injured when it was hit in that helicopter gunship attack.
Again, the ending, this attack, a week of bloodshed, in which more than 50 people, both Palestinian and Israeli, have been killed.
Amid all this bloodletting, though, Heidi, contacts continuing between Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials, at least. Nothing has been officially confirmed to us by either side at this stage, but we understand that high-level security meetings may resume as early as this evening, Saturday night here local time, or at least very soon, to try and hammer out a way of getting out of this worsening spiral of violence.
Basically, what our sources are telling us is that the discussions will focus on the possibility of Palestinian Authority officials assuming control of the security of the Gaza Strip in exchange for two things. First of all, an Israeli army withdrawal from certain areas of Gaza to allow greater freedom of movement for ordinary Palestinians there.
Secondly, more importantly, perhaps, a suspension of Israel's policy of assassination against senior figures in the Hamas militant organization. There's no deal been done yet, but Palestinian sources are telling us that if a deal is to be done, this is the basis on which it will be broken, Heidi. COLLINS: Matthew, still curious about Yasser Arafat. What was his role in these latest discussions?
CHANCE: It's not clear. Certainly the talks in Ramallah have been chaired by Yasser Arafat, where he's based, of course, involving various officials of the Palestinian Authority, some of which have -- some of whom have come up to Ramallah to sit in on that meeting.
Clearly, Yasser Arafat wants to place himself more in a central role in this. He was outright and forthcoming in condemning the Wednesday suicide bomb attack in Jerusalem on a crowded bus, preempting Abu Mazen, his prime minister, by some 30 minutes.
So clearly he wants to play more of a role, but at the moment he's very much on the sidelines, the focus still being very much on Abu Mazen and his deputies in talking to the Israelis and these security meetings, Heidi.
COLLINS: And, of course, we will be talking about all of this as the morning progresses today here on SATURDAY MORNING. Thanks so much, Matthew Chance, live from Jerusalem now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
