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CNN Saturday Morning News
Portion of West Bank Barrier will be Torn Down
Aired February 21, 2004 - 08:02 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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: A surprise announcement from Israel tops the news at this hour. Beginning tomorrow, a section of that controversial barrier along the West Bank will be torn down.
CNN's Ben Wedeman is monitoring that development for us from Jerusalem -- Ben, just because part comes down, another is going to go up, though, somewhere else, right?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's correct.
They will be demolishing eight kilometers of that barrier that runs through the Palestinian town of Baka al-Sharqiya. The barrier had cut off about 7,000 Palestinians living in that town from the rest of the West Bank. But this doesn't mean the barrier is going down. It just means it's going to be running more along the so-called green line that separates Israel proper from the West Bank.
Now, although Israeli officials say the demolition work has been planned for several months, it does come on the eve of the hearings at the International Court of Justice in the Hague on the legality of that barrier. And, of course, that barrier has come under criticism, international criticism, because of the disruption it has caused to the tens of thousands of Palestinians who live along or near the barrier, many of them farmers cut off from their farmland, families divided.
But Israel argues that the barrier has prevented dozens of suicide bombers from entering Israel and going to Israeli cities.
Now, Israeli Army officers involved in the building of the barrier, or the planning of its route, rather, concede that mistakes were made in the rush to build the barrier and that they are making modifications as they learn, and the Palestinians learn, of the depth of the impact that the barrier has made. And they say that this modification in that area is really part of that process -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Ben Wedeman reporting to us on the barrier, at least a portion of it coming down in Israel.
Thank you very much.
We'll continue to follow this one -- Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The Mideast is also on the agenda at the White House today. President Bush is getting an update from a team of U.S. envoys just back from the region. The delegation met with both sides in the Mideast conflict.
White House correspondent Dana Bash joining us now with the very latest on all of this -- Dana, good morning to you.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
And that U.S. team that will be at the White House today to brief the president just returned from consultations with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Now, they went to discuss Sharon's recent signals he may be willing to unilaterally withdraw from some of the Palestinian territories. Administration officials are hopeful they will provide -- that will provide an opening, in the words of the White House spokesman, that would "help reduce friction between the two sides and restart the peace process that has been stalled for months."
Now, one member of the delegation also met with Palestinian leaders to urge them to crack down on terrorists.
Now, one thing that certainly may help is what Ben was reporting on, one thing that administration officials certainly could see that would help is Israel saying this morning that they will begin to pull down part of the barrier that goes into the West Bank.
There is no official administration reaction to the announcement yet. But one official I spoke with this morning noted that the president and other top officials have publicly said time and time again that the U.S. believes the barrier is not helpful. Now, they understand, U.S. officials, that Israel says it's important for their security, but they also do feel that making sure it doesn't cut into the disputed territory, from the U.S. point of view, that if Israel does, in fact, go ahead and do that, it would go a long way as a goodwill gesture -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Dana Bash, thanks so very much.
The very latest coming to us from Washington this morning.
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 February 21, 2004 - 08:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: A surprise announcement from Israel tops the news at this hour. Beginning tomorrow, a section of that controversial barrier along the West Bank will be torn down.
CNN's Ben Wedeman is monitoring that development for us from Jerusalem -- Ben, just because part comes down, another is going to go up, though, somewhere else, right?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's correct.
They will be demolishing eight kilometers of that barrier that runs through the Palestinian town of Baka al-Sharqiya. The barrier had cut off about 7,000 Palestinians living in that town from the rest of the West Bank. But this doesn't mean the barrier is going down. It just means it's going to be running more along the so-called green line that separates Israel proper from the West Bank.
Now, although Israeli officials say the demolition work has been planned for several months, it does come on the eve of the hearings at the International Court of Justice in the Hague on the legality of that barrier. And, of course, that barrier has come under criticism, international criticism, because of the disruption it has caused to the tens of thousands of Palestinians who live along or near the barrier, many of them farmers cut off from their farmland, families divided.
But Israel argues that the barrier has prevented dozens of suicide bombers from entering Israel and going to Israeli cities.
Now, Israeli Army officers involved in the building of the barrier, or the planning of its route, rather, concede that mistakes were made in the rush to build the barrier and that they are making modifications as they learn, and the Palestinians learn, of the depth of the impact that the barrier has made. And they say that this modification in that area is really part of that process -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Ben Wedeman reporting to us on the barrier, at least a portion of it coming down in Israel.
Thank you very much.
We'll continue to follow this one -- Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The Mideast is also on the agenda at the White House today. President Bush is getting an update from a team of U.S. envoys just back from the region. The delegation met with both sides in the Mideast conflict.
White House correspondent Dana Bash joining us now with the very latest on all of this -- Dana, good morning to you.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
And that U.S. team that will be at the White House today to brief the president just returned from consultations with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Now, they went to discuss Sharon's recent signals he may be willing to unilaterally withdraw from some of the Palestinian territories. Administration officials are hopeful they will provide -- that will provide an opening, in the words of the White House spokesman, that would "help reduce friction between the two sides and restart the peace process that has been stalled for months."
Now, one member of the delegation also met with Palestinian leaders to urge them to crack down on terrorists.
Now, one thing that certainly may help is what Ben was reporting on, one thing that administration officials certainly could see that would help is Israel saying this morning that they will begin to pull down part of the barrier that goes into the West Bank.
There is no official administration reaction to the announcement yet. But one official I spoke with this morning noted that the president and other top officials have publicly said time and time again that the U.S. believes the barrier is not helpful. Now, they understand, U.S. officials, that Israel says it's important for their security, but they also do feel that making sure it doesn't cut into the disputed territory, from the U.S. point of view, that if Israel does, in fact, go ahead and do that, it would go a long way as a goodwill gesture -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Dana Bash, thanks so very much.
The very latest coming to us from Washington this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
