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CNN Saturday Morning News

Israel Continues Air Strikes on Gaza; President Bush Condemns Hamas; John Travolta's Teenage Son Dies; More Details About Obama's Economic Plans

Aired January 03, 2009 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Rob Marciano, in today for T.J. Holmes.

Developing this morning, more explosions in Gaza as Israel continues its air assault, all this while world leaders are being urged to help get both sides to agree on a ceasefire.

NGUYEN: And fixing the economy, President-elect Barack Obama reveals more details of his plan to get the economy back on track.

First up, though, tension in the Middle East is building this morning. Israeli tanks are at the border and a ground assault on Gaza could start any time. An Israeli military spokesman says an air strike killed a Hamas military commander today and medical sources say rockets launched from Gaza into southern Israel set a house on fire, damaged a dining hall and injured two people. Palestinian medical sources say at least 435 people have been killed in Gaza. Israeli police say four people have died in Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.

We're also following this story from Washington and from the Middle East where it is all playing out. We're going to talk to Kate Bolduan there, as you see, in Washington. She's going to be speaking with us in just a minute.

But first let's get straight to the latest with Paula Hancocks. She's at the Israel-Gaza border. Any more word on movement by those Israeli troops?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, not at this point, but we have just had an update from the Israeli defense forces of what we've seen today. There's been at least 14 rockets hit in southern Israel from Gaza, and 40 air strikes, we understand, or at least 40 targets have been hit. You can hear I think shelling in the background. It's still ongoing.

Israel has not run out of targets in Gaza to try and hit. Now, we know there's been weapons storage, warehouses. There have been a couple of mosques targeted over the past couple of days as the IVF says they're actually keeping these weapons inside the mosques. But a significant and interesting point is the fact that there's at least 14 rockets coming into southern Israel, but over the past days we've had at least 70 rockets coming in. So does this mean that the Israeli military is whittling down on the stockpiles of the militant rockets, or does it mean that, in fact, they're waiting until there is a possible ground offensive to start launching more rockets? Now, we know also in Israel there have been protests today, demonstration from an Israeli Arabs in the northern part of the country.

Obviously, Israeli Arabs very upset with what is happening in Gaza at this point, and pointing out the humanitarian side. The fact that there have been more than 435 people killed, according to medical sources. There are 2,200 injured. And demonstrations across the world, but also here in Israel.

NGUYEN: Paula, talk to us a little bit about the humanitarian situation because, as I understand it, due to the rockets that have been fired, the Israeli air attack that the infrastructure there in Gaza, much of that has been wiped out.

HANCOCKS: Well, Gaza is as good as without power at this point. And there needs to be more food, water and medical supplies taken into the Gaza strip. Certainly the strip is a very small piece of land, and there's 1 1/2 million residents living there. It has been absolutely pounded over the past eight days. And no matter how pinpointed the air strike is, there will be civilians hurt and killed. And there have been civilians hurt and killed.

The hospitals cannot cope. They have very few qualified doctors. They don't have enough medical supplies. And over the past -- even just before these air strikes started, the U.N. officials were telling us that there could be a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. And this is before eight days of air strikes. So, the situation in Gaza is absolutely dire.

NGUYEN: All right. CNN's Paula Hancocks joining us live. We'll be chatting with you a little bit later today. Thank you, Paula.

MARCIANO: Now to our Kate Bolduan who's covering the story from Washington. Kate, what is the president saying about this crisis?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Rob.

Well, in his weekly radio address and his first comments on this latest situation in Gaza since it began, President Bush condemned Hamas for instigating the violence. The president as well as the top U.S. diplomat, secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, both are calling for a ceasefire, but one that comes as a long-term solution. President Bush laid out his condition in his address.

Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Another one-way ceasefire that leads to rocket attacks on Israel is not acceptable. And promises from Hamas will not suffice. There must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure the smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now, on the possible escalation in the conflict of an Israeli ground assault, the White House is not taking a position, declining to comment on whether it would be justified. The White House spokesperson saying Friday, those will be decisions made by the Israelis. Rob?

MARCIANO: The president, certainly the secretary of state plays a big role in this. What does secretary of state Condoleezza Rice -- she's issued a few statements but will she be traveling, to either Europe or the Middle East to find a solution?

BOLDUAN: Well, Rob, Secretary of State Rice says at this point she has no plans to head to the Middle East to broker a ceasefire. A White House spokesperson saying yesterday they don't see a particular need for her to travel to the region when she's doing the work, working the phones here from Washington.

In her first public appearance on the situation yesterday, Rice repeated the administration's diplomatic stance. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: We are working toward a ceasefire that would not allow a re-establishment of the status quo ante where Hamas can continue to launch rockets out of Gaza. It is obvious that that ceasefire should take place as soon as possible, but we need a cease-fire that is durable and sustainable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Durable and sustainable, that is something you'll hear over and over again from the administration on this. Rice says she's been working the phones constantly since the violence erupted and is in close contact with European allies as well as key Arab states, pushing for a truce. Rob?

MARCIANO: Kate Bolduan covering the story live for us from Washington, D.C. Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Of course.

MARCIANO: Taking you to London now. Here is a look at some live pictures of demonstrators in London. The pro-Palestinian march started a little more than an hour ago. It' it's ending with a rally in Trafalgar Square. The Palestine solidarity campaign organized this demonstration.

NGUYEN: Heartbreak for actor John Travolta. He and his family are dealing with tragedy a the start of this New Year. Travolta's 16-year-old son Jett died of an apparent seizure while the family vacationed in the Bahamas. TMZ.com's Harvey Levin says he was just stunned when the news hit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF HARVEY LEVIN, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER TMZ: It was a weird situation. I mean, I remember I was sitting there, and then you want to -- it's one of these weird things where you hope you're wrong. I mean, it was a weird reaction. We put it up, and then waited to see what others were going to do. And then, you see they're following. And it was weird.

I mean, it was just -- especially when you think about it, Larry. This is a new year, and this is the way they're bringing in the new year to deal with something like this? It is -- it's unbelievable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: And that was TMZ.com's Harvey Levin. Well, the family says it plans to have an autopsy done on Jett's body Monday.

And for more information on -- information on this tragedy, I'm going to talk to Ken Baker with E Entertainment next hour, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

MARCIANO: Severe weather taking its toll on Oregon. Now under a state of emergency. You can see some of the damage caused by a mudslide near Portland. Heavy rains after heavy snows loosen the hillsides. As many as 60 roads are now closed. There's also widespread flooding in the area and as much as three inches of rain has been falling. Dozens of families have been forced from their homes because of the floods and the slides.

And in the Midwest, seeing some storms here as meteorologist Reynolds Wolf has been tracking all this nasty stuff, for the most part west of the east coast. But nonetheless, not a good way to ring in the new year.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, not at all. You know, I mean, you think new year with, you know, the nice champagne, you get the streamers, you get the noise makers, not cleaning up the backyard because of a mudslide.

NGUYEN: Gosh.

WOLF: Really on the things you want to do.

NGUYEN: No, not at all.

WOLF: Today, in parts of the Midwest they will be dealing with snow blowers. This could be a big issue. We got a big storm that's ramping up. It's going to mean a lot of things to millions of people. First and foremost, it's going to be mainly in the form of snowfall. We're seeing something grand in Forks and Bismarck, and back over to Fargo.

The snow is beginning to move through. In Fargo, if you were to step outside, and you look to the west, you'll see the clouds coming through. Here's what's going to drop, a lot of snowfall and to your neighbors just to your east, in parts of Minnesota, that snow could get especially deep. Some places in the deep woods up to 18 inches of snowfall.

Farther to the south, looking at a little bit of a wintry mix. And then as you make your way closer to the mid-Mississippi Valley and closer to the Gulf coast, something entirely different, not snow, not ice, but rather strong storms, maybe even some producing tornadoes by the late afternoon hours.

That is certainly an are that we're going to watch very, very carefully. Something else we're really going to watch and we're going to feel though, the very warm temperatures, especially along the I-35 corridor. If you're making a drive from San Antonio past Austin to Dallas, you can roll down the windows. You'll have temperatures mainly in the 70s and 80s by this afternoon and seasonably warm.

However, to your neighbors to the north, back up towards Denver, into Salt Lake and into Billings, you're dealing with teens, 20s, 30s, back in Seattle and Portland, you've got the mud and a little bit of rain shower activity along the coast.

Temperatures mainly into the 30s. in fact in Boston and New York, 30. 43 at our nation's capital out by the reflection pool in Washington, D.C.. In Miami and Tampa, mainly 70s and 80s. and L.A. with 59 degrees. That is a quick look at your forecast across the nation. Bad news for the folks of course in the northwest and people in the northeast need to hunker down. At least the western Great Lakes. Heavy snow.

MARCIANO: Now that New Year's and Christmas are out of the way, Reynolds, your favorite holiday, I know, Valentine's Day. And maybe you should consider taking your wife to this place. An i-report for you. Niagara Falls.

WOLF: Come on. Beautiful.

NGUYEN: That is gorgeous.

WOLF: You know, it's a special thing to see, you know, when you have the falls there. You got a little bit of ice that's forming. And then just, you know, the idea of love altogether. Puts a nice bow on the whole present, doesn't?

MARCIANO: That frozen landscape doesn't want to get you to run inside and jump under the blanket, I don't know what does.

WOLF: Good times.

MARCIANO: All right. Thanks, Reynolds.

NGUYEN: All right. So, how does Barack Obama plan to fix the economy? Well, he is outlining his top goals in more detail than you have ever heard before.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NGUYEN: Well, after 12 nights spent vacationing on the beaches of Hawaii, President-elect Barack Obama is back in Chicago. Tomorrow, he and his family head to Washington, ahead of congressional meetings and the girls the first day at their new school.

CNN's Brianna Keilar is in Chicago now, and she joins us live. Brianna, this has been a brief stopover, but the president-elect is already back at work trying to fix the economy. And today we heard some more details about his plans in his radio address. Break it down for us. What does he have planned on a way to finally fix the mess that it seems like we're all facing with this economy?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, this is the Obama-Biden economic plan. What you have is President-elect Obama really distilling it down today in his weekly radio address, doubling renewable energy production, rebuilding crumbling roads, bridges and schools and tax breaks for American workers. Among other things we have heard him talk about before.

If you want to know what's in this plan, you want to see if you think it's a good plan, you, of course, can check it out online on his Web site, change.gov, see what he's going to be bringing to Washington because this is the plan, when he comes to Washington tomorrow, and when he meets with congressional leaders on Monday, this is what he's going to be selling to top Democrats and Republicans. Here's some of his radio address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I look forward to meeting next week in Washington with leaders from both parties to discuss this plan. I'm optimistic that if we come together to seek solutions that advance not the interests of any party or the agenda of any one group, but the aspirations of all Americans, then we will meet the challenges of our time just as previous generations have met the challenges of theirs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The tough sell here, you got it, Republicans. They have been resistant. They've kind have been the holdouts on some of the big spending plans this year, the stimulus packages, the bailouts, the rescues. And their concerns really persist when it comes to this plan. One, because of the cost. I mean, the price tag on this has been discussed to be as high as $775 billion. And they're also concerned about the speed with which Democrats are talking about rolling this out, maybe pushing it through the house as soon as the second week in January.

Republicans are concerned that it won't -- there won't be time for this package to be gone over with a fine toothed comb. They're also concerned that there won't be enough time to make sure there's proper oversight over how all this money is going to be spent -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Well, while the economy, obviously, priority number one for him, obviously he is going to be talking as well about the situation in the Middle East. And as we know, Brianna, Hamas leader made some inflammatory remarks involving President-elect Barack Obama. We want to listen to that just very briefly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHALED MESHAAL, HAMAS LEADER (through translator): Mr. Obama, your beginning is not good. You got involved and you had a statement regarding the issue of Mumbai, but you would not get involved and say anything about the enemies' crime against Gaza. Enough of your double standards, oh western nations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Do you expect any kind of a statement or if the Obama team is even going to respond to this?

KEILAR: No, we have asked for reactions specifically to those remarks from the Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, and we have not gotten it from the Obama team, nor are we really expecting to get it. They haven't responded. Obama has not addressed this conflict in Gaza. As you know, Betty, much to the criticism of some people who are speaking on behalf of the civilians of Gaza. His team saying, look, there is one president, and at the time that President is George W. Bush.

Now I did speak, though, with someone who was a former adviser and staff member to four previous presidential administrations and he told me that even if Obama were president at this very time, it would be very odd for him to respond specifically to these comments from the Khaled Meshaal, because, you know, be odd for a president to respond to someone who is part of an organization that the U.S. considers to be a terrorist organization.

And on the topic of Mumbai, the same aide -- former aide telling me he had to talk about that because in Mumbai, in those terror attacks, Americans were killed and he really had no choice. You have to come out and make a statement in a situation like that.

NGUYEN: CNN's Brianna Keilar, thank you much for that. We do appreciate it.

MARCIANO: Well, he is the new man in Washington, and he's definitely got the Hollywood blessing, that's for sure.

NGUYEN: Celebrities are just lining up to throw money into President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural fund. Steven Spielberg, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Sharon Stone, all of them gave $50,000 each to the fund. Basketball great Magic Johnson chipped in $25,000. The limit is $50,000.

Now, all of this California cash is just for the proof of one star power that's radiating from the incoming president. The Web site for the inauguration allows users to see who's given and how much they've given. The only name, though, missing, Rob, on this site, Oprah Winfrey. MARCIANO: Wow.

NGUYEN: Though she was one of the first to endorse Mr. Obama when he started his campaign.

MARCIANO: Maybe she feels that endorsement is priceless.

NGUYEN: And I think a lot of folks probably do, too.

MARCIANO: Well, we continue to break down the Middle East this morning, both sides on edge.

NGUYEN: Thousands caught in the cross fire with prospect for peace not looking very good.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: A live picture now as we watch the violence in the Middle East. Our international desk producers, they are monitoring the situation as it unfolds. And we have seen several new explosions just in the last few hours. Explosions on both sides of the Israel- Gaza border.

You know, the match is being set to the Middle East powder keg, if you will. An Israel-Hamas ceasefire expired in mid December, leading us to the escalation that we are seeing this week. Two experts join me now to talk about the conflict and the prospects for peace. First in Washington, Ziad Asail, from the American task force of Palestine.

And in Jerusalem, Israeli defense forces spokeswoman Major Avitail Leibovich. Thank you both for being with us. Let me start with you, Major Leibovich. When we talk about this ground assault and the preparations for that, do you expect this to happen within hours, within days?

MAJ. AVITAIL LEIBOVICH, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: Well, naturally, I cannot share this information. The operation is continuing as planned, namely aircraft and navy only. However, we still keep the option of using infantry and other forces open. It's on the table. But currently, we're only exercising aircraft and navy only.

NGUYEN: But, major, what is the purpose of a ground assault? I mean, isn't Israel winning this from the air? If you look at the casualties, some 400 Palestinians have been killed compared to four Israelis.

LEIBOVICH: Well, the majority of the killings were actually Hamas terrorists, according also to other figures. Now, Hamas has, for the past two years, provided us many, many targets. Hamas, for the past two years, built many bunkers, improved the range of the rockets, built training camps and so on, and so forth. Therefore, we still have many more targets to go. Now, we still see that Hamas is targeting Israeli civilians, namely we still did not reach the goal of crippling Hamas' launching capabilities. NGUYEN: Mr. Asail, I want to get your response to that also and add to this that President Bush has made a statement saying that Hamas militants committed this act of terror, as he called it, when they fired rockets into Israel. And basically blaming Hamas for this. Is that a fair statement in your mind?

ZIAD ASAIL, AMERICAN TASK FORCE ON PALESTINE: Well, Hamas, in fact, did refuse to continue with the Hudna, the ceasefire, and it did go on firing attacks. However, Hamas, of course, also played into the hands of the Israelis who have been preparing for this attack for six months because they were not about to tolerate the throwing of rockets on their citizens. So, there is a certain confluence of interests in this confrontation between Hamas and Israel.

And the thing that I really do want to mention is that Hamas would like to have this to be considered an attack on the whole Palestinian people, the people of Gaza and not an attack on Hamas. In fact, Hamas leadership is not engaged in this fight in any way, shape or form. Even those who were killed were not engaged in the fight. They were hit by airplanes, by rockets from airplanes. So there is no actual fight. The people who really are suffering are the people of Gaza.

NGUYEN: And so, Major Leibovich, when it comes to those casualties on the ground, to those who are being injured in this, the purpose of a ground assault is that to prevent other civilians from getting hurt? Is that to pinpoint the attacks and target Hamas operatives?

LEIBOVICH: Well, the targets that we have picked came after a long and thorough intelligence work for the past few weeks. The targets aren't military targets. These are not civilian-affiliated targets. Now if Hamas chooses to deliberately to locate its warehouses, its storage of the rockets in the middle of the most dense areas, then Hamas should be accountable for all the civilians that are getting targeted and hit. We don't have any intention to hit civilians.

NGUYEN: Mr. Asail, I want to get your reaction to that. Is Hamas doing that?

ASAIL: Yes, regardless of the intention, I think the end result is that the people who are really suffering are the people of Gaza, the civilians of Gaza. No electricity, no -- no -- not enough food. There are now walking in the streets. People cannot keep their windows closed because they are afraid of concussions that will break the windows, in very cold weather. It's a very messy situation.

NGUYEN: Are they being used as human shields?

ASAIL: Yes, of course, actually at the end of the day it's the civilians of Gaza who are playing into the hands of both combatants and they're praying the price.

NGUYEN: All right. So how does this come to an end? Let me start with you Mr. Asail, how do you end this? ASAIL: OK. Well, there has to be a ceasefire and it has to, of course, neither reward Hamas and would also, at the same time, relieve the situation, the pre-existing situation in Gaza. One possibility, of course, is a ceasefire that allows the P.A., the Palestinian Authority, to monitor the crossings. The rafah crossing in particular as existed in an agreement that was signed in 2005. And Hamas would absolutely have to commit not to use rockets or missiles against Israel and there has to be monitors, international monitors to do that.

NGUYEN: Major Leibovich, I've got to give you the last word here. How plausible is a ceasefire?

LEIBOVICH: Well, look, for the past eight years, hundreds of thousands of Israelis were under heavy rocket fire, daily and nightly. Therefore, the only solution is a complete stop of the rockets. Currently, according to Hamas' statement, almost on a daily basis they're only calling for revenge. They're only calling for more targeting of Israeli civilians. This is why we are in this operation. We cannot allow for a security situation like this to continue.

NGUYEN: So, you're saying a ceasefire is not possible at this point?

LEIBOVICH: At this time, as we speak, 20 rockets launched -- were launched toward Israel today, some of them were at major cities, some of them were improved range ground rockets. So the intentions are very obvious. This is not peaceful intentions. These are terror intentions.

NGUYEN: Major Leibovich, and Ziad Asail, we do appreciate both your time today. Thank you so much.

And "OPEN HOUSE" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta is next right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)