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CNN Live Sunday

Violence Continues in Middle East Despite Shaky Cease-Fire

Aired July 01, 2001 - 16:00   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.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: It's been two weeks since the start of the current Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire, but the violence continues in the West Bank and beyond. The latest incident, an Israeli air attack on Syrian radar positions inside of Lebanon.

CNN Jerusalem bureau chief Mike Hanna has the details and what it all means for the peace process.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE HANNA, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Cross- border fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas, this in the wake of an Israeli strike on Syrian positions in southern Lebanon, which in turn, says Israel, was in retaliation for a Hezbollah attack Friday in which two Israeli soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously. Israel says it holds Syria responsible for the actions of Hezbollah.

While it's totally united on this issue, there are signs of division within the Sharon government with regard to the Palestinians. Some ministers angered at Ariel Sharon's decision to allow his foreign minister, Shimon Peres, to hold talks with Yasser Arafat in Lisbon in what they claim is a reversal of his stated policy of not negotiating while violence continues.

REUVEN RIVLIN, ISRAELI CABINET MINISTER: While we are asking the president of the United States not meet Arafat, at the same time, the deputy prime minister of Israel is doing so.

HANNA: On his return from Lisbon, Yasser Arafat highlighted the critical point of dispute with the Israeli government, this with regard to when a seven-day proving period begins in establishing a lasting cease-fire. A week without violence a prerequisite for the implementation of confidence building measures outlined in the Mitchell Committee Report, including a freeze on the building of Jewish settlements.

"As a sign of appreciation to the Americans and their efforts, I said we agreed on another seven days," said the Palestinian Authority leader, adding in response to a follow-up question, "this period started last Wednesday."

Not so, say the Israelis who insist on a seven-day period without any incidents of violence whatsoever, and who point out that an agreement with the U.S. Secretary of State that it's up to the Israeli prime minister to decide when this period begins.

NATAN SHARANSKY, ISRAELI CABINET MINISTER: Arafat is doing nothing, not one hundredth of one percent of effort to stop it. So, to speak that the cease-fire has already started is simply a mockery.

HANNA: And violence continues on the ground. Two Palestinians killed by Israeli forces who contend they were part of a group caught in the act of laying a roadside bomb near Jenin in the West Bank, an allegation not denied by Palestinian security sources.

In Jenin itself, a Palestinian crowd demonstrates against the killing, and at the same time, many here calling for further attacks to be carried out against Israeli targets. This in defiance of Yasser Arafat's public call for an end to such attacks.

(on camera): The cease-fire, such as it, theoretically remains in place, but the prospect and the current climate of seven days without any act of violence appears inconceivable and the possibility of a lasting cease-fire remains, at the very best, very distant.

Mike Hanna, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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