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CNN Live Sunday

Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Discuss Ending Violence

Aired July 15, 2001 - 17:23   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.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the conflict in the Middle East. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat held talks today in Egypt. The leaders discussed ways to stop the violence, even as Israel's cabinet approved the building of new communities near the Gaza Strip, and as tensions increased along the West Bank.

CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports from Hebron.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Aftermath of a bloody weeks end: Israeli troops prevent Palestinians from making their way out to the suburbs of a major West Bank hot spot, Hebron. Tension in the streets of a divided city. A Palestinian woman hustles her children indoors as Israeli troops enforce a curfew on the 30,000 Palestinians who live in the section controlled by the Israeli army.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't go anywhere. Five days here. We can't go. Not anything in the house to eat. It's difficult.

KESSEL: The curfew was imposed after two settlers were killed in separate incidents, triggering a vigorous Israeli response and sparking new fears Israel could launch a more sustained assault on areas controlled by Yasser Arafat's authority.

Despite those concerns, after a march by various groups through the Palestinian side of town, heads of the militia linked to Mr. Arafat warned attacks against settlers would continue.

(on camera): Eerily quiet here now. Still, this is a place where the noises of war continue to resound most emphatically, and that's part of the reason why it also focuses the ongoing argument among Israelis about the extent of the seemingly endless confrontation.

(voice-over): Dozens of Jewish settlers briefly occupied a building in the Palestinian market place, but left when ordered out by Israeli police. The settlers say the Sharon government is shortsighted. Only one way to handle Yasser Arafat and his authority, they insist.

NOAH ARNON, HEBRON SETTLERS SPOKESMAN: We demand Sharon and his government to be independent and not to be misled by some so-called allies, which are really against us, and to take the right steps to get rid of this terrorist organization.

KESSEL: Mr. Sharon's answer was to allow his foreign minister, Shimon Peres, to continue making the diplomatic running. Mr. Peres met in Cairo with Yasser Arafat, a meeting arranged by Egypt's President Mubarak, the Egyptian effort part of international concern and caution against escalation.

For now though, this, the shape of the battle on the road linking Hebron with Jerusalem, a series of Israeli check points guarding settler traffic; Palestinians only able to cross the road on foot to make a roundabout way from one Palestinian town to another.

Jerrold Kessel, CNN, on the West Bank.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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