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CNN Live Sunday

Sharon Agrees to Withdraw Tanks From West Bank if Palestinians Stick to Last Week's Agreement

Aired October 28, 2001 - 15:48   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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has approved the withdrawal from two West Bank towns on the condition that Palestinians stick to an agreement made last week. At least 38 Palestinians have been killed in the recent Israeli incursion into West Bank towns. The troop withdrawal was initially suspended after two shootings on Sunday claimed five Israeli lives. CNN's Jerrold Kessel with our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Mediterranean coastal town halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa has been the scene of a number of previous car bombs and suicide bombings, but this the first such attack: Gunmen driving at speed through the city center, firing their automatic weapons at random at pedestrians and people waiting at bus stops.

Israeli police shot the two attackers dead. The radical Palestinian group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.

Just hours earlier, a few miles away from Hadara, a second drive- by shooting near Israel's border with the West Bank. An off-duty Israeli soldier shot dead in his car. A group linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement claimed responsibility here.

RA'ANAN GISSIN, SENIOR SHARON ADVISER: The overall effect of such an act which raises serious doubts and questions as to the intention and the steps that the Palestinian Authority is taking. Is Arafat's face -- facing or willing to go to peace, or negotiation, or is he about to escalate the situation?

KESSEL: The two attacks inside Israel came shortly after the Israeli government had heard from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that if (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fighting in the West Bank towns of Bethlehem and Beit Jala persisted, Israeli tanks would probably be withdrawn from there later on Sunday. That promised fast-paced pullback from Palestinian towns was postponed, Israel said, because of ongoing clashes there. Israel partially reoccupied six Palestinian towns in the West Bank a week and a half ago, following the assassination of a cabinet minister.

Under U.S. pressure, Israel had agreed in principle to withdraw. The Palestinian Authority committing itself to ensure calm, but only once the tanks were out.

The tanks are unlikely to move off, predicts the Palestinian information minister, who charged Prime Minister Sharon with targeting Yasser Arafat's administration.

YASSER ABED RABBO, PALESTINIAN CABINET MINISTER: They want to topple the Palestinian Authority, and they want to bring back the occupation to the whole of Palestinian areas.

KESSEL: But even as they waited to see whether Mr. Sharon would begin to move his troops out, other Palestinian ministers say the moment is too critical to squander.

SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: We understand this, and we want to exert every possible effort in order to revive hope that peace is possible. We need to be given the chance.

KESSEL (on camera): But now, the situation complicated by the shooting spree by Palestinian gunmen in northern Israel. Israel continuing to argue it can't afford to quit Palestinian areas if Yasser Arafat does not control the Palestinian radicals. Palestinians arguing that Yasser Arafat can't be expected to act against militants in his backyard while Israeli tanks are in his front yard.

Jerrold Kessel, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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