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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Reverend Canon Andrew White

Aired April 14, 2002 - 15:22   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to take you now to Bethlehem, about six miles south of our locations here. That standoff right now well into its third week. We do know that there are civilians inside the Church of the Nativity that with them about 200 Palestinian gunmen as well. Over the past couple of days we have been told by some analysts that they believe Colin Powell might be negotiating an end to this.

Earlier on Sunday, Israel made an offer to allow the gunmen to either accept Israeli arrest or sent into exile permanently never to come back. Let's talk about it now with one of the mediators on the ground in Bethlehem (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Andrew White. He's the Archbishop of Canterbury's Middle East envoy here. He's live with us tonight in Jerusalem. Good evening to you.

REV. ANDREW WHITE, MIDDLE EAST ENVOY, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY: Good evening.

HEMMER: You were in Bethlehem today, is that right?

WHITE: I was, yes.

HEMMER: Let's get some numbers straight. Is it still 200 Palestinian gunmen inside, if we said this repeatedly, though, but is that an accurate figure?

WHITE: I think that certainly seems to be in the region of what they're talking about, certainly from the negotiations last week with the people inside. It sounds as if ...

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: Where do we stand, then, between the mediation efforts and the Israeli offer earlier today, which was immediately rejected by the Palestinian side?

WHITE: I think in reality most of the mediation work now is being done by the Israeli Army themselves, and there are conflicting reports. for example, today we're told that water was actually taken in. This was obviously a great humanitarian need, but (UNINTELLIGIBLE) denial by some of those inside that the water is actually gone in. They were assured from the Israeli side that it has, so it's very difficult to actually assess what's really going on in there. And being in Bethlehem today, you can actually understand why, because of the total infrastructure of that little city has been destroyed.

HEMMER: But what does it say about gunmen taking refuge in a place of worship and in a place like this, which is so sacred to Christians all over the world?

WHITE: Well I think you can clearly understand from the point of view of those who look after this holy site, that there has been an abuse of religious places of worship. And one of the reasons why the religious leaders inside are very hesitant about leaving, even though they have been told by Israel they are free to leave, is that they're actually concerned about the maintenance of the sanctity of that holy place and very much concerned about what would happen if they were to leave.

So it is a very difficult situation because Israel is obviously one (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to respect the whole issue of trying to maintain the sanctity of the place of worship and also the fact historically people have always taken refuge (UNINTELLIGIBLE) but at the same time, there has clearly been an abuse, and that's what the Vatican and the Greeks (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

HEMMER: Allow me to cut through the negotiations here, and I understand it is massively complicated because there are frankly a lot of parties involved in this. Do you see leeway in any area that may end this sometime very soon?

WHITE: I don't think there's leeway unless either side is willing to make major compromises and at the moment we do not see any ...

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: What would the compromise consist of?

WHITE: Well the compromises either have to consist of one of the other suggestions, which has been made of the Israelis not taking such a hard line as regard to those Palestinian terrorists or whoever they are in there. And the other option would be those in there willing to actually accept one of these other options. I don't think it's likely that any of them are going to accept exile or that they're going to accept even the offer of returning home, but then probably being arrested later (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

HEMMER: You are painting a picture of an absolute stale mate that has no end in sight. Is that what you're suggesting?

WHITE: I think this is a really worrying situation. However hard one tries to think laterally about the situation, it's difficult to see a solution without very considerable compromises on one side or the other. And one of the situations that we have in this present conflict is that both sides are not willing to make compromises.

HEMMER: To our viewers, that is you actually in that videotape, as you go through Bethlehem and you were there earlier today. What did you find out?

WHITE: Well, I think one of the worrying things about Bethlehem today was the fact that around us we could see the total destruction of this town, the destruction of a infrastructure, which it had millions and millions of dollars poured in by the international community to prepare it for the holy year of millennium. All of that is now ruined, but even more serious was the fact that in the rubble amongst these burned out cars were little children playing.

And you can imagine the psychological damage to these children as it's being discussed on CNN recently. The psychological scars are probably even more serious than some of the physical damage to infrastructure because it's those psychological scars on the next generation these young children that we can see, you know, shouting (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to the window asking for food. They have been scarred forever and how will they in future consider the Israelis who are supposed to be their neighbors?

HEMMER: I have one more question for you and then I'm out of time. But I want to know as a Christian yourself, how do you view this knowing that it is on the site where the Bible and traditions states Jesus Christ was born?

WHITE: Well I've been involved in this land long enough not to be over emotionally tied to it. And sadly it is in this place, which is one of the most holy sites in present, if not the most holy, that walls have been raged over 2,000 years, and I think it's important for us to realize that what's going on in the Church of the Nativity today is seen by much of the church (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it's just part of this long historical lineage of people who have abused them over many, many, hundreds of years.

HEMMER: Listen, I wish you the best of luck. You're not painting a pretty good picture for us here. I'm not asking you to, but the reality on the ground certainly suggest otherwise.

WHITE: It's still very serious.

HEMMER: Canon Andrew White, thanks for stopping this evening, well into our third week again, that standoff in Bethlehem Church of Nativity.

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