Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Sunday
Interview With Richard Cook
Aired April 14, 2002 - 16:34 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 continue our focus now on that refugee camp inside Jenin. Again, we'd been talking earlier with a spokesperson, a captain from the IDF. The Israeli perspective is much different from the Palestinian perspective, and essentially this has been a battle of words for days on end, but the evidence on the ground will prove out what the accusations truly are.
Let's talk more about that. Our member for the United Nations, Richard Cook, is our guest now. He's been in the town of Jenin for just about two days running, or two days ago, which one was it?
ROBERT COOK, UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY: Two days ago the last time, twice this week.
HEMMER: And you saw what then in the town? You did not get in the refugee camp.
COOK: No, we were not allowed to ...
HEMMER: What did you see in the town, Richard?
COOK: Well, there;s quite a bit of devastation in the town, but the worrying thing is such a lot of people have come out of the refugee camp. They have fled, women, children, and older men and they now do not know what has happened to their menfolk. And, so we're trying now, whilst we can't get into the refugee camp, to try and feed these people, give them medical care.
HEMMER: You've talked to a lot of people, I'm assuming, right?
COOK: We did, yes.
HEMMER: Did you find evidence that would suggest that 500 Palestinians lost their lives there?
COOK: Certainly not from the information we had during our conversations with the people. It's very difficult to put together the exact situation, and we simply don't know.
HEMMER: What are we to make of that claim then, if you could not piece that together on the ground, essentially, right next to the camp itself?
COOK: Well, I think it's just that, it could be that people themselves just do not know. They have been trapped in small pockets within the camp, not even knowing at times whether their neighbors are alive, never mind whether people in other areas of the camp are alive, so we simply will not know until we are given access to the camp.
HEMMER: Will you go tomorrow?
COOK: I will go tomorrow myself and we will try again. We've been knocking on the door for several days now and we cannot understand why we have been denied access.
HEMMER: Well, the Israeli military says there were booby traps, there were booby traps on dead bodies lying in the road there. They seemed to think and indicated many times that it's still a live military zone, that it's frankly too dangerous to go in there.
COOK: Well, we believe that we should have been given access to those areas, anyway that we, that were possible to get into, but we believe also if you can take journalists in there, you can take humanitarian aid workers in there.
HEMMER: Humanitarian aid will go in when and how much have you been able to take in to this point?
COOK: Well, we've been moving in supplies, medical supplies, food, blankets, tents, for the last few days, into areas around the camp, and we will get that in as soon as possible, but we've course, of course, must go in with a certain amount of caution.
HEMMER: Yeah. You are no stranger to the reports that have been coming out of that refugee camp. They describe it as a humanitarian disaster of sorts. Do you agree with that label?
COOK: Yes, I do.
HEMMER: How so?
COOK: Well, because I believe that after several days of being without water, without electricity, without medical care, with overflowing sewers and with solid waste piling up, dead bodies, but we don't know how many dead bodies, and also injuries, there must be a humanitarian crisis in that camp.
HEMMER: In your experience there, did you hear any more fighting in the past day or two?
COOK: When I was last there, I heard no exchanges of firing. I did hear firing, but it clearly was not exchanges between opposite sides.
HEMMER: All right, we'll continue to watch it, certainly. Again, Richard Cook who's been in the town of Jenin for the last several days with the United Nations. Thank you, sir.
COOK: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
