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CNN Live Sunday
Suicide Bomber Kills 7 in Jerusalem
Aired May 18, 2003 - 17:59 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Fallout amid a series of suicide bombings in the Middle East. The latest deaths came after a suicide bomber got on a bus in Jerusalem. The blast killed seven passengers. CNN's Kelly Wallace joins us now from Jerusalem with the very latest on this. Hello, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Hello, again, Heidi. Well, some of the fallout includes Israel ordering a total closure of the West Bank and keeping in effect its current closure of the Gaza strip. What this means is that Palestinians who have work permits or other permits to enter Israel won't be allowed inside the country until the closure is lifted.
These steps coming out of an emergency cabinet meeting, which Prime Minister Sharon convened Sunday night to talk with his advisers about the four terror attacks against Israelis in the span of some 12 hours, including three suicide bombings. Now, one decision coming out of the meeting, according to a senior Israeli official, is from now on, any foreign dignitary who plans to meet with Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, will not be allowed to meet with any Israeli officials. Israeli officials have been saying for weeks that these meetings, they believe, only undermine the standing of Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas.
Now, there was also discussion, we are told, about the possibility some cabinet ministers recommended the expulsion of Yasser Arafat from the area. But, we're told that Prime Minister Sharon decided to reject such a recommendation and not support such a move right now.
The Israelis are accusing Yasser Arafat of encouraging the attacks, including the deadliest of all, the early Sunday morning suicide bombing when a man, Israeli police say, dressed as an Orthodox Jew, got on board a bus, and once that bus was moving in a Jerusalem neighborhood, blew himself up killing seven people, six Israelis and one Palestinian, a 42-year-old man from a nearby refugee camp.
Now, in an interview this evening, Yasser Arafat rejected those charges, calling it "Israeli propaganda" and saying, "These attacks -- the reason for these attacks is to lead to Israeli occupation in the West Bank and in the Gaza strip."
Palestinians are expressing a great deal of frustration about these latest steps. They say the Israelis are trying to quote, "demonize someone", focusing on Yasser Arafat instead of focusing on what they believe is the real problem here. Palestinians say until the Israelis accept and start implementing the so-called road map for Middle East peace, doing things such as pulling troops out of Palestinian towns, Mahmoud Abbas, the new prime minister, won't have anything to take to these radical Palestinian groups to try to convince them to disarm and to stop these terror attacks -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Kelly, any chance there will be another meeting any time soon?
WALLACE: Well, the two leaders, when they met Saturday night, according to the Israelis at least, agreed to meet again after Prime Minister Sharon returned from his visit to Washington. Now that visit, as we know, has been postponed. Israeli officials say they hope to reschedule it as soon as possible. And the thinking is there could be a meeting some time soon after that. But the Palestinians say they're not so sure, Heidi, they say until they see some steps the Israelis are willing to take, they don't know if Mahmoud Abbas will go into another bilateral meeting with Ariel Sharon -- Heidi.
COLLINS: CNN's Kelly Wallace live tonight from Jerusalem. Thanks, Kelly.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 18, 2003 - 17:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Fallout amid a series of suicide bombings in the Middle East. The latest deaths came after a suicide bomber got on a bus in Jerusalem. The blast killed seven passengers. CNN's Kelly Wallace joins us now from Jerusalem with the very latest on this. Hello, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Hello, again, Heidi. Well, some of the fallout includes Israel ordering a total closure of the West Bank and keeping in effect its current closure of the Gaza strip. What this means is that Palestinians who have work permits or other permits to enter Israel won't be allowed inside the country until the closure is lifted.
These steps coming out of an emergency cabinet meeting, which Prime Minister Sharon convened Sunday night to talk with his advisers about the four terror attacks against Israelis in the span of some 12 hours, including three suicide bombings. Now, one decision coming out of the meeting, according to a senior Israeli official, is from now on, any foreign dignitary who plans to meet with Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, will not be allowed to meet with any Israeli officials. Israeli officials have been saying for weeks that these meetings, they believe, only undermine the standing of Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas.
Now, there was also discussion, we are told, about the possibility some cabinet ministers recommended the expulsion of Yasser Arafat from the area. But, we're told that Prime Minister Sharon decided to reject such a recommendation and not support such a move right now.
The Israelis are accusing Yasser Arafat of encouraging the attacks, including the deadliest of all, the early Sunday morning suicide bombing when a man, Israeli police say, dressed as an Orthodox Jew, got on board a bus, and once that bus was moving in a Jerusalem neighborhood, blew himself up killing seven people, six Israelis and one Palestinian, a 42-year-old man from a nearby refugee camp.
Now, in an interview this evening, Yasser Arafat rejected those charges, calling it "Israeli propaganda" and saying, "These attacks -- the reason for these attacks is to lead to Israeli occupation in the West Bank and in the Gaza strip."
Palestinians are expressing a great deal of frustration about these latest steps. They say the Israelis are trying to quote, "demonize someone", focusing on Yasser Arafat instead of focusing on what they believe is the real problem here. Palestinians say until the Israelis accept and start implementing the so-called road map for Middle East peace, doing things such as pulling troops out of Palestinian towns, Mahmoud Abbas, the new prime minister, won't have anything to take to these radical Palestinian groups to try to convince them to disarm and to stop these terror attacks -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Kelly, any chance there will be another meeting any time soon?
WALLACE: Well, the two leaders, when they met Saturday night, according to the Israelis at least, agreed to meet again after Prime Minister Sharon returned from his visit to Washington. Now that visit, as we know, has been postponed. Israeli officials say they hope to reschedule it as soon as possible. And the thinking is there could be a meeting some time soon after that. But the Palestinians say they're not so sure, Heidi, they say until they see some steps the Israelis are willing to take, they don't know if Mahmoud Abbas will go into another bilateral meeting with Ariel Sharon -- Heidi.
COLLINS: CNN's Kelly Wallace live tonight from Jerusalem. Thanks, Kelly.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
