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CNN Live Sunday

Saudi Arabia Urges President Bush To Push for Immediate Cease Fire; Saddam Hussein Rushed to Baghdad Hospital; Peace Activist in Israel Changes Point of View

Aired July 23, 2006 - 17:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the Israeli military says it will begin distributing relief supplies to Lebanese citizens, but Israel is barring the United Nations from taking humanitarian aid into southern Lebanon. For some perspective on these relief issues, I'm joined on the telephone from Cairo by Mark Schnellbaecher. He is the Middle East regional director for Catholic Relief Services. Mark, good to have your perspective on this. Is it true that the Catholic Relief Services has asked for a cease-fire and is it unusual for an aid organization to drop itself into the political arena in that matter?
MARK SCHNELLBAECHER, CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES (on phone): Yes, Catholic Relief Services, along with the Catholic Bishops of the United States and the Vatican have all called for a cease-fire, so that at a minimum, humanitarian efforts can begin immediately. Mr. Egeland was just describing the situation there, and it's as bad as he describes it, and it's getting worse by the hour.

LIN: So you simply cannot get food and water and medicine into southern Lebanon, not at all?

SCHNELLBAECHER: We can't get food into -- none of that into southern Lebanon nor into Beirut itself. The reason I'm speaking to you from Cairo, I was in the West Bank when this all began, and we're attempting to get people into relief teams into Beirut and southern Lebanon, but right now because of the total Israeli blockade of Lebanon, we can't even get people in.

LIN: So what do you make of Israel's declaration that it is providing safe passage for aid organizations to get to Lebanese civilians?

SCHNELLBAECHER: That was announced on Friday by Israel and they said they were formulating the details. However those details have not yet become clarified so that we can actually begin to move things.

LIN: So anywhere from a half million to a million Lebanese who have been displaced, are those your figures?

SCHNELLBAECHER: Yes, displaced and besieged.

LIN: And so what is going to happen to these people? How many deaths do you might estimate might happen because of lack of food and water or medicine?

SCHNELLBAECHER: It all depends when a cease-fire is declared. And one that is recepted by both Hezbollah and Israel. Right now the vast majority of assistance being provided -- the numbers we're using is 700,000 -- to these 700,000 people is being provided by Lebanese -- other Lebanese people.

Schools are opening, mosques, churches, and many, many Lebanese families are opening their homes to people. So as long as their supplies last, I suppose that they can provide assistance to their fellow Lebanese. But unless this blockade is opened to a humanitarian access, there's no telling how long people will be able to hold out.

LIN: Mark, we're looking at some of the pictures that Catholic Relief Services sent to us out of Beirut. It looks like a bus carrying women and children hopefully to a safer place. They had things like toilet paper, maybe some food supplies, and it's remarkable the spirit of these Lebanese people. You see smiles on the children's faces for what they're going through.

SCHNELLBAECHER: Yes, and those buses are not just being used to carry people, they're also being used to carry relief supplies, because the Israeli government has made it known that they will target trucks for fear that they're carrying weaponry to Hezbollah. So our partner has switched to using minivans and cars and buses to carry people and to carry relief goods.

LIN: Mark Schnellbaecher, let's hope that the secretary of state's visit to the Middle East might calm the situation and that you can get those relief supplies where they're so desperately need.

SCHNELLBAECHER: Thanks very much, thank you.

LIN: Well if you're looking for a way that you can help, you can log on to any number of Web sites and make donations to humanitarian groups, among them AmeriCares, Habitat for Humanity, Mercy Corps, UNICEF and the International Medical Corps.

So will more U.N. forces be sent into southern Lebanon? That is what some in the international community want. We're going to take a look at that option.

Plus a hunger strike lands Saddam Hussein in the hospital. The latest from Iraq after the break.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think about saving for college for our son practically every day. Halfway through my son's junior year, we began thinking college is very close. We are not people who make tons of money. We're not in an income bracket that will allow us to get financial aid. My biggest fear is that my husband and I will revert back to our early days in eating Beefaroni every night. We have in no way, shape or form prepared as much as we could. We're trying to find any help we can.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: So are a lot of other Americans. College tuitions are rising twice as fast as inflation, and middle class families are hard pressed to set aside enough. By the time their child reaches high school the average American family has saved less than $7,000 for college.

(voice-over): And brace yourselves, parents. In 10 years the average tuition for an in-state, public college will be about $23,000. Cal Cheney (ph) of Campus Consultants says parents need to educate themselves a little better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many people need to think right off the bat, I make too much money. There are many families now with incomes in excess of $100,000 that qualify for assistance. For a student who has average grades, they still shouldn't rule out getting a scholarship. You don't have to be an Einstein or a Michael Jordan to get a merit- based award.

O'BRIEN: And there are changes in the law that will allow you to borrow more for college costs. And those popular Stafford Loans will come with a fixed interest rate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not going to get any easier to pay for college and that's why it's important that families plan in advance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: This was happening now in the news. It's after midnight in Jerusalem and Beirut is still getting bombed. Hezbollah responds with more rocket volleys into Israel and residents of both northern Israel and southern Lebanon trying to stay out of harm's way. We're going to continue to monitor the crisis and bring you the very latest as it happens, but there are also other stories making news at this hour.

Ariel Sharon's condition is getting worse. The 78-year-old former Israeli prime minister has been comatose since suffering a massive stroke in January.

And former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is hospitalized today. He's reportedly been on a hunger strike since July 7th to protest what he says is lax security provided for his attorneys, two of which have been murdered. We're going to have more on this story in just a moment.

Indiana police say sniper fire killed one person and wounded another off I-65 earlier this morning. Authorities say there were two other similar shooting incidents off another interstate some 50 miles away. As of now, no arrests.

And a glimmer of light in the Big Apple's blackout. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says electricity has been restored to roughly half of those affected from a six-day long power outage.

Saddam Hussein was rushed to a hospital in Baghdad today. Doctors put him on a feeding tube to fight the effects of his hunger strike. Our Arwa Damon has the latest on his condition and more on the violence in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Saddam Hussein as president defined the world. Saddam Hussein defendant, but still defiant. Now Iraq's former dictator is reported to be in a weakened state after beginning a hunger strike on July 7th, hospitalized according to the chief prosecutor.

The U.S. military says he is voluntarily receiving nutrition through a feeding tube and says his condition is non-life threatening. Beyond Saddam's high security confinement, the chaos continues on the streets of Baghdad. This man is one of the lucky ones. He was able to walk away.

Others improvised to evacuate the dead and wounded after a suicide car bomber detonated in one of Baghdad's largest markets in Sadr City. Frantic screams mixing in with the wailing of sirens as rescue workers tried to salvage what was left. Dozens of Iraqis killed, scores more wounded just because they took a trip to the market.

Another indiscriminate attack sparing no one: women, children. The survivors will physically heal, but like countless others forever carry the traumatic images. More Iraqis will bury their dead, trying to find sense in what they have lost.

The tragic images repeated just over four hours later in the northern city of Kirkuk. Over the last week, at least 200 Iraqis killed: Sunni victims, Shia victims, unidentified victims as the violence continues to spiral.

MAJ. GEN. BILL CALDWELL, U.S. COALITION SPOKESMAN: We have not witnessed a reduction of violence one would have hoped for in a perfect world.

DAMON (on camera): Life here is anything but perfect. Many Iraqis, especially in the capital Baghdad calculating risk versus reward, even when it comes to the most basic of day to day tasks like going to the grocery store, asking themselves if the trip is really worth the risk. Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: U.N. forces having been stationed in Lebanon since 1978, so will NATO forces be sent there as well. And can they make a difference in the way that the U.N. has not? That story to come. And later, those antiwar protests are in Tel Aviv. Ahead, why some are for and others against the recent military action.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: New developments in the crisis in the Middle East, and this is what we know right now. Israel has been pounding targets in Lebanon, including Beirut and the port cities of Sidon and Tyre. And more than 60 Hezbollah rockets slammed into northern Israel just today alone. Now Saudi Arabia is urging President Bush to push for an immediate cease-fire. Saudi officials made that request at a meeting today at the White House.

And the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, is headed for the region tonight. She's going to meet with Israel's prime minister and the Palestinian Authority president.

Now Israel wants an international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, but many might not know there is already a U.N. force there on the ground. Hezbollah is so powerful, so influential it would be a hugely dangerous mission for anyone. Gary Nurenberg has some background.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Italian army Captain Roberto Punzo (ph) was hit by Hezbollah gunfire Sunday, he became, according to the Associated Press, the second member of a United Nations monitoring team wounded in the latest fighting.

TIMUR GOKSEL, FORMER UNIFIL SPOKESPERSON: It's very, very dangerous.

NURENBERG: Leaders at last week's G8 summit endorsed insertion of a new international force. Timur Goksel was with the U.N. interim forces in Lebanon known as UNIFIL for 24 years.

GOKSEL: You have to have extremely careful ground preparation and political negotiations to make sure that you get the consent of the parties. Otherwise, you are an occupancy force; you're a target.

NURENBERG: CNN military analyst James Marks says any new peacekeepers have to be perceived as objective and more effective at deterring attacks than the current U.N. force, which has been in Lebanon since 1978.

BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You put someone in there that doesn't have a dog in a fight but will make a difference on the ground.

NURENBERG: That could mean a force that is NATO-led, an idea welcomed by Israel over the weekend. But there is no agreement yet.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: The questions about what kind of force it is, what its command structure is -- is it a U.N. force, is it an international assistance force? Those are the discussions that are going on.

NURENBERG: The use of international peacekeeping forces became common in the last half of the 20th century. Cyprus, the stopping off point for this week's evacuees from Lebanon, saw U.N. peacekeepers inserted between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in 1964. And a smaller version of that force remains there today.

Lebanon has been dangerous to peacekeepers; 241 American marines serving in peacekeeping force were killed in 1983 in a Hezbollah bombing in Beirut. NATO forces began serves as peacekeepers in Kosovo in 1999 and are expected to expand their peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan later this month.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NURENBERG: An international peace keeping force might take. What role it would play in the current crisis is exactly what diplomats are going to be discussing in the next few days.

LIN: Well Gary, what are the chances that American troops will be involved in this multinational force if there is one?

NURENBERG: Well, Secretary of State Rice was asked that very question on Friday and said in her words, "it was not anticipated." But U.N. Ambassador Bolton told Wolf Blitzer today that although it has not been discussed that possibility hasn't been discussed, he went on to add, "we want to keep an open mind."

LIN: All bets on the table. Thanks very much, Gary.

Well in Israel, a peace activist now supporting the war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADA AHARONI, FOUNDER, FOUR MOTHERS: We have been attacked and Israel has to defend itself. There's no other way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Up next, why this former peace activist and most other Israelis are backing their military campaign. Stay with CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: One of the things that CNN does best is not only cover the big story, but find the people who are most affected by it. And tonight in Israel, a peace activist or should I say former peace activist has done a 180, completely changed her point of view about what should happen for her country and how it should handle its future. CNN's John Vause was in her apartment as the bombs were raining down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are lonely voices in Israel, protesters against the war, just a few hundred in Tel Aviv.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to stop it right now.

VAUSE: Most in this country are firmly behind the military offensive to the north and here these demonstrators are accused of being against Israel.

AHARONI: From here I can see Lebanon, it's just on the north there.

VAUSE: Even peace activists lake Ada Aharoni believe right now there's just no other option.

AHARONI: Now we're being attacked and Israel has to defend itself. There's no other way.

VAUSE: Ada was a founding member of a group known as Four Mothers, a grass roots movement which pressured the government to end the occupation of southern Lebanon, ultimately leading to the pullout of Israeli soldiers in May of 2000.

But as the sirens sound over Haifa, Ada is on the phone when a Katyusha rocket lands next door. Like hundreds of thousands of others, she heads for her safe room, while outside five more rockets. It's never been this close before she says.

AHARONI: They want to destroy us, they want to destroy -- the existence of Israel, and I have no other home, this is my home.

VAUSE: To keep up morale on the home front, Israel's defense minister has made public visits to bomb shelters and the prime minister has repeatedly praised the Israeli resolve.

ERAN SINGER, ISRAELI ANALYST: The prime minister of Israel, the government of Israel, understand that the only way to achieve a military victory in Lebanon against Hezbollah is by getting the full support of the people of Israel.

VAUSE (on camera): Right now the government has near total support for a limited military offensive. But anything beyond that is most likely to bring back the bitter and painful memory of Israel's long and ultimately unsuccessful occupation of southern Lebanon. John Vause, CNN, Haifa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And tonight we do have new developments in the crisis in the Middle East. Here's what we know right now. Israel has been pounding targets in Lebanon including Beirut where our Becky Anderson said that she saw Israeli jets go by and she heard the bombs go off. Also in port cities of Sidon and Tyre, and more than 60 rockets slammed into northern Israel today.

Now Saudi Arabia is urging President Bush to push for an immediate cease-fire. Saudi officials made that request in a meeting at the White House. And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is headed for the region tonight. She's going to meet with Israel's prime minister and the Palestinian Authority.

There's still much more ahead on CNN. Up next, we are hitting every angle in the conflict in the Middle East. CNN's team of correspondents in the region looks at the potential for diplomatic solutions, the role of Iran, and the latest deadly attacks. John Roberts hosts "THIS WEEK AT WAR," next. And then at 7:00 Eastern we'd like to hear from you. Do you think diplomacy will work in the Middle East? E-mail us. The address is weekends@CNN.com.

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