Return to Transcripts main page
Your World Today
Ehud Olmert Hinting Israel May Make a Unilateral Withdrawal From Large Parts of West Bank; Cartoon Controversy Continues; Condoleezza Rice Meets with Israeli Foreign Minister
Aired February 08, 2006 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: His vision of the future. Israel's interim prime minister laying out an agenda on borders and boundaries in Jerusalem just weeks before elections.
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Continuing outrage. Some demonstrations against controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed turn deadly even as world leaders call for calm.
CLANCY: And arson in houses of worship. Who is setting fire to a string of churches in southern United States locations? And why?
GORANI: It is 8:00 p.m. in Jerusalem, 9:30 p.m. in Kabul, Afghanistan.
I'm Hala Gorani.
CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. And this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world.
We're going to begin our report this hour in the Middle East.
There have been new, tough comments on both sides now, the divide that separates Palestinians and Israelis.
GORANI: Now, Israel's acting prime minister is talking about his vision for his country's future, a future that includes keeping its main West Bank settlements.
CLANCY: And Hamas flexing its new political muscle, warning the Palestinian Authority president not to make any major leadership changes, including in the security forces, without consulting them.
Let's begin with Ehud Olmert's plans for Israel, the West Bank, and most importantly, perhaps, Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.
Guy Raz joins us now from Jerusalem -- Guy.
GUY RAZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jim, Ehud Olmert making it very clear his objective if his party wins the upcoming Israeli parliamentary elections to set the country's final and permanent borders, borders which likely will not include large parts of the West Bank. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAZ (voice over): Ehud Olmert can see the future from here. His recent visit to the West Bank settlement bloc of Gush Etzion designed to illustrate his view that eventually the site will mark Israel's permanent eastern boundary.
Olmert made the comments in his first interview since becoming the interim prime minister.
EHUD OLMERT, ISRAELI INTERIM PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The direction is clear. We are going towards separation from the Palestinians. We are going towards determining a permanent border for the state of Israel.
We will preserve the unity of Jerusalem. We will preserve the main settlement blocs. But the borders we are considering are not those Israel has now.
RAZ: Olmert's comments come in the wake of Hamas' stunning victory in the recent Palestinian parliamentary elections. The movement does not recognize Israel, nor does it support a negotiated two-state solution. So Olmert is hinting that Israel may make a unilateral withdrawal from large parts of the West Bank on its own terms with or without Palestinian agreement.
DAVID HOROVITZ, "JERUSALEM POST": He's being very, very vague about how Israel reaches that final status situation, but, you know, Israelis can do the math. They can work this out if there's no one to talk to. And that's Olmert wants -- and that's where Olmert wants to get. Well, the only way for him to get there presumably has got to be unilaterally.
RAZ: Israel currently occupies the entire West Bank. The red line on this map shows what Israel's future eastern border may look like. The yellow-shaded area, the Jordan Valley, would also remain under Israeli military control under Olmert's plan.
About 80,000 Israeli settlers live beyond this envisioned border. Olmert suggests that eventually all would be forcibly removed, including the more ardent settlers who would likely resist it.
But the plan would keep at least 20 percent of the West Bank and all of Jerusalem under Israeli control. Something unacceptable to Palestinians.
MADI ABDEL HADI, PALESTINIAN ACADEMIC SOCIETY: With the war (ph) and the settlement, and the Jordan Valley will be left for them only 50 percent of the land. And this is not fair, not justice, and will not lead to a solution.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAZ: Jim, the working assumption, at least for the past 12 years of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, has been that the final borders of Israel and the future Palestinian state would be determined by mutual agreement. Now, that equation is changing very rapidly. A new paradigm, separation and not reconciliation, is quickly gaining ground on both sides of this divide -- Jim.
CLANCY: At the same time, this is a government that clearly has set out under the leadership of Ariel Sharon on exactly that, a strategy not to negotiate, but to unilaterally draw the borders. Ariel Sharon's top negotiator once said -- or his top adviser once said that the whole idea, the whole strategy was to get the peace talks completely off the map. And he's succeeded in that.
RAZ: Well, Jim, publicly, both the Israeli governments, excessive governments, at least the governments for the past few years, and the Palestinian Authority before the elections, had publicly backed the U.S. roadmap for peace, that plan which lays out a path for a two-state solution. But really behind the scenes, and certainly on the Israeli side, there didn't seem to be any intention of carrying out that plan.
And essentially, now with Hamas' victory in the Palestinian elections, and a Hamas-led government presumably going to be running things on the Palestinian side, neither the Israeli government nor Hamas are particularly interested in negotiating with the other side. And in a sense, this really gives further confirmation to the Israeli government that its plan, its original plan, if it was the plan to carry out further unilateral steps, will be easier to carry out now that it appears as if Hamas will be leading the next Palestinian government -- Jim.
CLANCY: All right. Changing political winds in Israel this day. A declaration, an interview given by the acting prime minister lays it on the line.
Thank you.
GORANI: Well, meantime, the Hamas political chief is warning Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas not to make decisions about the government without first consulting the militant group. Khaled Mashaal says a long-term truce with Israel is possible, but he insists Hamas will not renounce violence or recognize Israel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KHALED MASHAAL, HAMAS POLITICAL CHIEF (through translator): Hamas does not recognize Israel and will not take pressure from anyone to do so. Simple logic dictates that the Zionist killer admits the existence of the Palestinian victims and admits their rights, and not to ask the victim to admit the existence of its killer and whipper.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Of course Hamas won the parliamentary elections, but Mashaal says Hamas hasn't yet picked a candidate for prime minister -- Jim.
CLANCY: Well, another group that has been noted for its suicide bombings and other activities, Islamic Jihad, says it doesn't even plan to join the Hamas government. The militant group rejecting the idea even of a long-term truce or hudna (ph) with Israel, saying attacks on the Jewish state will continue.
At least 10 Palestinians have been the ones killed by Israeli forces since the weekend. In the latest incident, an Israeli missile strike killed two members of the militant Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Gaza. Masked gunmen joined a mass funeral procession for the two militants. Marchers waved flags and vowed revenge on Israel.
Well, drawings of the Prophet Mohammed fueling more and more protests around the world.
GORANI: It seems like an endless reaction there. Angry cries reverberate in the streets of cities from Kabul to Jakarta, once again, even as world leaders and moderate Muslim groups are urging restraint.
CLANCY: In Afghanistan, hundreds march peacefully through the capital, but elsewhere the protests turned deadly. At least five people were killed in the southern -- in one of the southern cities after police fired at a crowd who was trying to storm a U.S. military base there. A top religious council in Afghanistan has urged people to stop the rioting.
GORANI: In Iran, demonstrators showed up for the third straight day outside the Danish embassy in Tehran. They were chanting anti- Danish but also anti-American slogans. Iran has suspended all trade and economic ties with Denmark.
CLANCY: And a French satiric weekly becoming the latest media outlet to reprint the cartoons. The drawings, of course, were first published in Denmark, but that was five months ago, back in September. They have been reprinted in several countries.
Well, Denmark, of course, is the focus of much of the anger that we have seen in the streets. The Danish prime minister now calling for a peaceful resolution to what he terms this global crisis.
Speaking with CNN, he said the protests paint the wrong picture of his country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN, DANISH PRIME MINISTER: Actually, it is a bit shocking. We're witnessing the events unfolding with disbelief and sadness. We're not used to it. And I think it's a false picture of Denmark.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: We're going to have more of the prime minister's interview with our Matthew Chance a little bit later this hour -- Hala.
GORANI: U.S. President George W. Bush weighed in on the cartoon controversy after talks with Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We reject violence as a way to express discontent with what may be printed in the free press. I call upon the governments around the world to stop the violence, to be respectful, to protect property, protect the lives of innocent diplomats who are serving their countries overseas.
KING ABDULLAH II, JORDAN: Anything that vilifies the Prophet Mohammed or attacks Muslim sensibilities needs to be condemned. But at the same time, those that want to protest should do it thoughtfully, articulately, express their views peacefully.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: The political fallout from the cartoon dispute is affecting Denmark's economy now. A general boycott on all Danish goods by some Middle Eastern countries is harming firms that trade there. We get more from Ali Velshi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): LEGO is getting caught up in a major international stumbling bloc, the protests over the controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed. You see, LEGO Toys come from Denmark. And unfortunately for LEGO and other big-name companies like Carlsberg, which sells non-alcoholic beer in the region, and for stereo maker Bang & Olufsen, it was a Danish newspaper that first published the offending cartoon.
The problem, a grassroots boycott of all things Danish is now under way in more than a dozen Gulf states.
But other than Iran, whose president has called for a boycott, other Middle Eastern governments haven't gotten involved. Danish exports more than a billion dollars a year to the Middle East.
HENRIETTE SOELVTOFT, CONFEDERATION OF DANISH INDUSTRIES: It has had a big impact for the individual companies so far, but it's difficult to come up with a qualified guess in terms of exact numbers when you're talking about lost export.
VELSHI: Arla Foods, a big producer of Denmark's famed Havarti cheese, says the boycott is costing about $2 million a day in lost sales.
Even Nestle is feeling the pinch, and it's not even Danish. It's Swiss. Nestle has taken out newspaper ads in Saudi Arabia reminding people that is products are neither made in nor imported from Denmark.
From time to time, informal boycotts gain steam in Middle Eastern countries. Most recently, general anti-American sentiment has resulted in sales drops for companies like Coke. And an Iranian cola named Zum-Zum (ph), named for a holy spring in Saudi Arabia gained market share during a recent Palestinian boycott of Coke. But boycotts like those haven't had much staying power.
Ali Velshi, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: Disappointing news in the fight against bird flu. World health officials now say a virulent form of the disease has now spread to Africa.
No human cases have been reported. But the H5N1 strain discovered in chickens on three farms in Nigeria. This is the first time the disease has turned up on the African continent. But WHO officials say the discovery doesn't change the pandemic alert level. Nigerian authorities have begun culling the infected birds.
GORANI: Now, you may have been cutting down on fat for nothing. In the United States, new studies are showing that eating a low-fat diet doesn't necessarily cut down on the risk of heart disease and other illnesses such as cancers in older women.
Nearly 50,000 women took part in the eight-year study that cost more than $400 million. The research showed no difference in the rate of heart disease, breast or colon cancer among those who ate lower-fat diets and those who didn't.
Researchers speculate that the women changed their diets perhaps too late in life, that they didn't cut out as much fat as advised, and many stayed overweight.
CLANCY: Well, that takes us to the inbox.
GORANI: Nonetheless, this might have an impact on the way you decide to conduct your diet. Will the results of this study change your eating habits?
CLANCY: E-mail us at YWT@CNN.com. Weigh in, so to speak, on the big diet question here.
GORANI: Right. Give us the skinny on what you think. We could go on and on with the puns there.
CLANCY: But we won't.
GORANI: But we won't. Whew. All right.
CLANCY: Let's change the topic now. Let's take you to the top of the world.
Ballots and bullets in Katmandu.
GORANI: Coming up, a deadly election day unfold in the kingdom of Nepal.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) GORANI: Welcome back. You're with YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.
Violence and extremely low voter turnout marred Nepal's first election in seven years. Under orders from King Gyanendra, the army opened fire on crowds demonstrating against the controversial poll and says it killed one protester. It is the culmination of months of pre- election conflict there.
Maoist rebels threatened potential voters and staged frequent attacks which killed two candidates. Official results are not expected until Thursday.
CLANCY: Nepalese police, meantime, are saying that guerrillas bombed at least a dozen government buildings on election day, several people killed in that chaos. All part of an orchestrated campaign of voter intimidation by the Maoists.
Satinder Bindra has more on that story from New Delhi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Threats by Maoist rebels fighting a 10-year-old civil war kept thousands of Nepalese voters away from polling stations and in their homes Wednesday. Those brave enough to vote in this municipal election weren't quite sure that ballots would bring about any change.
"What will happen tomorrow is uncertain," says this voter. "Nobody knows about tomorrow, but I'm going to cast my vote and exercise my right."
Nepal's King Gyanendra dismissed the elected government and seized absolute power a year ago. He's counting on these elections to prove to the world that he intends to restore democracy, but the election is being boycotted by Nepal's seven political parties, and the king's critics dismiss the vote as a sham, just a means of propping up his autocratic rule.
Adding to the king's problems have been a wave of pre-election attacks by Maoist rebels who want to set up a socialist republic in this impoverished country. Hundreds of candidates withdrew from the election at the last minute.
Even with the government providing candidates safe houses and buying them life insurance policies, politicians are contesting less than half of the 4,000 races for mayors and local officials.
A call by the king to shoot all those disrupting the elections did nothing to assure voters it was safe to go to the polls. A government decision to keep all cars off the streets because of fears of more rebel attacks meant many voters simply could not come to vote. And with few Nepalese likely to endorse these election results, analysts predict more trouble and more turmoil for this mountain kingdom.
Satinder Bindra, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: Well, there may have been dismally low turnout in Nepal, but voters turned out in high numbers across Haiti. Four people died in election day violence, though.
Poll counters are counting ballots in the first election since president Jean-Bertrand Aristide went into exile two years ago. In the presidential race, Aristide protege Renay Proval (ph) is considered the front-runner. There are more than 30 other candidates vying to lead the impoverished nation.
CLANCY: There is word from Iraq that the long-awaited election results are now just two days away. The Election Commission says it is almost ready to certify those results.
The violence still an everyday occurrence. Iraqi police say three explosions rocked Baghdad within just one and a half hours. Excuse me, that was within just a half an hour. At least two people were killed, seven others wounded.
A car bomb detonated as a convoy carrying Iraq's minister of higher education passed by. He wasn't hurt, but minutes later two improvised explosive devices, as they're called, went off in two more locations.
GORANI: And Jim, fears of violence are always present in Iraq, but they are even higher on the day of Ashura. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims are traveling to south central Iraq for Ashura, the religious celebration. Shiite pilgrims filled the treats in the holy city of Karbala to commemorate the death of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson.
Insurgents have targeted Ashura events in the past, so security is high. The police chief says there are 8,000 officers and soldiers spread out throughout the city.
CLANCY: All right, Hala.
We've got to take a short break here, but still ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY, a rash of church fires in the southern United States.
GORANI: Investigators are sifting through the rubble, looking for any evidence that might lead to the arsonists.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: ... energy programs would be ones that do not have proliferation risk, meaning that there would not be enrichment and reprocessing on Iranian soil, and the importance of Iran taking the message, the very strong message, that the IAEA Board of Governors sent in reporting the Iranian dossier to the U.N. Security Council.
We talked also about our bilateral relations and the great strength that Israel and the United States draw from each other as countries that share common values, as well as many ties of kinship.
Thank you very much for being here.
TZIPI LIVNI, FOREIGN MINISTER OF ISRAEL: Thank you.
It is a special visit for me today here because it is my first visit as a foreign minister, as Israel's foreign minister. And it comes after dramatic events in the world, especially in our region.
And in a way, the world is now at crossroads and there's a need to take very important and urgent decisions regarding confronting the Islamic extremist terrorists.
And we spoke about the situation in Iran and the rise of the Hamas in the Palestinian Authority, in which a terrorist organization took power.
We believe that it is now very important and crucial that the international community -- and they do believe in America's values and its ability to lead the international community in sending a very clear message that terror is not acceptable and there's a need for the Hamas and Palestinian Authority to meet the requirements, as was said; to renounce terrorism and violence; to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in a terrorist organization; to accept the existence of the state of Israel as such, or to accept even the existence of Jews in the land of Israel -- this is something that is totally against the Hamas charter, by the way -- and, of course, to adopt the agreement which was signed between Israel and the Palestinians until now.
And then maybe we have a chance to see a change in the Middle East.
Our feeling is that Israel made very important and painful steps in implementing the disengagement plan in order to give the chance for both our people, Israelis and Palestinians, and to enter maybe a new road.
It was, from our perspective, an open window of opportunity. And I hope that it's not closed. And it depends on the international community unified message to the Palestinians, saying that this is not acceptable unless they will meet these requirements that were mentioned that were adopted by the quartet, by the United Nations, but of course the United States of America, and accepted also by Israel.
So we face challenges, and I hope that we can do the right things for our people. And I do believe -- as Secretary Rice said, it's not our first meeting, and I have full confidence in Secretary Rice leadership and values. And it's needed to help to solve problems in the Middle East.
QUESTION: Madam Secretary, did you discuss the future of U.S. and other international aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian government? Can you update us on where the U.S. review stands? And does it seem likely to you that in the long run, really all but the direct U.S. aid to the government -- in other words, the larger pot of humanitarian aid -- would continue to flow?
And for the foreign minister, does Israel have the legal authority to continue to withhold customs and other remittances from a government after Hamas takes over?
Thank you.
RICE: Well, we have discussed this matter. But I think our position is well known. The review continues of our programs.
Let me just say that we're all in agreement that the current caretaker government should be supported. Abu Mazen is, after all, still the president of the Palestinian Authority. And we have worked hard with some of the Palestinians' neighbors to try and find ways to support the near-term needs of this interim government.
And we were very gratified that the Israeli government decided to make on this one-month basis the transfer of tax revenues to help the Palestinian Authority in this interim phase.
We are going to review all of our programs, and we are doing that.
Obviously, this is a changing and evolving situation. The very best outcome would be if any new Palestinian government, whatever its composition, accepts the requirements that the international community is putting forward.
There simply has to be a recognition of the state of Israel's right to exist. There simply has to be. Israel is a member of the United Nations. It cannot be that you have a government that does not accept even its right to exist, that then says that it wants the international community's support for its programs.
Obviously, there are commitments that are already in place. We would expect those to be accepted. So that would be the very best outcome.
We are reviewing our aid. We are mindful of the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people.
But I do want to make clear that there are two phases here. We are continuing to support the caretaker government. The international community has undertaken to do that. But we await the outcomes of the government formation process, because that will tell the tale of what is possible.
LIVNI: If I can answer, the Israeli government decision to transfer the money is based on this interim period of time in which, even though we are after the elections in the Palestinian Authority, a new government was not -- is not established -- formed yet.
But yet, it is important to understand that on the legal point of view -- I am also the Israeli minister of justice -- it is important to understand that this money comes from -- or is based on agreements that were signed between Israel and the Palestinians.
Now we are talking about the Hamas, which is a designated terrorist organization, who's going to lead the Palestinians. So I think it's something unacceptable to demand Israel to implement its role in these agreements while the other side doesn't even agree that we have the right to live -- simple as that.
So this is also the legal basis and, more than that, there are legal international conventions. And it is totally forbidden under the Israeli law to transfer money that can use to terrorism.
This is part of the global, international war against terrorism. And Israel accepted it.
So the situation that we can find ourself, if they will not meet these requirements in the future, is that this money will go to finance terror against our citizens.
So I believe that, not only legally but even morally, this is something that Israel will have to rethink in the future. While we transfer the money, we stated that we are doing it based on the interim period of time and we will judge the situation on a monthly basis in the future.
QUESTION: Madam Secretary, Israel acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said you want to set the permanent borders of Israel, and the U.S. position is well-known about such unilateral acts by Israel.
Are you considered to revise your position or modify it right now that, on the other side, there is actually no partner for Israel to deal with?
RICE: Well, first of all, we certainly hope that over the next period of time, that there will be a partner for Israel to deal with. That is everyone's hope for the road map. That depends on what happens in the Palestinian territories.
The United States' position on this is very clear and remains the same: No one should try and unilaterally predetermine the outcome of a final status agreement. That's to be done at final status.
The president did say that at the time of final status it will be necessary to take into account new realities on the ground that have changed since 1967. But under no circumstances should anyone try and do that in a preemptive or predetermined way, because these are issues for negotiation at final status.
But let me put the whole thing into context. We've been through a tumultuous period over the last several months in the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians. But I just want to underscore something that the foreign minister said. Israel withdrew from Gaza and has just gone through a painful withdrawal as well from a number of settlements in the West Bank. I think everyone has remarked at the way that this democracy has gone through this and gone through it in a largely peaceful way, although it is obviously a painful episode.
And this did open an opportunity for peace, for a new kind of peace. We saw in the Gaza the beginning of coming to life of economic life there. We successfully got a Rafah crossing agreement.
All of this is still possible. The Palestinian people have been through an election. They voted for change. But I don't think they voted to change their aspirations for a peaceful life. And the only way that a peaceful life can be delivered is if there is a two-state solution. And that two-state solution has to begin from the premise that both Palestinians and Israelis have a right to exist.
QUESTION: Madam Secretary, in the aftermath of the printing of the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed there's been outrage around the world that we've all seen. The question is: Do you think this is spontaneous as it continues? If not, who is behind it? What group or what governments might be behind it?
RICE: Thank you.
Well, let me first say that this has been a difficult period. We are strong proponents of the freedom of the press. It is one of the most fundamental freedoms of democratic development. We also believe that with press freedom comes a certain responsibility.
And the United States has been a place where there has been, also, freedom of religion. That means that people have to exist in the same body and to respect each other's religious traditions and respect each other's religious sensibilities. And that is also very important.
Now, nothing justifies the violence that has broken out in which many innocent people have been injured. Nothing justifies the burning of diplomatic facilities or threats to diplomatic facilities around the world.
This is a time when everyone should urge calm and should urge that there is an atmosphere of respect and understanding.
I think that there have been a lot of governments that have spoken out about this. I note, for instance, Afghanistan, Lebanon, very important comments even by the Ayatollah Sistani about this.
But, yes, there are governments that have also used this opportunity to incite violence. I don't have any doubt that, given the control the Syrian government in Syria, given the control of the Iranian government, which, by the way, hasn't even hidden its hand in this, that Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes. And the world ought to call them on it.
All responsible people ought to say that there is no excuse for violence. We all need to respect each other's religions. We need to respect freedom of the press. But, you know, again, with freedom of the press comes responsibility as well. QUESTION: Madam Secretary, I'd like to ask you to comment about the fact that the U.N. secretary general expressed his concern yesterday of the targeted killing in Gaza Strip. There were like nine or ten in the last week. Do you share his concern?
And Mr. Minister -- Mrs. Minister, I'm sorry -- too used to a male. Madam Minister, it seems that it's quite clear that there is an American-Israeli plan for the time until the Hamas government is formed, but I'm not sure we understand what is the plan on the day after it? What does Israel and the United States do? Because sooner or later, there will be a Hamas government in the territories.
Thank you.
RICE: The U.S. position on this issue has not changed. It has long been our view that all actions should be viewed with a mind to the consequences the day after of any actions.
No one denies to Israel the right to fight terrorism. Israel is a democratic state and has a right to protect its citizens, just as the United States has a right to protect its citizens and to fight terrorism.
We are hopeful that the fight against terrorism for the United States, as well as for Israel, can take place in the context of a process that recognizes that violence and terrorism are not permissible in the international community ever. There isn't any excuse for the wanton taking of life -- of innocent life.
And so we have spoken out that the way. The context that we need to resolve these problems is put forward in the road map: that terrorist organizations would be dismantled, that people will not use terrorist techniques. They will in fact not just dismantle terrorism but fully renounce terrorism.
And, in that context, everybody will be better able to protect their citizens in an environment in which all responsible states and all responsible groups are pulling in the same direction.
LIVNI: Any future Palestinian government should meet these preconditions or requirements, adopting all the former agreements, recognizing the right of Israel to exist, renounce terrorism and violence, and dismantle terrorist organizations and infrastructure of terror.
If this doesn't happen and the Hamas is going to be the next Palestinian government, the answer is simple. I mean, the Hamas is a terrorist organization, it is a designated terrorist organization, and here comes the conclusion. I mean, when an entity, a state is being led by terrorists, the meaning is that this entity, this authority, this state is going to transfer into a terror state.
And there is a meaning for this kind of recognition, and the world and the international community has their own sanctions and measures when it comes to an entity which transfers into a terror entity. RICE: Thank you.
LIVNI: Thank you.
CLANCY: All right, we've been listening there to the U.S. secretary of state, alongside Israel's acting foreign minister at the State Department after their talks, their meetings. Not in black and white, but in shades of gray. The U.S. secretary of state and the acting foreign minister speaking on the Middle East peace process more than anything else.
Tzipi Livni saying urgent decisions were needed to counter the threat of terror and she left no doubt that that meant the newly- elected Hamas party, set to take over control of the Palestinian Authority. We heard her repeat that there at the end.
The comments of the State Department also reflected an interview that was given less than 24 hours earlier to Israel's Channel 2 Television, in which the acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert, laid out the strategy for Israel to define its own borders and in doing so, take all of East Jerusalem, take huge areas of settlements of areas elsewhere on the West Bank and try to make permanent its control over the waters and agricultural resources of the Jordan Valley.
Now, Palestinians would be left with less than half of what they saw as the basis for a state of their own. They could find themselves in that plan shut out of Jerusalem entirely, the eastern part of which they wanted for future capital.
Condoleezza Rice cautioned that changing the facts on the ground now could not prevent negotiations in the future, but she gave no warning, no caution to the Israeli government here that could be possibly be seen as dissuading it from the course of unilaterally setting new borders, taking this action. She did warn the Palestinian side -- and repeatedly -- that it had to accept the existence of Israel and its rights.
We'll have more coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. Welcome to everyone.
We've heard it all before. A low-fat diet reduces the risk for heart disease and possibly even some cancers. But new studies now show that may not be the case. It all boils down to good versus bad fat, as Christy Feig explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anne Calsall (ph) just wanted to eat better, so she signed up for a medical study looking at diet. She was told to eat very low fat. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had very bad habits, including, you know, salmon mousse made with whipped cream, and lots of oil in my salad and some other things.
FEIG: She ended up losing 15 pounds, but it turns out her efforts won't reduce her risk of heart disease, breast or colon cancer. That's according to three studies in the "Journal of the American Medical Association." Among the findings, there was a slight reduction in breast cancer risk for women on a low-fat diet, but the researchers say it could have been chance.
DR. GABRIEL UWAIFO, ENDOCRINOLOGIST: There was clearly a trend that suggested reduced risks. However, it was not significant.
FEIG: Women eating a low-fat diet reported fewer colon polyps.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is possible that, over time, that reduction in polyps could translate into a reduction in colorectal cancer.
FEIG: But the real puzzle is that the low-fat diet did not reduce the risk of heart disease, since previous studies have shown it does.
Dr. Elizabeth Naple (ph) of the National Institutes of Health thinks that's because the diet in the study did not focus on bad fats.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We know from the heart literature that if you work on reducing the bad fats and try to limit your intake to the good fats, you will reduce your risk for heart disease.
FEIG: Those bad fats include saturated fats, usually animal fat, and trans-fats, found mainly in processed foods.
I'm Christy Feig, reporting from Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Processed foods, the big no-no. Well, you have a couple more minutes to get your response to the inbox question today.
CLANCY: The question was this. Will the results of that study change your eating habits? Send us an e-mail, ywt@CNN.com. Include your name and where you're writing us from. We're going to try to read some of them out on the air here in a couple of minutes.
GORANI: All right.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CLANCY: Ever wonder what it would be like to live in a world class athletic area during the Games?
GORANI: No. But a special look inside the Olympic Village in Torino for those of you who do, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Steve Fossett's dreams of setting another world aviation record finally got off the ground Wednesday. The millionaire adventurer has taken off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He had hoped to begin his quest to set a world record for the longest un- refueled flight on Tuesday, but a fuel problem onboard his Global Flyer caused his first attempt to be scrubbed.
Fossett already holds the records for flying solo around the world in a balloon, and for the first to fly solo un-refueled around the world in an airplane. If all goes well, he'll have another record in about three days.
CLANCY: Well, Olympic athletes have packed their bags. They're on their way to Turin or Torino, in Italy, where most are going to be staying, and where else, the Olympic Village?
GORANI: Much of the village off limits to tourists, but Alessio Vinci toured the area just days before it was sealed off.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The focal point of the Olympic village is this impressive arched walkway hovering over what used to be a marketplace.
Built from scratch, this area hosts 2,500 people, half of them athletes. Everything is being prepared to make the village into a home away from home. There is a large gym, a cafeteria and a leisure room where athletes can challenge each other in disciplines that have not quite made it into the Winter Olympics.
Competitors will be coming home every night to these 39 brightly painted buildings, each containing several apartments.
(on camera): By the time you see this, this area will be completely off limits to journalists, but we got access to one of the apartments where the athletes and the family, the Olympic family, will be living in. So let's check it out. Let's go inside.
(voice-over): The interior looks modest, but functional, a simple closet, single beds. I guess double beds might have given the wrong impression.
(on camera): You would think athletes use jacuzzis. This is one of the typical bathrooms. They don't, just a shower. Great shower curtain, though.
Up here, the second floor, where there is another bathroom with the bathtubs. Another bedroom with a single bed.
(voice-over): No great incentive to spend much time in here. The action clearly will be outside on the playing fields.
Alessio Vinci, CNN, Torino.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: All right, the time has come. We are going to open the envelope, well, the envelopes, as they may be, for e-mail. We asked your thoughts about a new study on low-fat diets.
GORANI: We've been asking you, will the results of this study change your eating habits? Here's how some of you have replied today.
James from Spain says, "No. The study won't change my eating habits. I live in Spain where people live to eat rather than eating to live. The solution is to learn once more to enjoy cooking!"
CLANCY: You know, this said that low-fat diets weren't really a benefit, but Peter from Switzerland said, "Low-fat diets should be instituted early in life when the damage can be limited. Changing diets much later in life won't have much effect; the damage is already present," he writes.
GORANI: Kevin writes from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, "Scientific studies are subject to variable interpretations. As far as diets are concerned, we should always remember this rule: everything in moderation!"
CLANCY: Including moderation.
You know, we got a lot of letters in from Switzerland today. This one says this, "As researchers seek consensus on healthy eating, we should live by a simple rule: live well and eat well. Then you will love your fat, bad or good."
Rosenqvist, S. Rosenqvist -- I hope I said that right.
GORANI: It's all about portion sizes. Don't eat a piece of cake this big. Have a little bit of it and you'll be fine.
All right. That's it for YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Hala Gorani.
CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. No lunch today. See you tomorrow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
